Along the Xiliao River, there are not only poems and distant places, but also leather sculptures and choruses.

China News Service, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, September 23. Title: There are not only poems and distances along the Xiliao River, but also leather sculptures and choruses.

China News Service reporter Mian Zheng Fei Fan

The Xiliao River turned a corner here, giving birth to a river beach with beautiful scenery. The River Garden Community in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia is located on the east bank of the river. For residents of all ethnic groups, living there is "really enjoyable."

In the "Pomegranate Seed" residents' forum in the center of the community, a senior choir is rehearsing a new National Day program; in the intangible cultural heritage leather carving studio, several "baby mothers" are making "little pomegranate" pendants; not far away, some residents are learning guzheng and traditional paper-cutting. These ordinary shared spaces have become a bond of warm companionship among neighbors.

On September 21, a publicity campaign with the theme of "Building a Strong Community and China as a Family" entered the Hepan Garden Community in Xincheng Street, Tongliao Economic and Technological Development Zone, Inner Mongolia. Community residents are rehearsing the show. Photo by China News reporter Mian Zheng

On September 21, a publicity campaign with the theme of “Building a Strong Community, China is a Family” entered the Riverside Garden Community. As a multi-ethnic embedded community, the permanent population here is about 12,000, gathering 14 ethnic groups including Han, Mongolian, Manchu and Hui. "People of all ethnic groups are as close as one family" is not a slogan hung on the wall, but rooted in every public space in the community and integrated into the daily interactions of residents.

"There are many community activities, and I like to do handicrafts the most. The 'little pomegranate' pendant is not easy to make. You have to sew a stitch backwards to make it strong." Community resident Hou Yanxia is a frequent visitor to the intangible cultural heritage leather carving studio. She and her neighbor Wu Rilig were chatting and working at the same time.

Community resident Hou Yanxia is a frequent visitor to the intangible cultural heritage leather carving studio. She showed reporters the "little pomegranate" pendant she made. Photo by China News reporter Mian Zheng

The intangible cultural heritage leather carving studio is run by Fang Dan and her husband Guilin, who are from a Mongolian-Han family. In 2019, they settled the studio in the community. Now, nearly 200 community residents have participated, and the members are mainly young women. The leather-carved saddles and leather-carved pendants developed by the studio are popular in the market and have become new channels for everyone to increase their income.

There are also several resident choirs in the community, and "Riverside Maple Rhythm" is one of them. On the day of the reporter's interview, some middle-aged and elderly residents were learning to sing "Ode to the Motherland".

"I often tell everyone that you are welcome to come out of your home and come to our activities!" Sun Yongjiang, the founder of the choir, said that the choir is also composed of multiple ethnic groups. Everyone gathers together to sing and exercise. When holding activities in the community, the choir will announce the curtain in several languages. "The harmonious and harmonious atmosphere is the result of everyone's hard work."

Similar scenes abound in the Riverside Garden community. Neighborhood harmony is inseparable from the "13535" working method innovatively implemented by the community, which closely focuses on the main thread of forging a strong sense of the Chinese nation's community and integrates national unity education into daily community governance. At the same time, three major positions of publicity, activities, and services have been established; five "Pomegranate Seed" special service teams have been established; the "three warmth" management measures of warm atmosphere, warm adjustment, and warm measures have been implemented; and five civilized practice forms of talking, commenting, helping, enjoying, and celebrating have been implemented.

Relying on this model, the community promotes the all-round mutual embedding of residents of all ethnic groups in space, culture, economy, society, and psychology. "Relying on public spaces to build communication platforms, communities allow residents to experience the positive impact of living together, learning together, building together, sharing, and having fun together," said Wang Ying, a researcher at the Media Communication and Youth Development Research Center of the Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (over)