Banjiulunbu is home to 508 people living 96 households, 90 percent of whom are descendants of serfs, according to Penlog.

Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, serfs in the village, including the parents of Purchi and Yangzin, lived in the dingy serf courtyard of the Pala Manor. Their rooms were low-roofed, dark and unfurnished.

The Pala family was one of the most powerful and affluent families following the Dalai Lama. According to Purbo Cering, the keeper and tour guide at the Pala Manor, the family owned 37 manors, 12 farms, more than 2,000 hectares of land, and more than 14,900 heads of livestock. It also had more than 3,000 serfs, who farmed their land, raised their animals or worked as craftsman.

Today, the serfs' quarters and their master's grand mansion still stand intact, facing each other across a narrow alley in the village.

The Pala Manor was made a key cultural relic site under the protection of the Tibet Regional Government in 1996 and later put under national protection in 2013.

The manor is open to the public. Every year, it draws about 300,000 tourists to the village, Purbo Cering said.

Purbo Cering's parents were also serfs living in the manor. Now he receives 4,000 yuan ($650) a month from the government for taking care of the building.

The three-story main building where members of the Pala family once resided has been well preserved, and visitors can catch a glimpse of the extravagant lifestyle that the Palas once lived.

Among the exhibits are precious leopard, tiger and money furs, as well as ornaments made of turquoise, agate and other precious stones. One can also find whiskey and other luxury items imported from the United Kingdom, as well as sports equipment for table tennis, badminton, football and ice skating.

The scripture hall in the main building is particularly impressive, with its exquisitely carved and painted walls and pillars featuring elements of Han Chinese and European culture.

As gorgeous as the Pala Manor once was, today it is outshined by the modern houses mushrooming around it. The stylish new houses are owned by the serfs' descendants such as Purchi and Yangzin.

According to Penlog, the 96 households in the village farm 117.8 hectares of land, on which villagers grow barley, corn, wheat, rapeseed and greenhouse vegetables. They also feed a total of 1,682 farm animals—1,043 sheep, 552 yaks and 87 horses. In 2013, local villagers' annual per-capita net income reached 5,302 yuan ($862).

The village has a clinic and villagers are covered by the state-run New Rural Cooperative Medical System. With the clinic, they can have common illnesses such as cold treated in the village.

The clinic was established thanks to the local government's policy to increase people's access to medical services. The prefecture is vast and sparsely populated, and villagers used to have to travel long distances to buy medicine, so the Xigaze Prefectural Government decided to set up a clinic in every village.

Now the target has been met, said Dainzin Namgyi, Deputy Director of the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region and Secretary of the Xigaze Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China.

In addition to the clinic, the village has a library, which was also built with government support. According to data released by the local government, the 1,668 villages and 341 monasteries in Xigaze all have reading rooms.

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