Watch: Xi attends grand gathering to celebrate Xizang Autonomous Region's 60th founding anniversary

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday attended a grand gathering at the Potala Palace square in Lhasa, capital of Xizang Autonomous Region, to mark the region's 60th founding anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, joined around 20,000 local officials and people from all ethnic groups and all walks of life in the celebration.

Gama Cedain, chairman of the people's government of Xizang Autonomous Region, announced the commencement of the gathering at about 10:00.

Also present were other senior officials, including Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and head of the central delegation for the anniversary celebration activities, and Cai Qi, director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

The Xizang Autonomous Region was founded in September 1965, after the establishment of the regional People's Congress, the local legislature, through elections.

Over the past six decades, Xizang has made historic breakthroughs in its economic and social development.

The region's GDP totaled 276.5 billion yuan (38.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024 -- 155 times that in 1965. Xizang's average life expectancy has reached 72.5 years, against 35.5 years in the 1950s. Notably, the region has eliminated millennia-old absolute poverty and become a moderately prosperous society in all respects alongside the rest of the nation.