The Founding of the Tibet autonomous Region. According to the Chinese Constitution, Tibet operates under the ethnic minorities regional autonomy system. Regional autonomy for minority people is a defined concept. In areas where people of a certain ethnic group live in compact communities, relevant organs of self-government are established and the local people enjoy the right of self-government in running their own local affairs under the unified leadership of the State. An autonomous region such as Tibet exercises self-government through a people's congress and a people's government. Major leadership posts in these two provincial-level organs should be occupied by ethnic Tibetans.

In March 1955 the Central Government decided to set up the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region. In September 1965 the first session of the autonomous region's first People's Congress was held in Lhasa. The founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region was formally declared. With the exception of some upper strata patriots and religious figures, the overwhelming majority of the delegates to the congress were former serfs or slaves.

When the 1993 elections for Tibetan people's congresses at various levels were conducted, there were 1.311 million electors in Tibet, or 98.6 percent of the citizens aged 18 or over; 1.201 million voted (by secret ballot), 91.6 percent of the total electors. Currently, ethnic Tibetans account for 99.92 percent of the township-level deputies, 92.6 percent of the county-level deputies and 82.44 percent of the deputies to the Sixth People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Extensive Self-Government Rights. According to the Constitution and the National Regional Autonomy Law, the Tibet Autonomous Region enjoys regional autonomy on a broad scale. These rights are in five major field: the right to draft self-government ordinances and ordinances specific to the region in accordance with the local people's particular political, economic and cultural conditions; the right to independently plan and administer local economic undertakings and exploit and develop local natural resources; the right to independently manage and make use of locally generated financial revenue and Central government allocated fiscal subsidies; the right to independently develop minority education and various cultural media, including literature, arts, journalism, publishing, radio, film and television, that in form or particular quality are characteristic of the ethnic group. Since 1965 the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous region and its Standing Committee have drafted more than 150 local regulations, ordinances and resolutions regarding political, economic, cultural and educational questions. These were formulated in accordance with Tibet's actual situation so as to protect the Tibetan people's interests. Examples include the Rules of Procedure for the People's Congress of the Tibet autonomous region, Procedures for Drafting Regional rules and Regulations for the Tibet autonomous Region, Regulations on the protection and Administration of Cultural Relics in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Regulations on Forest Protection in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Measures for the Administration of Collective Mines and Private Mining Operations in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Modified Regulations in the Implementation of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China. The drafting and implementation of these laws and regulations have provided important legal guarantees for the realization of various democratic rights in Tibet and for local social, economic and cultural development.

Major Efforts Towards Training Cadres of Ethnic Minorities. Governments at all levels stress the training of ethnic minority cadres so as to enable the Tibetan people to better exercise their rights in national and local affairs. Statistics for 1996 show an increase of 18.22 percent in the number of cadres of the Tibetan and other ethnic minorities over 1992, making up 73.68 of the total number of cadres in Tibet or an increase of 4.48 percentage points. At the end of 1998, there were 787,000 cadres in Tibet, with those of the Tibetan ethnic group accounting for 71.6 percent.

Attention is also given to the study and use of the Tibetan language. In 1987 the Fifth Session of the Fourth People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region promulgated Some Provisions on the Study, Use and Development of Tibetan as a Spoken and Written Language. The people's government of the Tibet Autonomous Region drafted the corresponding rules for their implementation. Tibetan and Chinese languages are to be used for important conferences and documents issues by the various organs throughout the region. Tibetan parties to court proceedings can use Tibetan during the investigation and hearing of the case, and legal documents are also written in Tibetan. Currently, Tibetans hold key posts in procuratorates and law courts at all levels.