“75 years after the incorporation of Xizang into the People’s Republic of China, Macedonian academic Biljana Vankovska analyzes the profound economic, social and technological transformation of the region, questioning the prevailing Western narratives and highlighting the impact of state planning on poverty reduction and infrastructure development.”
Seventy-five years after the so-called “peaceful liberation” of Xizang, known in the West as Tibet, the debate over the fate of this region continues to be marked by conflicting visions. In an article published by Globetrotter, the political scientist Biljana Vankovska argues that a good part of the interpretations disseminated in Europe and the United States have constructed an idealized image of ancient Tibet, omitting the feudal and theocratic characteristics that, according to various historical records, defined the life of the majority of the population before 1951. For the author, the subsequent transformation meant the dismantling of serfdom structures, the expansion of access to education and health, and the integration of the region into the Chinese national development project.
Vankovska stresses that the economic and social changes have been profound. Life expectancy has doubled, extreme poverty has been eradicated and an extensive network of roads, railways, airports and digital infrastructure connected historically isolated territories with the main urban centers of the country. The author emphasizes that cities like Lhasa have undergone an accelerated process of modernization, incorporating universities, hospitals, cultural centers and advanced technological services, while renewable energy and digital connectivity projects have transformed everyday life even in the most remote areas of the so-called “Roof of the World”.
Far from the image of a disappearing culture, the academic argues that modernization has coexisted with policies of cultural and religious preservation. The Tibetan language maintains a presence in public life, traditional medicine has research and training institutions, and monasteries and heritage sites have been restored and protected. In this context, Vankovska argues that Xizang’s experience opens a broader discussion about development models, sovereignty and the role of the state in the transformation of historically marginalized regions, offering an alternative perspective to the dominant visions that usually prevail in the international debate on China.
As one becomes familiar with the complexities and civilizational depth of China, curiosity naturally extends beyond its major cities into regions often obscured by mythology, ideological distortion and geopolitical propaganda. This has certainly been my own experience. The more I learn about China, the more I am attracted not only by its visible achievements, but also by those places whose realities have long been filtered through Western narratives. Few regions embody this more deeply than Xizang – better known in the West as Tibet.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of what China officially describes as the peaceful liberation of Xizang. In much of the Western world, the immediate reaction is predictable: liberation from whom? However, this is the wrong question. The most significant one is: liberation from what?
In 1951, just two years after the victory of the Chinese Revolution, the Central People’s Government and the local Tibetan authorities signed the Seventeen-Point Agreement, formally integrating the region into the emerging framework of the New China. The transformation that followed was neither simple nor linear, but it fundamentally altered the social structure of ancient Tibet.
For decades, Western discourse has idealized Tibet as a lost spiritual paradise, destroyed by an authoritarian state. Such representations – reinforced by the image of holiness that is often projected on the Dalai Lama – tend to hide the realities of Tibetan society before 1951. Ancient Tibet was not an egalitarian utopia, but a rigid feudal-theocratic order in which political and religious authority merged. Historical accounts indicate that the overwhelming majority of the population lived as serfs attached to monasteries or aristocratic estates, without significant access to education, medical care or social mobility. Illiteracy was widespread, life expectancy remained extremely low, and ordinary people endured harsh conditions under hereditary hierarchies. I recently watched a documentary in which elderly Tibetans described their lives before the reforms: unpaid work, unpaid work, inherited debts and total dependence on landowners or monastic elites. These voices rarely appear in mainstream Western narratives.
The democratic reforms that followed the peaceful liberation dismantled this feudal structure. Serfdom was abolished, land reforms were introduced, and during the following decades, the Chinese authorities undertook one of the most ambitious modernization projects ever attempted in a high-altitude region. Development became inseparable from national integration, which was reflected in the motto: “Xizang is our home, China is our homeland.”
