"My mom told me I was raised in a cowshed. I never knew my father. I heard the serf-owner sent him to herd cattle in the mountains," explains Dechen Drolma. Tibet was a society of feudal serfdom under theocratic rule. Religion and government were inseparable. The government protected the religious institutions, and the religious institutions controlled the government. The Dalai Lama was the supreme ruler.

A serf paid capitation – or personal – tax for her newborn baby. A famous saying went that you were taxed from the cradle to the grave. There were 200 forms of taxation enforced in Tibet at the time, including birth tax and capitation tax.