(HE SHENGKE)

People in Xigaze, Tibet Autonomous Region, dance in celebration of Serfs Emancipation Day on March 28.

On this day 54 years ago, the Central Government announced it would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing Tibet Autonomous Region.

About 1 million serfs and slaves, accounting for 90 percent of the Tibetan population in the 1950s, were thus emancipated from harsh feudal living conditions under a theocratic regime.