From AFP:
China announced on Monday that Tibet would each year have a special day to celebrate the Chinese military’s crushing of a Dalai Lama-led rebellion and the “freeing of slaves” 50 years ago.
The Himalayan region’s parliament unanimously approved the motion to make every March 28 “Serf Emancipation Day,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.
“On March 28, 1959, Tibetan serfs and slaves, who accounted for more than 90 percent of the region’s population, were freed after the central government foiled an armed rebellion staged by the Dalai Lama and his supporters,” Xinhua said.
The new day is sure to stoke controversy as communist China’s versions of recent Tibetan history are markedly different from those of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, and his supporters.
