China News Service, Hohhot, October 3rd. Title: From urban streets to Gobi pastoral areas: "Chinese family" in Inner Mongolia's embedded communities
China News Service reporter Huang Xinxin Mian Zheng
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is located in the northern border of my country. For a long time, more than 50 ethnic groups, including Mongolian, Han, Hui and Manchu, have lived here.
With the advancement of new urbanization and the increase in population mobility, what experiences and practices has Inner Mongolia developed in promoting exchanges and integration of various ethnic groups?
Recently, reporters from China News Network went to Inner Mongolia with an interview team for the theme publicity campaign of "Building a Strong Community, China as a Family" and visited the vivid practice of multi-ethnic embedded community construction.
Integration of culture and sports: dancing friends and connecting hearts with balls
Walking into Fu'an Community, Tianjiao Street, Ulanhot City, Xing'an League, the "Pomegranate Red Square" that integrates the Tongxin Pavilion, the National Unity and Progress Corridor, and the theme square is particularly eye-catching. Every day from 7 am to 9:30 pm, residents are always active here.
On September 19, people of all ethnic groups were rehearsing dances in Fuan Community, Tianjiao Street, Ulanhot City, Xing'an League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo by China News reporter Mian Zheng
When the reporter visited, the dance team of the community was rehearsing a dance that combined elements of Yunnan Munao Zongge and Mongolian dance. “Our dance team performs Mongolian dance, Tibetan dance, and Xinjiang dance.” Community resident and dance team member Wang Liyan told reporters that they dance from Monday to Friday and will also perform during festivals.
In Angsu Town, Etuokeqian Banner, Ordos City, a volleyball also connects people of all ethnic groups. Local herdsman Ma Hugjilatu has loved volleyball since he was a child and spent 200,000 yuan (RMB, the same below) of his own money to build a volleyball hall. The arena is not big, but more and more people are coming. Everyone formed mixed teams and chatted together after playing. "Volleyball brings everyone together, their health improves, their relationships improve, and their family and career also go smoothly," Ma Hugjilatu said.
On September 21, a volleyball league for farmers and herdsmen in Otok Qian Banner was held in Maogetu Community, Angsu Town, Otok Qian Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo by China News Network reporter Huang Xinxin
Taking note of the farmers and herdsmen's love for volleyball, the local government established the "Prairie Village Volleyball Farmers and Herdsmen Association" to create three volleyball-themed discussion points and cleverly combine volleyball culture with grassroots governance. Relying on a game of football, we can flexibly mediate minor disputes caused by neighborhood boundaries and daily trivial matters.
Working together and having fun together: working together and getting rich together
In the riverside garden of Xincheng Street in Tongliao Economic and Technological Development Zone, 14 ethnic groups live together here, of which ethnic minorities account for nearly 60%.
In the intangible cultural heritage leather carving studio in the community, Fang Dan and Guilin are leading residents to make leather goods. "We have now led nearly 200 community residents to participate, and 60 to 70 people are stable in the long term." Fontaine said that the leather carving saddles and leather carving pendants developed by the studio have been welcomed by the market and have become new channels for everyone to increase their income.
On September 21, local residents were making leather carving products in the riverside garden of Xincheng Street, Tongliao Economic and Technological Development Zone, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo by China News reporter Mian Zheng
Walking into Habagxi Street, Kangbashi District, Ordos City, in the "Litchi Blossom" entrepreneurship and employment workshop, local resident Gao Meijun was making mugwort sachets with sisters of all ethnic groups.
"There are sisters from the Han, Mongolian and Hui ethnic groups in our team, who are all migrant farmers and herdsmen. After moving to the city, our living conditions have improved, but we have always wanted to find a job that can be done at home." Gao Meijun said that the street has built a "wormwood" handicraft employment and entrepreneurship base. "We have made more than 2,000 pieces of mugwort handicrafts, including mugwort sachets, mugwort pillows, mugwort hammers, etc. Sisters of all ethnic groups work together and feel like a family."
Liu Xianghong, deputy director of Habagxi Sub-district Office, introduced that the local government implements "relief for work" and organizes the transfer of farmers and herdsmen to participate in landscaping, road maintenance and other projects. In the past three years, more than 400 relief-for-work projects have been implemented, and more than 55 million yuan in labor remuneration has been distributed, leading to a long-term and stable increase in income for more than 1,500 farmers and herdsmen. “Relocated people of all ethnic groups work together at the project site, work on the same site, learn from each other, and enhance exchanges, exchanges and integration during joint work,” she said.
Watching and helping each other: Gobi women protect northern Xinjiang
In Alxa Right Banner in western Inner Mongolia, the 45.25-kilometer Sino-Mongolian border stretches across the Gobi wilderness, and the 28,000-square-kilometer border management area is vast and sparsely populated. Here, Mongolian, Han, Hui and other ethnic groups have thrived for generations, and communities are embedded in the streets and alleys of the city as well as in the Gobi pastoral areas.
The Alxa Right Banner Border Management Brigade Women’s Border Guard Team, composed of 14 female civilian auxiliary police officers, is Inner Mongolia’s first professional women’s border guard force.
Niu Xin, secretary of the party committee and political instructor of the Alxa Right Banner Border Management Brigade, said that the women's border guard team has been taking root at the border for a long time to carry out patrols. It has also gone deep into herders' yurts and industrial factories, taking advantage of their proficiency in Chinese and Mongolian to resolve a large number of conflicts at the grassroots level.
"When I was working in the community, my 'battleground' was a few streets and dozens of households. Now I am facing a border management area of 28,000 square kilometers." Shi Jing, a member of the women's border guard team, recalled that she was still shivering from the cold even though she was wrapped in two layers of cotton coats during her first border patrol, but when she saw her colleagues around her, she found the answer to perseverance. "They planted Haloxylon ammodendron, sheared camel hair, and carried out voluntary publicity for the people. As time went by, they helped each other with the herdsmen of all ethnic groups and became concerned about each other."
From urban communities to Gobi pastoral areas, from employment workshops to border front lines, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region uses the "five mutual embeddedness" of space, culture, economy, society and psychology as the starting point to let the seeds of national unity be deeply planted in the hearts of people of all ethnic groups and bloom brilliant flowers of happiness in the land of northern Xinjiang.
