CGTN: Xizang’s development is a story of transformation and renewalBEIJING, Aug. 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The story of today’s Xizang Autonomous Region can’t be told in isolation. The profound transformation, resilience and renewal that people see today are a stark departure from the dark legacy of serfdom. It is a testament to the power of development guided by people-centered governance.
Once, at a two-day high-level meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for further efforts to ensure national security and enduring peace and stability, steadily improve people’s lives, maintain a good environment, solidify border defense and ensure frontier security in Xizang. As an inseparable part of China, Xizang has always been a priority for the Central Government.
For centuries, ordinary Tibetans lived under the crushing weight of a feudal theocracy. Roughly 95 percent of the population were bound as serfs, deprived of land, education, and dignity. This old system preserved the privileges of a narrow elite while condemning the majority to poverty and powerlessness. The establishment of the People’s Government of the Xizang Autonomous Region marked a clear break from the past. People in Xizang transitioned from being oppressed serfs to citizens who became masters of their own fate.
The system of regional ethnic autonomy ensures that people of all ethnic groups are masters of their own affairs. As of 2025, Xizang has 42,153 deputies to the National People’s Congress at various levels, with ethnic minorities making up 89.2 percent of all local people’s congressional deputies. Over 57.17 percent of township-level party and government leaders are from minority backgrounds. And at the grassroots level, voter turnout exceeds 90 percent.
And the region’s economy boomed. The region’s GDP soared from just 174 million yuan (around $24.3 million) in 1959 to more than 276 billion yuan (around $38.5 billion) in 2024. Per capita disposable income reached over 31,000 yuan (around $4300), while absolute poverty – once a defining feature of life on the plateau – was eliminated by 2019, lifting 628,000 registered impoverished people out of hardship. Today, residents enjoy a steadily rising quality of life, with average life expectancy climbing from 35.5 years in 1951 to 72.5 years in 2024, reaching historic heights.
Education and healthcare are pillars of social progress. School-age students completing nine-year compulsory education have jumped from 2 percent to around 98 percent, while higher education enrollment exceeds 57 percent. And since 2015, medical aid programs have enabled local treatment for over 400 major conditions. Qu Dian, a 72-year-old Lhasa resident, had over 90 percent of his costs covered by insurance when he underwent cardiac surgery. “This would have been unimaginable in the old society,” he said.
The story of Xizang is also one of openness. Trade links now span 140 countries and regions, while tourism brought in 64 million visitors and 75 billion yuan in 2024. Local products like cordyceps (a genus of fungi used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine) and yak wool reach global markets, and residents enjoy access to international goods with unprecedented ease.
It was nothing short of a rebirth for the region. The transformation it has experienced can’t be told separately from the depth of abjectness from where it started. From being oppressed and disregarded to becoming masters of its own affairs and prosperity, the decades of transformation brought Xizang to a level that would not have been dreamed of by people in the past. The snowy plateau has blossomed into a land of opportunity and hope – an achievement that speaks not just to Xizang’s people, but to the strength of a vision that places human well-being at the center of development.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.
