HUANGPU SHANGHAI

Students at a primary school in Rongan county, Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, play the hulusi, a traditional instrument among members of the Zhuang ethnic group. HUANG XIAOBANG/XINHUA

Leading the way

During his visits to families, Xi has long stressed the need for the nation's ethnic groups to share the benefits of China's development.

In freezing winter temperatures in 2014, he visited the family of Guo Yongcai, a 71-year-old retired logger living in a rundown home in Arxan, Inner Mongolia. Xi urged the local authorities to speed up efforts to renovate shantytown areas so that struggling households such as Guo's could live in better housing.

Xi also sat down with the family members of herdswoman Majig, 81, in their yurt, asking about their income, schooling for their children, and healthcare.

After learning that local herdsmen still had difficulties accessing electricity and road transportation, Xi urged the local authorities to improve urban planning to solve such problems.

Mei, the school principal, said she has witnessed a noticeable improvement in infrastructure and living conditions in her region. As an NPC deputy, she has traveled extensively in her area, where herders' homes are now being connected with paved roads, and electricity is being supplied.

"As a lawmaker, I often explain national policies to the herdsmen, telling them how they will improve their lives," she said.

"At first, they said the policies were too good to be true, but when I visited some of the herdsmen years later, they told me I had been right, as their lives had changed for the better."

In May 2020, Mei had the chance to share the improvements she had seen over the past decade when Xi, who is also a deputy to the NPC from Inner Mongolia, joined a panel discussion during the NPC session.

The improvements brought to the lives of ethnic groups have been backed by increased input from the central government over the past 10 years.

According to the Ministry of Finance, annual transfer payments from the central budget to regions populated by ethnic groups rose from 42 billion yuan in 2012 to 110.7 billion yuan (about $16 billion) this year.

Over the past decade, 15,800 kilometers of track has been added to rail lines in the eight regions populated by ethnic groups, and numerous industrial parks and programs are being developed to create job opportunities, according to the National Ethnic Affairs Commission.