Interwoven communities, good life, better governance

Building interwoven communities is an important foundation for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation at the grassroots level, as well as an important vehicle for the Communist Party of China's ethnic affairs work in the new era.

The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which took effect on July 1, 2026, for the first time, has explicitly established in law the goal of creating interwoven community environments where people of all ethnic groups live and study together, build and share together, and work and enjoy life together. This has laid a solid legal foundation for deeper interaction, exchange and integration among all ethnic groups in northern China's border region.

As China's first autonomous region established for an ethnic minority, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has made the development of interwoven communities an important means of advancing high-quality urban ethnic affairs work in the new era. Through sustained exploration, it has developed an approach toward building interwoven communities with distinctively Inner Mongolian characteristics.

So far, 364 exemplary projects for integrated development among people of different ethnic groups have been cultivated across the region, while 2,057 platforms symbolizing people of all ethnic groups embracing each other as closely as the seeds of a pomegranate have been established. More than 2,800 model interwoven communities have also been developed.

Building a comprehensive institutional framework for interwoven communities

Inner Mongolia has carried out top-level design, by incorporating the development of an integrated social structure and community environment into the region's overall plan for ethnic affairs and establishing a systematic, standardized and long-term institutional framework.

In 2025, the autonomous region issued a guideline, setting out 16 concrete measures and providing an overall action plan for building interwoven communities across the region.

In December of the same year, Hohhot, capital city of the autonomous region, issued the country's first group standard for the development of interwoven communities for people of all ethnic groups. This marked a new stage of standardization and institutionalization in the region's efforts to build such communities.

At the same time, Inner Mongolia has coordinated three special programs focusing on integrated development among people of different ethnic groups, increased exchanges among young people, and the use of tourism to promote interaction and integration.

It has launched a program to integrate northern Inner Mongolia and implement the "Six 100s" initiative: 100 pilot interwoven community projects with demonstrative value; 100 pilot projects promoting common prosperity and integration among people of different ethnic groups in rural and pastoral areas; 100 exemplary projects featuring ethnic unity and integration; 100 platforms for modernizing grassroots governance of ethnic affairs; 100 educational and publicity platforms for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation; and 100 innovative platforms that promote mutual support among people of all ethnic groups.

A number of highly distinctive community models have struck root across the region, becoming important examples of Inner Mongolia promoting ethnic unity and progress, and helping raise the overall standard of interwoven community development.

Creating places where people of all ethnic groups can interact daily

Early in the morning, beneath the newly built resettlement buildings in Lin'nan community in Baotou city, elderly residents watch children run and play in the playground. The aroma of milk tea and pastries wafts from the community canteen, while residents of different ethnic groups sit together chatting at the eldercare center.

The neighborhood was once an aging residential complex plagued by cracked walls, waterlogging during the rainy season and inadequate heating. An investment of 626 million yuan ($93.14 million) in renovation helped build nine resettlement buildings and 658 replacement homes, along with childcare and eldercare centers, a community hospital and smart parking facilities.

Utility networks and roads were completely upgraded. Residents of different ethnic groups have now bidden farewell to their dilapidated surroundings and live side by side in a new community with shared facilities.

Across the region, Inner Mongolia has optimized the planning of government-subsidized housing has moved beyond traditional patterns of separate settlement, encouraging people of all ethnic groups to live interwoven lives in the same neighborhoods.

It has also developed "15-minute convenient living circles". Ethnic unity cultural corridors, open neighborhood squares and shared activity rooms can be found throughout communities, creating abundant opportunities for people of different ethnic groups to meet and interact in their everyday lives.

So far, 254 convenient living circles have been established across the region, covering 534 communities and serving 6.07 million residents. They have helped 562,000 people find jobs closer to home, while overall public satisfaction rate has exceeded 90 percent.

Inner Mongolia has also introduced targeted policies to help the floating population, or people who have been relocated through resettlement programs, integrate into their new communities.

