[Photo provided to China Daily]
"My life and work were smooth after returning to Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi, but I missed him and my heart always seemed empty," she said. "After a long conversation with my mother, I decided to return to Yinchuan."
After going back to Yinchuan, Ma was assigned to work for a local organization assisting people with disabilities. Work colleagues and other members of the community helped her settle into her new home and circumstances.
They gave her daily necessities such as a quilt and cooking oil. To ease Ma's initial homesickness, Liu and his mother would invite her for dinner on weekends, when there were always freshly cooked dumplings on the table.
Ma eventually married Liu, who works in the public sector, and they had a daughter, Liu Jintian, who is now 15.
Her steady integration into her new home and community is not an unusual story. Across the country there have been growing efforts by local communities to build and strengthen harmony among the nation's 56 ethnic groups.
President Xi Jinping has stressed that ethnic unity is the lifeline of all ethnic groups in the country and a strong sense of community is key to ethnic unity. Efforts must be made to strengthen such a sense by furthering education on ethnic unity, he has said.
In March 2022, at the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, underscored the need for all ethnic groups in the "big Chinese family" to remain closely together like "the seeds of a pomegranate". He also called on them to work together to build a great country and strive for better lives.