On the Pamir Plateau, if you witness a football match, you'll see teams from different ethnic groups competing against each other; if you walk into a community, you'll see children from different ethnic groups playing together; if you stroll through the countryside, you'll hear the concerto of struggle played by people of all ethnic groups in the factory workshops.
This is the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture. Listening to its stories, you'll discover that "forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation" is never an abstract concept, but rather the footsteps of those who walk together on the border, the songs that intertwine in the villages, the shared fruits of development, and the deep affection that has settled over the years. It has taken root and sprouted on this land of hope, growing into a way of life, a fundamental spirit, and a beautiful future that everyone is striving towards together.
To depict a vivid picture of unity
On a winter's day, the Artush Football Park is filled with the warmth of the sun and cheers.
When the host team, Gedaryan, calmly slotted the penalty kick into the net, the entire stadium erupted in cheers, with tens of thousands of spectators waving banners that read "Artush, come on!" and shouting encouragement. In stoppage time, when the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture team, Palidiao, equalized the score with a penalty kick, the cheers of the fans who had traveled from afar and the local spectators resounded through the sky, indistinguishable from one another.
The 2025 Artush Cup Xinjiang Football Invitational Tournament ignited not only the live audience but also a phenomenal nationwide celebration.
In Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, the unity forged through football is extending to all aspects of life, with "living, learning, building, sharing, working, and enjoying together" becoming the norm.
Since 2025, the Wuqia County football team has joined hands with the Artush City and Changzhou City teams to participate in the "Silk Road New Journey, Building Dreams on the Green Field" football invitational tournament, organizing various online and offline exchange activities for young people of all ethnic groups both inside and outside Xinjiang.
Behind this is the continued deepening of the "Three Entries, Two Connections, and One Friendship" activity in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture—more than 18,000 teachers and more than 170,000 students have been paired up and made friends, primary and secondary schools in Wuqia County and schools in Changzhou City have carried out 52 online and offline teaching and research activities, and more than 6,200 teenagers have participated in cross-regional exchanges throughout the year.
"You come to my house to eat fried dough twists, and I come to your house to eat mooncakes" has become a common practice during the festival. Just like passing and cooperating on a football field, young people from all ethnic groups sow the seeds of friendship through learning and games together, allowing the sense of community of the Chinese nation to take root deep in their hearts.
The construction of interconnected communities has deepened this integration. In Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, 100% of residential communities have achieved interconnected living, and 28 pilot communities have been equipped with leisure squares, convenience stores, and cultural activity halls, creating a "zero-distance" communication platform for people of all ethnic groups.
In the Hexielu Community of Akto Town, Akto County, various activities are frequently held, such as square dancing in the cultural square, talent shows in the cultural and sports activity room, and food sharing sessions featuring the flavors of various ethnic groups. Resident Wubulikasimu Aiyiti exclaimed sincerely, "We participate in activities together, get along well, and are especially happy."
Artush City has clearly defined the proportion of people of different ethnic groups living together in the planning of new residential areas, and regularly carries out activities such as "Neighborhood Festival" and "Hundred Families Banquet". In daily life, mutual respect and tolerance allow the flower of ethnic unity to bloom forever.
Deepening exchanges and integration among various ethnic groups has injected strong momentum into tourism integration.
Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture is developing the "West Pole of China - Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture" and the "Azihan Fig Folk Culture Tourism Area," constructing a development model of "folk customs + tourism" and "sports + tourism." Wuqia County, relying on its cultural relics museum, Soviet-style architectural complex, and the confluence of the Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains, has launched border red tourism study tours and geological research tours. In 2025, it received 2.3061 million tourists, generating tourism revenue of 860 million yuan, representing year-on-year increases of 40.57% and 45.52%, respectively.
From football fields to community streets, from school classrooms to tourist attractions, the spirit of "ethnic unity as one family" is constantly deepened in various activities.
The spiritual soil of identity
A biting wind howled through the high-altitude pastures as horseback preacher Jiakupuwali Baikeyali and his team climbed the steep mountain path. His pack contained not only the daily necessities of the herders but also materials for disseminating the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee.
As soon as Gakupuwal dismounted, several herders gathered around him. Without even taking a sip of hot tea, he unfolded the still-scented newspaper and began to read. When the topic turned to policies concerning people's livelihoods, he paused, pointed to the distant snow-capped mountains and grasslands, and said, "Just like our border guards patrolling the border, the Party and the country are protecting our happy lives!"
In Wuqia County, there are many horseback propagandists like Jiakupuwali. They travel from grazing point to grazing point year-round, without a platform or microphone, a stone or a tree stump serves as their platform; their language is also particularly "down-to-earth," affectionately called "cornbread-style" propaganda by the herders—practical, satisfying, and easy to digest.