The Duolange'er community in Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner, for example, has introduced an innovative two-way management and two-way service mechanism. From housing and children's education to eldercare, healthcare and employment training, it provides comprehensive support. More than 6,900 people of different ethnic groups have moved beyond their small circles and integrated into the larger community, creating a new model of integrated urban-rural living.

Building a community of common prosperity

Buhe Baiyi, spokesman for the "Horqin Yellow Cattle Industry Workers Labor Brand" in Tongliao city — a city-level labor brand that has established a complete industrial chain covering yellow cattle raising, breeding, epidemic prevention, sales, and product processing — said that several years ago, his family had 32 breeding cows. Now it has 56. By selling calves each year, his family can earn more than 300,000 yuan in additional income.

Through a four-way partnership involving the government, enterprises, village collectives and farmers, the program has established 1,070 breeding cooperatives and helped 42,800 farmers and herders increase their annual income by an average of 52,000 yuan. It is a vivid example of how Tongliao has used labor brands to promote employment and increase incomes.

Economic integration provides a foundation for different ethnic groups to interact, exchange and integrate. Inner Mongolia has consistently promoted unity through development, using industrial support, employment assistance and entrepreneurship incubation to foster economic interdependence and common development among people of all ethnic groups.

Grassroots communities regularly provide inclusive skills training, while community employment service stations, flexible-work service centers and online smart recruitment platforms work together to help farmers and herders who have moved to urban areas, members of the floating population, women and other groups facing employment difficulties, expand their income opportunities.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, 1.057 million new urban jobs were created across the region and 1.374 million person-times of vocational skills training were made. A total of 1,052 neighborhood employment service stations and 168 flexible-work markets and service centers were established, bringing employment services directly to communities and pastoral areas.

Hohhot has established 50 village-level labor cooperatives and 211 community employment assistance stations, while maintaining three dynamic databases covering job vacancies, available workers and training needs. A smart employment platform is used to achieve more precise matching between workers and jobs.

Uxin Banner in Ordos city has established business incubators and formed teams of partners for common prosperity and sharing. Hinggan League has launched four initiatives to broaden pathways to employment and higher incomes.
Tongliao has cultivated 39 ethnic unity labor brands that have collectively generated employment opportunities for 109,500 people.

Building a shared spiritual community

On a Mid-Autumn Festival evening, the themed cultural corridor in Jining district of Ulaanqab is brightly lit. Han residents bring mooncakes and fresh and dried fruit, while Mongolian residents bring dairy products and hand-sliced mutton. Elderly people and children from different ethnic groups sit together, solving riddles and sharing stories about revolutionary heroes.

Drawing on local stories, community storytellers make stories of ethnic unity vivid and relatable. An "Our Festivals" celebration brings residents of different ethnic groups together to share the warmth of reunion during the traditional festival.

Cultural integration is the soul of interwoven communities. Across the region, Inner Mongolia has invested in fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation through cultural venues and everyday community activities. Traditional festivals have become regular occasions for people of different ethnic groups to celebrate and share together, strengthening their sense of cultural belonging.

Ulaanqab city has made full use of its revolutionary heritage and stories of ethnic unity. It has built 13 themed parks and 23 cultural corridors and staged nearly 2,000 public cultural performances by 2026.

On the grasslands of Xiliin Gol, more than 200 neighborhood Naadam events are held every year, where people of different ethnic groups compete together in horse racing, Mongolian wrestling and folk singing.

The Ulan Muqir troupes travel deep into pastoral areas on motorcycles and horse-drawn carriages, staging more than 2,000 mobile performances a year. The sounds of musical instruments of Han and Mongolian ethnic groups resonate together, bringing cultural performances right to the doorsteps of herders' yurts. Through music, dance and laughter, these activities bring people of different ethnic groups closer together.

Creating a community of shared governance and shared life

Inner Mongolia continues to uphold and develop community-level governance. It has established a grassroots micro-governance system led by Party organizations, with Party groups in residential grids and communities at its core, supported by two key grassroots forces: full-time grid workers and building or residential-unit coordinators.

