CHINA TIBET SOCIETY

Tibetan villager lives through five generations of residences

epa10664998 A "third-generation" house in Losang Zhamdu's village of Demqog, Zhaxigang Township, Gar County, Ngari Prefecture, China's Tibet Autonomous Region, 28 May 2023 (issued 31 May 2023). "My mother and I lived together in a tent made with yak hair, all our possessions were a goat fur jacket and a worn-out Tibetan blanket," recalled Losang Zhamdu. "Was that tent my first home? I don't know, because everything in our hand belonged to the serf owners." In 1959, democratic reform was launched and feudal serfdom was finally abolished in Tibet. A million serfs and slaves were emancipated, and 20-year-old Losang Zhamdu was one of them. In the 1960s, with the help of his neighbors, Losang Zhamdu built his second home - a "two-bedroom" flat with stone and mud. Such houses are called "first-generation" ones in Demqog Village. In 1990, Demqog was officially established as an administrative village, which came along with "second-generation" houses built with adobe. Through the joint efforts of his family, neighbors and border guards, Losang Zhamdu was able to move into his third home. In 2006, Losang Zhamdu celebrated the inauguration of his fourth home, also known as the "third-generation" house of Demqog Village - a house with bricks and concrete structure. "It's a comfortable house. I like it very much." In 2010, Shaanxi Province, which had been assisting Ngari, shifted its aid to the construction of new rural areas, and Gar County also kicked off a series of projects in Demqog. The village has launched a solar power station for regular electricity service, a village square, a fitness area, a reading room and other supporting facilities. A paved road was also built to connect the outer world. In 2012, Demqog Village ushered in its fourth-generation houses, two-story buildings of reinforced concrete structure that come with courtyards. In September 2019, a group of Demqog villagers including the Losang Zhamdu family held a move-in ceremony for their "fifth-generation"

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