Before the Democratic Reform of 1959 Tibet had long been a society of feudal serfdom under the despotic religion-political rule of lamas and nobles,a society which was darker and more cruel than the European serfdom of the Middle Ages.

• 1959年民主改革前，西藏长期处于政教合一、僧侣和贵族专政的封建农奴制社会，其黑暗、残酷比中世纪欧洲的农奴制度有过之而无不及。