Unreconciled, the Tibetan separatists did their best to obstruct and undermine the implementation of the Article Agreement. Their efforts were highlighted by an armed rebellion that was aimed at defending the feudal system and opposing the Democratic Reform that was granting human rights to the Tibetans for the first time in their history.
The human rights issue in Tibet may be approached from several angles. Here are facts in three fields. In Tibet prior to liberation, there were two antagonistic classes in the Tibetan society: the serf owners and the serfs. The serf owners, who made up about 5 percent of the Tibetan population, owned almost all the farmland, pastureland, and forests and the bulk of the livestock and farming equipment.
The serfs, who accounted for 95 percent of the Tibetan population, owned none of the means of production, such as farmland and grassland. Moreover, the serfs, personally owned by the serf owners, had to provide their masters with free corvee labor and rent. There was a clear distinction between the two classes.
The serf owners enjoyed absolute power to oppress and exploit the serfs. Such oppression and exploitation found its way into local sayings:. Under the serf system in old Tibet, the serfs suffered from corvee labor, excessive rent payments and usury. You need to beat them. The serfs were often beaten in the face with leather hands, jailed in wooden cages or shackled.
The serf owners were in a position to cut off their ears, hands and feet; gouge out their eyes; and even have them executed at will. Many serfs were forced to flee their homes and live as beggars. Numerous such people died on the roadside. In Lhasa, Xigaze, Qamdo and Nagqu, beggars huddled together in large groups.
