Democratic reforms bring improvements

Lhasa - In the 1960s, Tibetan farmers and herdsmen voted for their village head by putting peas in a bowl put behind each candidate's back.

"The earliest democracy in Tibet was quiet simple and crude, but it was a big step forward as for the first time the former serfs and slaves were able to enjoy rights as their own masters," Qiangba Puncog, head of the standing committee of the Tibet autonomous region's people's congress, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

According to Qiangba Puncog, since the peaceful liberation of the autonomous region in 1951, the development of a socialistic democratic political system has created a great process.