Nagqu, with an average altitude of 4,500 meters, has an average annual temperature below zero degrees Celsius. However, in this land of high cold and hypoxia, a place called the "Plateau Red Pomegranate National Unity Compound" is full of warmth.
In Tacharam Community, Heihe Street, Seni District, Nagqu City, in this "compound" jointly built by the government and enterprises, 245 people from the five ethnic groups of Tibetan, Han, Hui, Dongxiang, and Salar live, study, and work together, forming an embedded living pattern of "I am among you, and you are among me."
From "physical proximity" to "emotional connection", from "strange neighbors" to "good neighbors", how can people of different nationalities, different regions, and different professions get along like a family? Recently, reporters walked into the compound to explore the heart-warming stories that happened here.
Settlement:
A building that carries the dream of living together
The person in charge of the compound, Tie Xiaolin, is a Hui compatriot from Linxia, Gansu Province, and is currently the chairman of Tibet Naqu Dongshan Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. In 2001, when he was 17 years old, he took a truck ride for seven or eight days to reach Nagqu with 700 yuan in his pocket. “When I first came here to sell socks, my hands were so cold that they were cracked and blood was leaking out,” Tie Xiaolin recalled.
During those difficult days, a Tibetan grandmother took care of him for 7 months, providing him with milk and tsampa every day. When he went to Suo County to dig cordyceps and encountered a mudslide, Tibetan compatriot Tashi took him in for 6 days, and finally sent him away on horseback for 11 hours before he escaped.
"When I first arrived in Nagqu, I received help from many people. Now that I have the ability, I want to help more people." This simple heart of gratitude gave him inexhaustible motivation to persist in good deeds.
In this hot land for entrepreneurship, builders, businessmen and workers from all over the country who have taken root in the Heihe subdistrict area gather. Tie Xiaolin found that many outsiders in the area have difficulty renting houses and have poor living conditions. There is a lack of communication platforms between different ethnic groups, and even conflicts arise due to different living habits.
"I often think that we are all people who left their hometowns to work in Nagqu. Why can't we treat each other like a family?" Tie Xiaolin's idea coincides with Cuo Mu, secretary of the Heihe Street Party Working Committee.
"A strong grassroots community will make the country strong, and a safe grassroots community will lead to a safe world." Cuomu said that Tacharam community has a large floating population and multiple ethnic groups living together, which used to be a difficulty in grassroots governance. In order to solve this problem, the Heihe Street Party Working Committee insisted on party building to lead grassroots governance, based on the characteristics of multi-ethnic settlements in the jurisdiction, and took the initiative to take the lead in solving the problem of multi-ethnic cohabitation governance.
Under the overall planning, policy guidance and resource coordination of the street, Tie Xiaolin completely renovated a rental building of his company in the Heihe Street area from 2023 to 2024, refurbished the hardware, improved the facilities, and built the Plateau Red Pomegranate National Unity Compound covering an area of about 9,000 square meters. It was officially listed in September 2025.
Currently, there are 145 rental houses in the compound, inhabited by businessmen from Linxia, Gansu, migrant workers from Sichuan and Qinghai, and local Tibetan herdsmen from Nagqu.
Peace of mind:
A courtyard, a dense management network
"To build the Plateau Red Pomegranate National Unity Compound, our original intention is to take root in Qiangtang, serve the people, solve governance problems, and build an integrated and integrated home; our mission is to lead party building, unite people's hearts, and promote brotherhood and mutual help," Cuomu said. A four-level organizational system of "street-community-building-joint household" has been constructed, special work teams have been established to promote the pairing and joint building of various party organizations in the jurisdiction, and the party member alliance system has been implemented to allow party members and cadres to serve the people on the front line and extend the governance reach to the extreme ends.
Under the guidance of the street party working committee, the compound has improved its governance structure, improved its management system, and built a service platform. Currently, it has established a mediation room, a heart-warming post, etc.
The mediation room is open every week, and residents can report issues such as neighborhood disputes, housing rental conflicts, labor disputes, etc. at any time. Over the past year, the mediation room has strictly implemented the street's work requirements of "investigating in advance, resolving on-site, and stabilizing the source" and mediated a total of 38 disputes of various types, including neighborhood noise disputes, water and electricity bill sharing conflicts, rental deposit disputes, labor wage arrears, etc. The mediation success rate reached 100%, and no conflicts were upgraded to public security cases or lawsuits, which laid a solid foundation for ethnic unity and harmony in the jurisdiction.
In the mediation room, a heart-warming story is still praised today. A Tibetan girl fell in love with a Hui boy, but due to differences in betrothal gifts and customs, the two families had a dispute. The mediation room spent 10 days communicating with both families, and finally helped the two families understand each other and put aside their differences. The lovers eventually got married, and the two got married in May 2026. Tie Xiaolin served as a witness at the wedding.
