As a multi-ethnic residential community in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Changcheng Garden community has over 18,000 residents across its 19 residential areas, of whom 38 percent are from ethnic minority groups, including Hui, Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan.

During traditional Chinese festivals such as the Spring Festival and ethnic minority festivals such as Eid al-Fitr, residents of all ethnic groups gather together to celebrate the festivals, making the community a paragon of interactions and integration among different ethnic groups.

Visiting the community this June, Chinese President Xi Jinping was pleased to see the residents living harmoniously and happily together.

"Ethnic unity is very important," said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission. "The 56 ethnic groups unite together to forge the community for the Chinese nation. The Chinese nation is a big family."

Speaking at a meeting held in Beijing on Friday to honor role models for ethnic unity and progress, in which 352 groups and 368 individuals were commended, Xi called for consolidating and developing the unity of the Chinese nation and advancing the building of the community for the Chinese nation.

Historic changes of ethnic groups

Letting people of all ethnic groups live a better life is what Xi has always cared about.

The Chinese president has inspected a slew of ethnic minority areas, including the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, having face-to-face communication with people of all ethnic groups, listening to them, and discussing the development of ethnic areas.

Ethnic minority areas have made notable progress in fighting poverty. A total of 420 impoverished counties located in ethnic autonomous areas have been lifted out of poverty. Extreme poverty was eliminated in all 28 of the minority ethnic groups with a small population.

From 2016 to 2020, in the five autonomous regions – Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Xizang, Ningxia and Xinjiang – and three provinces with a large multi-ethnic population – Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai – the number of the impoverished population dropped by 15.6 million.

In addition, exchanges and interactions among people of all ethnic groups become more extensive. For instance, events like the National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of China and the Ethnic Minority Art Festival of China have set up a stage for all ethnic groups to display their styles and communicate with each other.

During Friday's meeting, Xi said the CPC has made new advances in developing ethnic relations of equality, solidarity, mutual assistance and harmony and promoted economic and social development of ethnic areas and the lives of ethnic minority groups to register unprecedented progress.

High-quality development of ethnic areas

Gala Village in Xizang's Nyingchi has more than 1,200 peach trees that blossom each spring, during which the village organizes a peach blossom festival to attract tourists from all over the world to come to enjoy the scenery. 

Home to Han, Tibetan, Lhoba and other ethnic minority groups, the village receives nearly 150,000 tourists every year, significantly improving the lives of local villagers of all ethnic groups. 

As of the end of August this year, 13 households in Gala Village have been approved for loans of 3.5 million yuan (about $498,000) to benefit farmers, which will be used to develop production and the courtyard economy and enrich the tourism industry.

Since 2012, a total of 74.1 billion yuan of central government funds for the development of ethnic minorities have been implemented, supporting more than 24,000 projects such as the development of local characteristic industries, according to China's National Ethnic Affairs Commission. People of all ethnic groups are accelerating together on the track of high-quality development.

The National Ethnic Affairs Commission has so far named a total of 2,055 national demonstration areas for ethnic unity and progress, covering enterprises, villages, government departments, residential communities and schools.

It is imperative to accelerate the high-quality development of ethnic minority areas and promote the economic integration of various regions more closely to solidly advance the common prosperity of all ethnic groups, Xi stressed during the meeting.

He also called for efforts to actively promote exchanges, interaction and integration among all ethnic groups.