By Sihong Li, Peng Lu and Wei Zong

The ethnic relations in old China were unequal. The suspicions, estrangements, and contradictions among various ethnic groups were prominent. And ethnic groups were not united within. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party of China took ethnic unity as a basic principle for handling ethnic relations, thus ushering in a new era of ethnic relations in China.

The Communist Party of China attaches great importance to ethnic unity when leading the people of all ethnic groups in their revolutionary struggle. In 1936, Mao Zedong issued the "Declaration of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet People's Republic to the Hui People" in the name of the Chairman of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet People's Republic during the Red Army's Westward March, clearly proposing "to protect the mosques, protect the imams, and guarantee the absolute freedom of faith for the Hui people."

After the founding of New China, national unity was written into the constitution. Article 4 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates: “All ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China are equal. The state guarantees the lawful rights and interests of all ethnic minorities, and maintains and develops equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmonious relations among all ethnic groups. Discrimination and oppression of any ethnic group are prohibited. Acts that undermine national unity and create national divisions are also prohibited."

After long-term exploration and repeated practice, China has embarked on a path with Chinese characteristics to resolve domestic issues and maintain national unity. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in order to eliminate the barriers between various ethnic groups, under Mao Zedong’s suggestion, the central government sent four ethnic delegations to visit various ethnic regions, organized frontier ethnic minorities from all walks of life to visit the inland, and solved the problem of ethnic minorities. Due to the practical difficulties in production and life, the government vigorously trained ethnic minority cadres, won and united ethnic elites and religious upper-class people, thereby effectively dredging and improving the relations of various ethnic groups, and enhancing the trust and unity among all ethnic groups.

In order to realize ethnic equality, China has identified ethnic groups within its territory since 1950 and determined their ethnic composition, so that ethnic minorities have become equal members of the Chinese nation. At the same time, China has also established ethnic autonomous areas and carried out democratic reforms and socialist transformations in ethnic areas, so that all ethnic groups living under various social systems such as primitive commune, slavery, feudal serfdom, and feudal landlord economy would join hands and embark on the road of socialism. A new socialist ethnic relationship began to take shape, and the unity of various ethnic groups in China entered a new era.

The concept of "Han nationality cannot do without ethnic minorities, ethnic minorities cannot do without the Han nationality, and the ethnic minorities can't do without each other" has taken root in the hearts of all ethnic groups, and many touching stories came out of this. In the 1960s, due to material shortage and food scarcity,  3,000 Han orphans from Shanghai were accepted by Mongolian mothers of Inner Mongolia with love. This is a story of unity that transcended region, blood, and ethnicity. Another story was written by by Zheng Qiaoling, a Han nationality in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. She sponsored 21 Xinjiang Uyghur, Kazakh, Hui, and Xibe middle school students and all of them were admitted to university. She was therefore known as the "Han Mother of 21 Xinjiang Children." In order to speed up the economic and cultural development of ethnic minority areas, inland provinces have extended their counterpart assistance to ethnic minority areas such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Yunnan, and Guangxi. Together, they are composing a song of ethnic unity.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, all ethnic groups have united closely to fight the epidemic together. Under the unified deployment of the central government, 19 provinces, including Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, and Guangxi, sent their best medical and health teams to support Hubei. People of all ethnic groups including Uighurs, Tibetans, Mongolians, Huis, Kazakhs have donated money and materials to support the country's fight against the epidemic. Six Uyghur businessmen doing business in Yan'an worked overtime to produce 1,000 Uyghur-styled cakes and donated them to the Affiliated Hospital of Yan'an University, expressing the care and love of front-line medical staff in the fight against the epidemic. 3,000 Tibetan herdsmen in Yushu, Qinghai, donated the valuable Chinese medicine cordyceps sinensis worth 3.2 million yuan to fight the epidemic. The Yao and Miao people in Honghe, Yunnan, on the border between China and Vietnam, used motorcycles to transport trucks of bananas and pineapples out of the village and donated them to the people of Wuhan. The Wa and Dai people in Lincang, Yunnan, on the China-Myanmar border, saved their bacon, sausage, and ham to donate to the people of Hubei. These stories are testimonies of the close unity of all ethnic groups in China.

Over the past 70 years, China’s 56 ethnic groups have always been united closely like pomegranate seeds, working together, living in harmony, and developing in harmony. They have written a magnificent poem of the Chinese nation’s support and solidarity. Over the past 70 years, China’s 56 ethnic groups have always shared the same vision, same fate. They have been marching forward with one heart and one mind.  However, looking at western countries, racism, white supremacy, and ethnic discrimination can be found everywhere, and this has led to social contradictions and conflicts. China's national unity provide a model that the western countries can follow.

(Sihong is an assistant Professor of School of Foreign Languages, Peng is Professor of School of Humanities, Honghe University, Wei is a distinguished researcher of Southeast Asian Studies Center, Honghe University)