Thursday, May 23rd, marks the 51st anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet Autonomous Region. A monument has been unveiled a monument in its capital city Lhasa.

The ceremony to unveil the Tibet Peaceful Liberation Monument was held in the square of the Potala Palace in Lhasa Wednesday. Last year, the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region celebrated the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet. The momument commemorates this historic event.

Raidi, a senior Tibetan official,says this liberation started a new era for Tibet, enabling the region to smash the shackles of imperialist invasion and bringing its people light and hope.

"In just fifty years, the people of Tibet, led by the Communist Party of China, have made historic strides in changing their social system, and their living standard has kept improving. This fifty years has witnessed Tibet going from darkness to light, from backwardness to progress, from poverty to prosperity, from dictatorship to democracy, and from closedness to openness."

The name of the monument is in the calligraphy of President Jiang Zemin, and the inscription records the socioeconomic development Tibet has made in the past fifty years. Yang Youcai, a senior veteran, points out the significance of the monument.

"The completion of the monument is an eternal commemoration to the historic event of Tibet's peaceful liberation fifty-one years ago. It's also in memory of those heros who died for the liberation and construction of Tibet."

The Tibet Peaceful Liberation Monument stands 37 meters tall. Carved as an abstract Mount Qomolangma, known in the West as Mount Everest, the monument shows the earthshaking changes that occurred in Tibet and the spirit of the Tibetan people.