This Day, That Year: May 23

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On May 23, 1951, the Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (the 17-Article Agreement) was signed in Beijing by the Central People's Government of China and the former local government of Tibet, formally marking the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

The peaceful liberation enabled Tibet to shake off the trammels imposed by imperialist aggressors, brought to an end to the long-term isolation of Tibet and stagnancy of its social development, thus creating favorable conditions for democratic reform and social progress in Tibet.

On March 28, 1959, the State Council, China's Cabinet, announced the dismissal of the original local government of Tibet.

The Tibet autonomous region was established in September, 1965.

Since then, Tibet has made remarkable achievements. The region's GDP soared from 327 million yuan ($47.35 million) in 1965 to 147.8 billion yuan last year, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office.

As a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Tibet has been building an economic belt in the Himalayan region and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

The region aims to become an important channel to strengthen China-South Asia trade.

Infrastructure has been improved in the region, as a comprehensive transportation network composed of highways, railways and air routes has been formed, the report said.

In 2006, services started on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the only rail route linking Tibet to other parts of the country. By the end of February, the railway had recorded 192 million passenger trips and shipped 569 mil-lion metric tons of goods.

Tourism has been booming in Tibet with 33.69 million tourist visits last year. The region's total tourism revenue reached 49 billion yuan.

In October, the central government announced plans to construct the Sichuan-Tibet railway.

In December 2017, 4G arrived in the region. In March 2016, the first KFC outlet was open in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.