This year is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Tibet Autonomous Region. On the June 25, the local government announced a set of data outlining the achievements of the Tibetan people in the past 50 years.

Regional ethnic autonomy means, under the unified leadership of the state, regional autonomy is exercised and organs of self-government are established in areas where various ethnic minorities live in compact communities, so that the people of ethnic minorities are their own masters exercising the right of self-government to administer local affairs and the internal affairs of their own ethnic groups.

In the Tibet Autonomous Region there are a dozen other ethnic groups besides the Tibetans - Han, Hui, Moinba, Lhoba, Naxi, Nu, Drung and others. They have lived in the region for generations, and Moinba, Lhoba and Naxi ethnic townships have been established there.

-The people's congress system was formally established after Tibet Autonomous Region was established in September, 1965. Over the past five decades, all citizens of China who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of ethnic status, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education, or length of residence.

-In the past 50 years, the voting participation rate for the four levels of the people's congress election in the region, cities, counties and townships across Tibet has been on the rise; in 2012, it reached 94 percent. In 2002, when re-election at the regional, prefectural (city), county and township (town) levels took place in Tibet, 93.09 percent of electors in the autonomous region turned out to directly take part in the election at the county level.

-The proportion of deputies of the Tibetan and other minority ethnic groups takes up the majority of deputies at various levels, and more than 90 percent at both county and township (town) levels. Currently, among the 34,244 people's congress deputies at the four levels, 31,901 are Tibetans or from other minority groups, which constitutes 93 Percent, among whom. Monpa, Luoba, Naxi, Hui and Zhuang ethnic groups all have their own deputies.

-Currently, there are 20 deputies of the National People's Congress from Tibet, of which 70 percent are either Tibetan or other minorities. The social status of women has improved significantly as well, with 25.4 percent of Tibet People's Congress being occupied by women.

-Since 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress and Standing Committee have enacted 300 local laws, regulations and resolutions of a legal nature. They have also adapted national laws to suit the actual situation in Tibet.

-Of all the cadres in the region, Tibetan and other ethnic minorities account for 70.53 percent. Since the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, all the directors of the Standing Committee of the Autonomous Region People's Congress and chairmen of Tibet Autonomous Region have been Tibetan citizens.

-Currently, more than 95 percent of the villages in Tibet have established a village representative conference system. This continuously improving system of democratic supervision adopts the village rules of autonomy as the main content.

-Village affairs are open to the public and democratic management has reached full coverage. More than 90 percent of the villages in the region have introduced a public notice board, protecting the people's right to know, right to participate, right to make decision and right of supervision.

-All the 192 urban communities in Tibet have established residents representative conference, community committees and other community-based organizations to provide a guarantee of autonomy to community residents.

This system of regional ethnic autonomy has been improved, allowing full protection to the political rights of the Tibetan people to run their region.