On January 29, 2026, Zhijiang County was awarded “National Demonstration Area for Ethnic Unity and Progress.” This recognition affirms Zhijiang’s years of exploration and practice, and bears witness to its moving journey from the victory in the War of Resistance to ethnic unity and development in the new era.
Historical Memory: Laying a Deep Foundation for Spiritual Identity
The surrender acceptance in Zhijiang washed away a century of national humiliation, marking the first time in modern China’s history that it accepted surrender as a victorious nation. This small border town in western Hunan thus became the first site in the China’s battlefield to accept the Japanese surrender, writing a glorious page in the history of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
From constructing the “Memorial Arch for the Victory in the War of Resistance” in China to establishing a museum that systematically displays the history of the surrender acceptance; from a cross-border search spanning over two decades for original footage of the Japanese surrender to extensively collecting over 3,000 pieces of war-related cultural relics from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas, Zhijiang has been meticulously building a network for passing down national memory.
Today, when young people from various ethnic groups share stories of the War of Resistance in the museum, history is no longer detached names and dates but becomes a collective memory they can touch and feel. The concept of “sharing weal and woe, honor and disgrace, life and death, and a common destiny” quietly takes root in young minds.
What is even more remarkable is that Zhijiang has not locked this history away within its own walls. It has successfully applied to become the world’s 307th International City of Peace, consecutively hosted six sessions of the International Peace Culture Festival, and established friendly relations with cities in multiple countries. These cross-border practices demonstrate that historical trauma can be transformed into a spiritual resource for building a community with a shared future for mankind. When people of different skin colors and languages jointly sign the “Peace Declaration” in Zhijiang, the significance of the victory in the War of Resistance transcends national boundaries, becoming a spiritual bond connecting all ethnic groups.
Industrial Integration: Unity and Collaboration Fuel Economic Development
Zhijiang deeply integrates ethnic unity into industrial development, exploring a practical path where integration promotes development which consolidates unity.
As night falls, stars and light intertwine over the Peace Lake. The large-scale water-based light and sound show on the Peace Lake, centered on the theme of “integration,” incorporating red history, peace concepts, and ethnic culture, and using technological means to innovatively conduct education on the consciousness of the Chinese national community. In 2024, Zhijiang received 4.7011 million tourist visits, achieving tourism revenue of 4.407 billion yuan. The cultural and tourism industry has become a crucial platform for promoting interaction, exchange, and integration among all ethnic groups and for sharing the fruits of development.
In November of the same year, a staff fun sports meeting themed “Hearts in Oneness” was held vibrantly in the Zhijiang Industrial Development Zone. The competitions cleverly incorporated elements of ethnic unity and progress into diverse and fun events, allowing the concept of “One Family of the Chinese Nation” to take root alongside production lines and within the industrial park community, gathering strong momentum to drive economic development.
In the area of Shangping Village, Xindianping Town, a multi-ethnic village community is showcasing its unique developmental vitality. In recent years, leveraging red cultural resources and its characteristic agricultural foundation, the area has explored a coordinated revitalization path of “Party organization leadership + multi-village linkage + industrial integration.” Centered on Shangping Village and uniting 14 surrounding administrative villages, it has formed a joint development pattern characterized by “connected geography, complementary industries, and shared development planning.”
“In 2025, the total income of our industrial union reached 1.8 million yuan, helping farmers sell 250,000 kilograms of golden pears and ‘Mama’ pomelos, increasing collective economic income in each village by 50,000 yuan, and raising per capita income of the masses by 2,000 yuan,” introduced Yang Changwen, chairman of Zhijiang Hongcun Gongchuang Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. By establishing a joint development company and creating the regional public brand “Xindian Youpin,” local scattered agricultural products like golden pears, “Mama” pomelos, and rapeseed oil have been integrated and promoted, forming a synergistic force for development.
Educational Infiltration: Sowing the Seeds of Community Consciousness
Entering Hehuachi Primary School, the “Pomegranate Seed Ethnic Culture Knowledge Corridor” immediately catches the eye. The bright red characters “Fostering a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation” are particularly striking. Nearby, a slogan stating “All ethnic groups are closely united like pomegranate seeds” and the pomegranate seed symbol exude a warm sense of cohesion. In Zhijiang, such scenes are not merely campus decorations but tangible educational practices—allowing the sense of community to permeate every corner of children’s growth like a gentle spring breeze.
Zhijiang fully leverages schools as the main front, integrating education on fostering a strong sense of the Chinese national community throughout the entire process of cultivating virtue and educating students. Inside and outside the classroom, children’s learning experiences are rich and vivid. They study characteristic courses like “Zhijiang Peace Culture Education,” while also personally experiencing ethnic paper-cutting and participating in song and dance performances. The campus “Unity Vegetable Garden” serves as a practical site for collective labor, and “Young Pioneer Guides” extend the classroom into society. These seemingly scattered activities all convey the simple belief that “we are one family.”