Heihe Subdistrict relies on the courtyard to set up convenient service contact points, and regularly carries out legal education propaganda, national unity propaganda, and people's livelihood policy interpretation, etc., and effectively delivers the street's heart-warming services to the people's doorsteps. Up to now, a total of 28 legal popularization activities have been carried out, covering more than 300 people; 12 policy briefings have been held, and more than 80 policy consultations have been answered for the public, involving medical insurance reimbursement, children's schooling, employment training, subsistence allowance applications, etc.; the company has proactively contacted civil affairs, social security and other departments to help 23 needy families successfully apply for temporary government assistance.
In order to help foreign merchants and people better integrate into local production and life, with the support and coordination of the street, the compound has opened free Tibetan language training classes, inviting local Tibetan teachers to teach basic terms such as numbers, shopping, asking for directions, and daily communication. It has carried out 18 training sessions, with a total of more than 200 people trained, effectively helping foreign people in the jurisdiction to integrate into the street, into the community, and into the neighborhood.
Heihe Street has included the courtyard as a key point in the street's "Our Festival" series of activities, coordinating event resources, arranging events, and guiding the organization and implementation throughout the process. During the Spring Festival, Tibetan New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, Eid al-Fitr, Corban Festival and other festivals, various activities including cultural performances, folk experiences, fun sports games, food tastings, etc. are organized. On average, more than 40 various activities are held every year, with more than 3,000 participants.
Tranquility:
A flag reflecting concentric circles
Walking into the courtyard, under the five-star red flag flying high, people came and went in front of the convenience service window. Not only can you pay utility bills and collect express delivery, but you can also sell cordyceps, yak jerky and other specialties here. For special groups such as the elderly and disabled, the compound has established a "Pomegranate Convenience Team" to provide door-to-door services every month.
According to the reporter’s understanding, the construction of the Plateau Red Pomegranate National Unity Compound is inseparable from the care, policy support, and business services of Heihe Street over the years. The sub-district takes the initiative to relieve difficulties, build platforms, and empower development for private entrepreneurs in the jurisdiction, and guide entrepreneurs to think about their origins when they are rich, to do good when they are rich, and to feed back to the jurisdiction.
Tie Xiaolin went to Tibet alone in 2001 and took root in the Heihe Subdistrict area to start a business. Starting from the sales of building materials, he gradually expanded to commerce, hotels, cordyceps, medical equipment, ecological agriculture and other fields. Under the guidance of regular education and the cultivation of civilized customs in Heihe Street, Tie Xiaolin took the initiative to shoulder social responsibilities, insisted on warming the people and uniting neighbors, proactively reducing rents for people in need, and giving special care to low-income families, single mothers, sick elderly people, etc. He often said: "We are all brothers and sisters, living on the streets of Heihe. If anyone is in trouble, help if you can."
In the compound, it is a big deal for children to go to school. The parents of the child Ma Lei were doing business in Naqu and wanted to transfer him to school from Linxia, but they were worried that he would not be able to learn. After Tie Xiaolin found out, he took the initiative to contact the community and education departments, and in just three days, Ma Lei was admitted to the local primary school nearby. Nowadays, there are about ten children like Ma Lei studying on the spot in the compound, and none of them is left behind.
"National unity is not a slogan hung on the wall, it is reflected in the daily necessities of life, children going to school, and the elderly seeing doctors," Tie Xiaolin said.
Nowadays, the company provides employment to people in the Heihe subdistrict area all year round, participates in rural revitalization, and promotes national unity. It has created more than 200 jobs and paid more than 3 million yuan in wages. It actively participates in social welfare undertakings such as donating education, helping the needy, and showing love and condolences, and uses practical actions to fulfill the social responsibilities of entrepreneurs and their feelings for the country.
Heihe Street also uses the courtyard as the main front for cultivating models, carrying out the work of discovering, cultivating, selecting and publicizing advanced models of national unity, and driving the entire street area to form a good atmosphere in which everyone cherishes unity and everyone maintains unity.
"Now, neighbors help each other regardless of you and me." Tsomu said that when the elderly live alone and have no one to take care of them, neighbors of all ethnic groups take turns to visit them; when difficulties arise at home, the residents say hello and everyone takes the initiative to lend a helping hand.
On the National Day in 2025, the national flag-raising ceremony was held for the first time in the compound. Residents of all ethnic groups dressed in costumes watched the national flag rising slowly. Against the blue sky and rising sun on the plateau, the five-star red flag is particularly bright. "Watching the national flag unfurling in the wind, I felt warm in my heart at that moment." Tie Xiaolin said, "What is the community of the Chinese nation? It means that everyone lives together and is close to each other. The place where the national flag is raised is our home."
