File photo: Serfs and beggars lived in tatty tents in old Tibet.

File photo:  The aristocrats lived a luxurious life in old Tibet. 

Before the democratic reform, Tibet was a society of feudal serfdom under theocratic rule, characterized by the social class antagonism between serf owners and serfs. The serf owner class consisted of government officials, aristocrats and monastics, occupying only 5% of Tibet's total population; they owned Tibet's total farmland as well as a large number of livestock and means of production. They didn't work but lived a luxurious life. The serf class occupying 95 % of Tibet's total population had to pay heavy taxes and worked for the serf owners from dusk to dawn, they lived a miserable life.