| A:
Before Democratic Reform, upper-class monks, officials and nobles, accounting
for less than 5 percent of the local population, owned all farmland, pasture,
of the local population, owned all farmland, pasture, forest, mountains, the majority
of livestock, and more than 80 percent of the social wealth of Tibet, while serfs
and slaves-their chattel-were desperately poor. Since Democratic Reform, the living
standards of the people of various ethnic groups in Tibet have improved dramatically,
in line with its economic development. At present, most Tibetan residents have
no problems making ends meet, and some Tibetan farmers and herdsmen have already
achieved a measure of affluence. The net income of Tibetan farmers and herdsmen
has increased from 200 yuan in 1978 to 1,320 yuan in 2000, and their patterns
of consumption have also changed. More than 80 percent have moved to new houses.
The average living cost of Tibetan urban residents increased to 6,385 yuan in
2000-a sharp increased over 1978. Increased income has been used to improve living
standards, and to save money in the bank. By the end of 2000, bank deposits in
Tibet totaled 4.048 billion yuan. |
