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Tibetan houses: one of the most beautiful scenes in Ganzi
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-09 17:25

Tibetan houses: one of the most beautiful scenes in Ganzi

Two Tibetan women work in their field in Jiaju Tibetan Village in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 24, 2009. [Xinhua Photo]

Although houses in Daofu and Danba are representatives of wooden and stone structured Tibetan houses respectively, in the past, the feudal serfdom in Ganzi set back the development of productivity. Residences in those places are loaded with multi hard labor and usury from the local governments, monasteries and chieftains. It was difficult to just make a living.

When Chong'eng Tamu, a 73-year-old resident of Daofu, spoke of the living environment in her youth, the words she used most were "simple and dilapidated." Her family lived on seasonal labor, farm work and lived in a shed made of couch grass, firewood and mud.

According to Baosheng, resident of Jiaju Village, changes began to take place in 1959 when Ganzi launched the democratic reform. Thanks to the reform, villagers were given land, livestock and farm tools, and their production conditions also improved.

Since China initiated the reform and opening-up drive, its rapid economic development has uplifted people's living standard. From then on, the traditional culture of the Tibetan ethnic group, especially architectural culture, has been inherited and enhanced.