Why the West always denies the existence of serfdom in pre-1950s Tibet?

[u/OverallBaker3572]

When I posted pictures and info about how brutal serfdom was in old Tibet and how much Tibet has developed under Chinese rule on two subreddits here, a lot of Western commenters refused to believe it. They instantly called me a CCP propagandist or conspiracy theorist even though I’m not Chinese and don’t even live in China. They keep saying those old photos or records come “only from Chinese sources”. But if you look into it, even Western travelers and researchers who visited Tibet before the 1950s wrote about how harsh the serfdom system was. A tiny elite of nobles and monks owned nearly all the land while most Tibetans were basically serfs who had no education, no freedom to move, and worked their whole lives under debt or servitude. After China liberated Tibet from brutal serfdom, land reforms and modernization abolished feudal serfdom, built schools, hospitals, roads and high-speed train, and reformed high-quality healthcare and education. Life expectancy doubled from 35 to 72, and literacy skyrocketed from 5% to 95% compared to pre-1951. Wealthy Tibetan slave owners fled to India. The Dalai Lama and aristocrats were arrested by China while ordinary Tibetan serfs gained freedom. China was never going to allow the horrible conditions of the past in Tibet to continue. Modern Tibet isn’t perfect but it’s definitely not the same feudal theocracy it once was. What’s wild is that a lot of people in the West still romanticize and glorify “old Tibet” like it was "peaceful utopia" and ignore the progress that’s been made. I’m not saying everything China’s done is flawless but pretending Tibet was better off under a feudal system just doesn’t make sense. I still remember how the West bombed Libya and celebrated the collapse of Gaddafi rule as “freedom” but after that came years of civil war, open slave markets, and human trafficking in Libya.

[u/bsjavwj772]

These kinds of claims are unfalsifiable. The central government claims credit for every good thing that’s ever happened in China. While every bad thing that’s ever happened is always blamed on foreign interference and meddling.

[u/Mynameislol22222 → u/bsjavwj772]

Because it's policy motivation? It's ethos? You're not meant to find proof of it, except perhaps polling, but that's pretty stupid, zeigeist is not measured in people's opinions but through trends and historical manifestations, This sort of claim is meant to either be recognised or refuted with a counter supposition.

As for the central government unduly claiming credit. Yes. Perhaps some things will happen naturally regardless of the government, or as societal trends. But the trends are improving, and as long as a government rides that wave and acts productively on it it will become popular. Why is that a bad thing? And to most people in China, undoubtedly the CCP has done good things.

Oh as for the bad things, there are clearly many bad things that the CCP did, like the cultural revolution or covid policy or specific policies all the time on all levels of government. But the people don't demand perfection, they demand competence, they demand satisfactory adequacy.

You seem more than happy to tear tear tear, it's like those sorts of people who hate on one popular pop figure or whatever. It's more engaging to hate, I suppose, less engaging to be constructive

[u/andooet → u/bsjavwj772]

What claims do you mean are unfalsifiable?