From serfdom to Olympics: the Tibetan family behind China's ski mountaineer Cidan Yuzhen

by sportswriters Huang Yaoman and Wang Qinou

LHASA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- More than 70 years ago, Tashi Wangdrak was a young Tibetan serf, born into a world where freedom was unimaginable. He never thought he would live beyond middle age, and certainly never imagined that one day a descendant of his would compete at the Winter Olympics.

This February, his granddaughter Cidan Yuzhen raced on the snow of the