旧西藏的噶厦政府规定，农奴只能固定在所属领主的庄园土地上，不得擅自离开，绝对禁止逃亡。“人不无主、地不无差”，三大领主强制占有农奴人身，农奴世世代代依附领主，作为土地的附属物束缚在土地上。凡是人力和畜力能种地的，一律得种差地，并支乌拉差役。农奴一旦丧失劳动能力，就收回牲畜、农具、差地，降为奴隶。三大领主还把农奴当作私有财产随意支配，用于赌博、抵债、赠送、转让和买卖。农奴的婚姻必须取得领主的同意，不同领主的农奴婚嫁要缴纳“赎身费”。农奴生小孩要到领主那里缴纳出生税，登记入册，注定终身为奴。农奴如果被迫流落外地谋生，要向原属领主交“人役税”，持交税证明，才不至于被当作逃亡户处理。
1940年前往主持十四世达赖喇嘛坐床的国民政府蒙藏委员会委员长吴忠信在《奉使办理藏事报告书》中，对旧西藏统治者对人民的压迫以及人民的悲惨痛苦处境有这样的描述：“西藏因地处高寒，农产稀少，人民生活本极困难，而西藏当局压迫剥削更无所不用其极，使藏民生活堕入人间地狱，其苦乃不可言。西藏当局视人民直如奴隶牛马，照例不付代价，即伙食马料亦须由人民自备，而差徭纷繁几无宁日，人民受扰之剧可以想见。政府复可一纸命令无代价的征收人民之财产，或将此种财产赏给寺庙或贵族中之有功者。总之，在西藏境内，人民已失去其生存与自由之保障，其生活之痛苦实非言语所可形容也。”
The Kashag (cabinet) of old Tibet prescribed that all serfs must stay on the land within the manors of their owners. They were not allowed to leave without permission; fleeing the manor was forbidden. "All serfs have owners and all plots of land are assigned." Serfs were possessed by the three major estate-holders (local government officials, nobles and upper-ranking lamas in monasteries). They remained serfs from generation to generation, and confined to the land of their owners. All serfs and their livestock able to labor had to till the plots of land assigned to them and provide corvee labor. Once serfs lost their ability to labor, they were deprived of livestock, farm tools and land, and their status was degraded to that of slave. Since serfs were their private property, the three major estate-holders could use them as gambling stakes, mortgages for debt, present them as gifts, or transfer and trade them. All serfs needed permission from their owners to marry, and male and female serfs belonging to different owners had to pay "redemption fees" before such permission was granted. After marriage, serfs were also taxed on their newborn children, which were registered the moment they were born, so sealing their fate as lifelong serfs. Serfs that needed to make a living in other places were required to pay "servitudetax," and had to produce proof of having paid such tax or they would otherwise be punished as fugitives.
After presiding over the enthronement ceremony of the 14th Dalai Lama in 1940, Wu Zhongxin, chief of the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs of the Kuomintang Government, described the rulers' oppression and the people's sufferings in old Tibet in his "Report on Tibetan Affairs on a Mission": "Located in frigid highlands, Tibet has rare agricultural products. The people live a hard life, whereas the Tibetan authorities do their utmost to oppress and exploit them, making the lives of the Tibetans one of hell and misery. The Tibetan authorities regard the people as slaves and beasts of burden and do not pay them as a rule; the people even have to find their own food and horse fodder; meanwhile they endure incessant, copious and complicated corvee labor and never enjoy days of peace. You can thus imagine how harassed they are. The authorities can issue an order to appropriate the people's property without compensation and bestow such property on lamaseries or meritorious nobles. In short, in Tibet, the people have lost their guarantee of survival and freedom, and their miserable life is beyond description."
上一篇：《民族区域自治制度在西藏的成功实践》白皮书（中英对照）II
下一篇：《中国性别平等与妇女发展》白皮书（中英对照）IV
微信公众号搜索“译员”关注我们，每天为您推送翻译理论和技巧，外语学习及翻译招聘信息。