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Visitors look at photos of Tibet's history in the exhibition of Tibet's past and present, at the Cultural Palace for Nationalities in Beijing, capital of China, on May 5, 2008. The exhibition has drawn 80,000 visitors since its opening on April 30.

The exhibition at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities, comprises two parts: the History of Tibet and Feudal Serfdom in Old Tibet, and New Tibet Changing with Each Passing Day.

About 160 objects, more than 400 pictures and audio-visual material are on display telling of the vicissitudes of Tibet over the past 700 years, and in particular, the past 50 years.

More than 2,000 people visit the exhibition each day, a spokesman for the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, said.

After watching a documentary on Tibet's history, Cai Xiaoyun, a retired teacher from Wuhan University, Hubei province, wrote in the visitors book: "The exhibition gives one an insight into the barbarianism and darkness that permeated old Tibet. I now understand how the backward system of mixing politics and religion thwarted Tibet's development and progress."

One display shows that from 1965 - when the Tibet autonomous region was founded - to last year, the central government had provided almost 162 billion yuan ($23 billion) in financial support for Tibet, accounting for 93 percent of the region's fiscal revenue, and how government projects helped improve local people's living standards.

"Such a large investment is very impressive," Han Juduo, a driver for a Buddhist monk, wrote in the book.

Arnulf Kolstad, a professor from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said the exhibition demonstrated that great changes had taken place in Tibet, and such changes had benefited the people.

He said there have been all kinds of rumors about Tibet in the West, and the exhibition made clear they were just rumors.

Fan Yuelong, a student from Beijing's Capital Normal University, said he had no idea Tibet had developed so fast, and the pictures showing the past and the present were impressive.

Zhao Xin, a visitor from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said: "This exhibition should be shown in foreign countries, instead of just China, so that people will have a better understanding of Tibet."

The exhibition is jointly sponsored by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council Information Office and the government of the Tibet autonomous region.

The exhibition will run until July 25, and admission is free.