In the Harmony Road Community of Akto County, the "Red Live Broadcast Room" has become a new platform for promoting ethnic unity. Nurgul Tursun, a resident of the community and an advanced individual in ethnic unity in the county, often enters the live broadcast room to share heartwarming stories from her life. Her more than 40 live broadcasts have attracted more than 60,000 viewers.
If down-to-earth live-streamed presentations are a bond that brings people closer together, then the transmission of intangible cultural heritage is a vibrant vehicle for promoting cultural identity.
Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture has made the world-class intangible cultural heritage "Manas" the core of promoting cultural enrichment in Xinjiang. It has held the Manas International Cultural Tourism Festival for 11 consecutive years, building a three-dimensional display system with "epic as the soul, mountains and rivers as the body, and culture and tourism as the wings".
Theatrical productions such as "The Brotherhood of Manas and Almanbet" have been performed 23 times both inside and outside Xinjiang, with more than 64,000 audience members experiencing the charm of Chinese culture through passionate rap.
Meanwhile, the short drama on falconry culture, "The Eagle's Passing Like a Song," was completed, allowing intangible cultural heritage to step out of the plateau; original songs, "Honoring Artush" and "Westward Uqia," spread widely across the internet, and the "Meeting Uqia" special feature reposted by People's Daily Online garnered a total of 1.487 million views, making Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture culture a spiritual bond that unites ethnic groups.
Furthermore, the patriotic spirit of guarding the border, passed down from generation to generation in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, is a cultural symbol deeply ingrained in their blood.
The prefecture has established 23 educational and practical bases to strengthen the sense of community of the Chinese nation, and red venues such as the prefecture museum and the Burumahan Mauldor Border Defense Museum in Wuqia County have built a spiritual corridor along the border.
Strengthen the material foundation of unity
As the first rays of winter sunlight fall on the country road in Yeketerek Village, Heiziwei Township, Wuqia County, the shops in the "Dream Home" entrepreneurship base are already bustling with activity.
Taking advantage of the village's location near the Irkeshtam border crossing, the village's "two committees" took the lead in building a driver rest station a year ago, and innovatively launched a "fixed rent + operating profit sharing" revenue model, which not only provides drivers with one-stop services for parking, catering and accommodation, but also gives the village collective a stable source of income.
The development of the port economy has revitalized the border villages, while the upgrading of distinctive industries has allowed fruit growers in Artush City to reap the benefits of extending the industrial chain.
To address the challenge of the short shelf life of fresh figs, the local government introduced freeze-drying technology, processing the fresh fruit into freeze-dried products that are easy to store and transport, thus opening up a vast market.
"We signed a purchase agreement with the company, which guarantees to buy each fig at a price of 2.5 yuan," said Abduxukur Wushur, a fig grower, beaming with joy. His family grows 6 mu (approximately 0.4 hectares) of figs, and their income is expected to exceed 100,000 yuan by 2025.
Extending the industrial chain, increasing added value, and achieving economies of scale have become the key to unlocking the development of Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture's distinctive industries.
To date, the collective economic income of villages in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture has reached 112 million yuan, with 211 village collectives distributing 23.8979 million yuan in dividends to the villagers. These tangible benefits have brought people of all ethnic groups closer together in their pursuit of common development.
In 2025, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture seized policy opportunities and precisely implemented 23 distinctive and advantageous industrial projects, covering multiple fields such as planting and breeding, rural tourism, and border trade. It vigorously developed the port economy, attracting more than 200 import and export trading companies to settle in through the "Port Park Loan" policy support and "nanny-style" thoughtful services, and driving 63,000 border residents to join the border trade cooperatives, enabling people of all ethnic groups to increase their income and become rich at their doorstep.
Meanwhile, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture has consistently prioritized people's livelihoods, allocating over 76% of its fiscal expenditure to safeguarding and improving people's well-being: the second phase of the Xinjiang Tianshan Vocational and Technical University (Kizilsu Campus) project was successfully completed; the gap between urban and rural compulsory education has continued to narrow, with the college entrance examination pass rate increasing by 7.27% year-on-year; the Kizilsu Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital is about to be put into use, providing higher-quality medical services to people of all ethnic groups; the "Five-Heart Guarantee" campaign helped 65,800 people pay their pension insurance premiums, and 289 million yuan in relief funds for people in need were accurately distributed, firmly safeguarding the bottom line of people's livelihoods.
The flower of unity blooms on the Pamir Plateau. Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture uses culture to forge its spirit and unite its people, solidifies its material foundation through common prosperity, and enhances ethnic sentiment through interaction, exchange, and integration, thus embedding the sense of community of the Chinese nation into the blood of all its people.
Yang Shuhan, reporter from Tianshan Net-Xinjiang Daily