Grid management is a grassroots social governance system that uses small, clearly defined neighborhoods as basic units for service delivery and public security monitoring.

Full-time grid workers are responsible for collecting information, identifying potential risks, mediating disputes and providing convenient services. Building and residential-unit coordinators solicit residents' concerns locally and help bring governance capacity down to individual buildings and residential units.

By the end of 2025, some 58,000 Party groups had been established within community grids across the region. A total of 89,000 full-time grid workers had been recruited, while 390,000 building, residential-unit and household-group coordinators had been selected. This enables residents' concerns to be solicited within the grid, handled at the appropriate level and resolved through a closed-loop mechanism.

Community-level residents' councils and other platforms have been established widely in urban and rural communities. Following the principle that every issue should be discussed, and every matter considered on its own merits, residents from different ethnic groups, property management companies, businesses and government departments are invited to jointly discuss matters such as community renovation, environmental improvement and neighborhood disputes. In this way, community affairs are truly decided and handled by the community itself.

A resident surnamed Wang from a residential compound in Hohhot was all praise for the way hanging telecommunications cables were neatly reorganized. "Thanks to the community and telecommunications companies for dealing with it so quickly. I no longer have to worry about loose cables hanging down and blocking my way when I step out."

During a routine inspection, a community grid worker discovered that multiple telecommunications cables had become loose and were hanging close to the ground outside a building. They posed a risk of pedestrians being struck, or of strong winds making the cables sway and potentially triggering short circuits or fires.

The community immediately activated a coordinated response through a coordinated platform. Once the alert was issued, telecom and television service providers, property management companies and other parties began taking actions immediately. They reorganized, bundled and reinforced the lines, eliminating the safety hazard in a timely manner.

This is part of Hohhot's innovative mechanism, which seeks to resolve problems even before residents have lodged complaints. Under this mechanism, communities are empowered to issue alerts and coordinate government departments and public service providers to address residents' urgent needs and concerns. It has helped shift grassroots governance from responding after problems arise to providing services proactively.

Building a community of shared affection and shared destiny

At the Qingquan Street community in Hohhot, Jin Fuji, a resident of Korean ethnicity in her 70s, smiles as she steps out with a plate of rice cakes to share with her neighbors.

"When I first arrived, my family was struggling. The community helped me open a small shop. Now, whenever there is a festival, I always make some food to share with everyone," she said.

Resident Li Xinhua became emotional when recalling her own experience: "When my father passed away, community workers and neighbors stayed by my side and helped me through it. Living here, we are one family."

Psychological and emotional integration represents the highest level of interwoven community development. Across the region, communities regularly carry out door-to-door visits, with community workers and volunteers visiting elderly people living alone, children in difficult circumstances and other groups in need. They sit down, chat with them and help solve their problems, easing loneliness through genuine companionship.

Communities have established assistance records for people in need and distribute essential supplies during festivals. Everyday acts of mutual help among neighbors have become routine: taking children to and/or picking them up from school, picking up groceries for others, and caring for elderly neighbors. These small acts of kindness, repeated day after day, have woven a close-knit network of mutual support.

Aimin community in Xilinhot has adopted the philosophy that "once you arrive, you are family" and established two platforms — an emotional support salon and psychological services — to create a comprehensive system of care. It offers psychological counseling classes, as well as childcare and elderly rehabilitation services, helping bring people of different ethnic groups closer emotionally.

Inner Mongolia's experience has fully demonstrated that building interwoven communities is an effective way to promote interaction, exchange and integration among people of different ethnic groups.

In the future, Inner Mongolia will remain firmly committed to fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. It will continue to enrich the substance of interwoven community development, innovate platforms and programs, and expand opportunities for interaction and integration, promoting all-round and deeper integration among people of all ethnic groups.

Su Lina is dean of School of Humanities of Inner Mongolia University of Technology. Pang Feng is with the Social Work Department of the Hohhot Municipal Committee.

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