At the Zhijiang Exhibition Hall for Fostering a Strong Sense of the Chinese National Community, students from Zhijiang Furong School stand attentively before the display cases, listening to the docent’s explanation. As the first county-level exhibition hall of its kind in Huaihua City, it showcases, through abundant graphic materials, the journey of all ethnic groups uniting and striving under the leadership of the Communist Party of China to create a better life. Each year, Zhijiang receives nearly a million young people from various regions for study tours, exchanges, and visits.
Cultural Integration: Building Bridges for Interaction, Exchange, and Integration
At the beginning of 2025, people from five counties across Hunan and Guizhou provinces gathered in Qingjiang Village, Biyong Town, Zhijiang, to jointly host a “Village Gala” to welcome the New Year. On stage, diverse ethnic performances were splendid; off stage, the aroma of distinctive local foods filled the air, creating a lively scene of cultural sharing and emotional blending.
“Our gathering of compatriots from various ethnic groups across these two provinces and five counties is not just a New Year celebration, but also a beautiful starting point for marching towards the future together,” said Zhou Min, the event’s chief director and deputy curator of Huaihua City Cultural Center.
The successful hosting of this event is a vivid reflection of Zhijiang’s long-term commitment to using culture as a bond to promote interaction, exchange, and integration among all ethnic groups. By building cultural platforms beloved by the masses, it has not only enriched the spiritual and cultural lives of people from all ethnic groups but also deepened emotional identification amidst songs and laughter, allowing the roots of ethnic unity to grow stronger.
Such cultural exchanges have a long history. As early as the 2021 “Zhijiang Biyong Huangshe Song Festival,” Dong compatriots from Hunan and Guizhou made friends through songs. The visit of an exchange delegation from Jingning She Autonomous County, Zhejiang, hundreds of miles away, further composed a beautiful tale of “seeking kinship” across a great distance.
In November 2024, the national pilot project “Ethnic Youth Exchange Program 2024” by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission—the “Ode to the Orange” Ethnic Young Artists Exchange Activity—was held in Guchong Village, Zhijiang. Ethnic young artists gathered for inspiration and creation: spontaneous brushwork at calligraphy and painting gatherings, the heartfelt performance of the drama “Sincere Heart,” and on-site signing for Bingtang orange. This not only promoted mutual appreciation of ethnic cultures but also enhanced the cultural connotation of Zhijiang’s agricultural products through artistic works, achieving a multi-faceted win of “culture setting the stage, economy playing the show, and emotions blending."
From the ethnic folk song duets at the Biyong Huangshe Song Festival to the creation and promotion of the “Zhijiang Pomegranate Seed” brand, Zhijiang continues to explore a virtuous cycle where cultural integration promotes economic development and economic cooperation deepens ethnic unity.
Rule of Law as Safeguard: Demonstrating the Warmth and Wisdom of Ethnic Governance
On October 15, 2025, the Hunan Provincial Ethnic Unity and Progress Commendation Conference was grandly held in Changsha. The Zhijiang People’s Court was awarded the title of “Hunan Provincial Model Collective for Ethnic Unity and Progress,” becoming the only unit within the provincial court system to receive this honor. In Zhijiang, where 25 ethnic groups including the Dong, Han, Miao, and Tujia live in harmony, this honor is not only recognition of the court’s work but also represents a set of down-to-earth and warm governance wisdom for ethnic regions.
The court once shared a typical case: a female Dong judge handling a support dispute involving an octogenarian Dong couple. She not only handled the case according to the law but also specifically conducted mediation in the Dong language, taking into account ethnic customs and family ethics. The case was successfully mediated, and the elderly couple resolved their grievances. This “Bilingual + Dual Legal Principles” model is common in Zhijiang, upholding the bottom line of the law while respecting ethnic traditions and adhering to legal principles while also considering human sentiment.
Behind this approach lies a set of systematic efforts by the court. They have created the brand “Party Building Leads the Way, Law Nurtures the Dong Homeland,” organized the “Young Party Member Vanguard Team,” and carried out “Circuit Trials + Case-Based Law Interpretation”—all aimed at making the rule of law not distant and aloof but accessible, able to enter villages and close to life. Over the past five years, they have mediated nearly 6,000 ethnic disputes and conducted over 80 legal outreach activities in Dong villages. As the local people aptly say, “When judges run more errands, the masses run fewer.”
From the historical glory of victory in the War of Resistance to the contemporary practice of ethnic unity, Zhijiang has forged a distinctive path featuring memory inheritance, warm rule of law, educational infiltration, cultural integration, and industrial synergy. In today’s Zhijiang, people of all ethnic groups sing songs of unity beneath the Peace Pagoda and jointly build a beautiful homeland along the banks of the Wu River.
(Translated by Tian Xia)