China issues white paper on Tibet

Chinese Culture

Pic: Xinhua

China has issued a white paper on Tibet ahead of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the ethnic autonomous region. The white paper said that since regional ethnic autonomy came into practice in 1965, Tibet has established a new socialist system and achieved economic and social development.

Top Chinese political advisor Yu Zhengsheng arrived in Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, on Sunday, leading a central government delegation to attend festivities marking the 50th anniversary of the region’s founding.

In rural China, the land is collectively owned. Each household is in charge of certain farmland and can pass it on to the next generation, but can’t sell or turn the land into other uses. That makes it difficult for farmers to earn any income except from their crops. China started nationwide land transfer trials in 2013 to clarify farmers’ ownerships so that they could lease or mortgage their property. Cultivated fields account for less than one percent of agricultural land in the Tibet Autonomous Region and ownership clarification has become a must-do.

CCTV’s Feng Xin visited one village and learns how land ownership is settled.

Eye on Tibet series from CCTV News highlights aspects of life in the Tibet Autonomous Region.