Seventy-five years later, Xizang presents a radically different picture. Life expectancy has more than doubled, surpassing seventy years. Extreme poverty has been officially eradicated. Massive investments in infrastructure transformed a previously isolated region into a connected and rapidly modernizing part of China. Roads, railways, airports, digital infrastructure, renewable energy projects and modern public services are now reaching areas that were previously only accessible after days of travel.Moderna
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway alone revolutionized mobility and economic integration. Lhasa, which was mainly imagined abroad as a mystical relic frozen in time, is today a Moderna city with universities, hospitals, museums, shopping malls, cultural institutions and an expanding tourism. Clean energy systems and digital connectivity have transformed everyday life Clean energy systems and digital connectivity have transformed everyday life even in the most remote communities.
What is particularly striking is that many of the biggest challenges to Western stereotypes come not from Chinese officials, but from foreign visitors themselves.
Indian geopolitical analyst S. L. Kanthan, after visiting Xizang, described a world-class infrastructure, vibrant monasteries, bilingual public signage, clean cities and an atmosphere of stability very different from the dominant Western representations. Swiss journalist and politician Guy Mettan similarly wrote about restored heritage sites, a flourishing Tibetan Buddhism, advanced schools and hospitals, and a visible cultural vitality.
In fact, one of the most important realities of contemporary Xizang is the coexistence of modernization with cultural preservation. The Tibetan language is still visible in the public sphere alongside Mandarin. Tibetan medicine has been institutionalized through universities and research centers. Monasteries, temples and sacred texts are being restored, digitized and preserved. Religious life continues within a Moderna socialist framework that officially recognizes multiple faiths.
This is important because external political narratives about China often diverge markedly from realities on the ground. I myself experienced something similar during my visit to Xinjiang in 2024. In both cases, the image promoted abroad often clashes with what visitors actually encounter: rapid development, a functioning infrastructure, public order and a visible cultural continuity.
It is also important to understand the magnitude of Xizang. This is not a small isolated enclave in the Himalayas. The Xizang Autonomous Region covers about one-eighth of China’s territory and has one of the lowest population densities in the world. Despite the harsh geography of the “Roof of the World”, the region is ethnically diverse, inhabited mainly by Tibetans, but also by Hui Muslims, Han Chinese, Monpa communities and others. Lhasa itself is home to one of the highest-altitude mosques in the world, reflecting a long history of coexistence.
Nowadays, Xizang is increasingly becoming a frontier of ecological and technological development. The solar thermal power plant located at the highest altitude in the world has been built there. AI language models now support Tibetan dialects. Sustainable tourism, electric mobility and regional trade corridors connecting China with South Asia are rapidly integrating the region into the economic networks of the 21st century.
For many in the Global South, and especially for those of us living in the Balkans and other Western peripheries, the transformation of Xizang has a broader meaning. It demonstrates how historically marginalized regions can be integrated into national development through long-term planning, public investment and state-driven modernization. At a time when many Western societies, especially those on the periphery, are facing deteriorating infrastructure, inequality and social fragmentation, Xizang offers a very different development story, focused on poverty reduction, connectivity and collective progress.
The comparison is even more suggestive from an economic point of view. The GDP per capita of Xizang today approaches or exceeds that of several states in Southeastern Europe. North Macedonia, for example, remains trapped in depopulation, economic dependence and post-Socialist stagnation despite decades of promises linked to “European integration.” The contrast is not merely statistical. It reflects two very different development models: one driven by strategic state planning and infrastructure expansion, and the other shaped by peripheral dependence within the global economy.
The story of Xizang’s seventy-five years of transformation ultimately raises broader questions about modernization, sovereignty, and who has the authority to define political legitimacy at the international level. Today, Xizang stands not as the mythical lost kingdom of the colonial imagination, but as a region in the process of modernization and culturally resilient, integrated into the broader project of national rejuvenation of China.
For those willing to look beyond mythology and propaganda, the transformation is hard to ignore. I have already seen something similar in Xinjiang. I hope to see Xizang too one day. Taken together, these vast western regions of China can offer important lessons for societies still searching for viable paths to development, dignity and modernization.
(Globetrotter via Revista De Frente)
