People visit a memorial hall marking the emancipation of more than one million serfs in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2019. The memorial hall was opened to the public on Thursday. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

LHASA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A memorial hall marking the emancipation of more than one million serfs was opened to the public Thursday in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Thursday marks the 60th anniversary of the democratic reform that abolished ruthless theocracy and serfdom in Tibet. During the reform, more than 1 million people, or 90 percent of the region's population at that time, were emancipated from the feudal serf system in 1959.

Construction of the memorial hall started in November 2018. The hall is located on the fourth floor of the Tibet Museum of Natural Science in the east suburb of Lhasa.

The memorial hall, with an exhibition area of 3,500 square meters, displays 165 historic documents, 299 items, 331 pictures and four large settings related to the democratic reform in the region.

The memorial hall displays the darkness, backwardness and barbarity of the old Tibet, as well as the great changes that have taken place in the socialist new Tibet, said Chung Tsering, who heads the office for construction preparation of the memorial hall.