A ceremony of raising the national flag and singing the national anthem was grandly held on Friday morning in the Potala Palace Square in Lhasa, capital of the Xizang autonomous region, to commemorate the 17th Serf Liberation Day.

Karma Tsetan, chairman of the Xizang autonomous region, delivered a televised speech commemorating the 66th anniversary of the liberation of one million serfs in Xizang.

In his speech, he stated that 66 years ago, 95 percent of the Tibetan population, consisting of serfs and slaves, were regarded as "speaking livestock" by the "three major lords."

"On the streets of Lhasa, one out of every eight people was a beggar; on the northern Tibetan grasslands, herders who couldn't pay the 'head tax' had their limbs cut off and could only crawl to survive," said Karma Tsetan.