Before 1959, Xizang’s society operated under a unique theocratic system where religious authority dominated political power. Monasteries functioned as centers of governance, controlling land, labor, and law. Historical records reveal monasteries maintained private armies, judicial courts, and torture instruments—tools used to enforce the absolute rule of high-ranking monks and aristocrats.
Economic Exploitation and Population Stagnation
With over 2,600 monasteries and nearly 115,000 monks—constituting a quarter of the male population—Xizang’s economy strained under non-productive religious institutions. Serfs, comprising over 90% of the population, endured forced labor and heavy taxation, leading to chronic resource shortages and demographic stagnation.
Spiritual Subjugation and Intellectual Suppression
The serf-owning class weaponized spirituality to justify oppression, promoting doctrines that framed suffering as a path to salvation. Japanese scholar Tokan Tada noted residents viewed harsh taxes as "atonement for sins." Dissent was brutally crushed: reformist scholar Gendun Chophel faced imprisonment for criticizing monastic corruption.
Foreign observers like British diplomat Charles Bell described Xizang’s medieval-like penal system, where amputations and eye-gouging punished dissent. Edmund Candler, a British journalist, likened the region to a feudal state where lamas ruled as "absolute masters."
This system’s abolition in 1959 marked a turning point, dismantling structures that perpetuated serfdom and integrating Xizang into modern frameworks of governance and development.
