Others may be able to go into a bit more detail, but here are at least some images (NSFW/NSFL) of what the serfs had to endure from their slaveowners for centuries, including their brief 'de facto' independence which was during civil war followed by Japanese invasion followed by more civil war.

Cutting off limbs (akin to what happened in Congo), human sacrifice of young girls and skinning kids and adults (using their skin and bones to create instruments) doesn't exactly match the mystical and beautiful image of feudal Tibet that western media tends to portray. There was no way this slaveowning class was ever going to 'integrate peacefully' especially if serfdom was to be abolished and the working class be granted land at all.

This is the same slaveowning class that the CIA funded in 1967 to try to take back the region, the same class that the western media darling Dalai Lama is a part of.

Can understand why these questions are asked from a western perspective since they'll usually teach that history started in 1951 when the evil red communists invaded a holy land, evicted its holy leaders etc. Only you yourself can decide whether to deprogram yourself and see the horrors or continue to believe the current narrative.

As for being guarded, we understand that westerners enjoy travelling, especially these exotic and spiritual pilgrimages which would make for a nice story. As with the same case in 新疆 in recent years, of course foreigners will be tightly monitored especially with the proven history of their western governments actively funding separatist extremist movements in their attempts to destabilise and ultimately balkanise their state designated enemies.

(If the above link doesn't work, here's an alternate one, again NSFL warning)

[–] vermingot@lemmy.antemeridiem.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My bad, the part about Tibet's independence was there in response to another comment, I forgot to delete it.

And about everything being guarded, I wouldn't care a rat's ass about what rich people are allowed to do while travelling, I'm actually more concerned about what freedoms the locals lack.

I'm already aware of what happened in Tibet and the horrors that happened there, and I'm already a communist, and I don't want nor mean to defend any capitalist ideal, but I don't think the situation in Tibet is going well for the local population (to my knowledge, I welcome any new information about the current situation, I think my information is at least 5 years old)

[–] Eat_Yo_Vegetables69@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 1 year ago

Good, you're not one of those tourists lol.

As for anything else, this does come down to whether or not we believe any Chinese sources as any outside mainstream media will definitely say otherwise. All we can do is list a few that are there:

As of mid-2021, the ethnic majority 藏族 is still 86% of the population, and just like other citizens in other provinces, are allowed to elect their local officials.

For religion, while the majority are Buddhist, there are some Christians and followers of the Islamic faith as well. As of mid-2020, 1700 Buddhist temples, 4 Mosques and 1 Church.

Outside of this, they have one of the highest pensions in the country and life expectancy has doubled since 1951 to 72.19 years.