National bonds strengthened by jade in Zhenping

Zhenping county, Nanyang, is both the hometown of Chinese jade carving and home to more than 50,000 people from 26 ethnic minorities. Most of them are engaged in businesses related to jade, which forges strong bonds between local residents and migrants from different ethnic groups.

Located in southwest Henan, Zhenping has a long history of jade carving and is one of the cradles of Chinese jade culture. There are more than 15,000 jade carving enterprises in the town, generating jobs for 250,000 people. Its products go to more than 50 countries, such as the UK, US, France, and Japan.

Abu Limiti, 39, set up his stand at the Shifosi jade trading market early in the morning of Nov 8. He started his business in Zhenping back in 2008, and had studied Mandarin in a local language class for two months. A few years later, he can communicate fluently with others in Chinese.

"I used to do the jade business in Xinjiang, and once sold jade in Beijing, Shanghai and other places. I was then introduced to Shifosi town of Zhenping by friends," he said. "The market here is booming and the management is very standard." His business is doing well and brings him more than 5,000 yuan ($753) a month.

Apart from a nice salary, he has made a lot of Han friends in the town. "We always play around together," he said. "Whether you come to my house, or I come to your place, it is a common thing. We are like relatives."

Limiti lives in a one-bedroom apartment, which covers more than 50 square meters, and only has to pay a rent of some 300 yuan. Local government has built a clean and tidy residential community -- Tianxia Yuyuan Residential Community -- for the Uyghur people in the area.

According to Yan Feng, Party branch secretary of Tianxia Yuyuan, the community has specially set up a police department, a service center and a migrant population management station providing community residents with all-round services.

To help them truly settle down and live comfortable lives in the town, Shifosi helps local minorities and their children address problems in school admission, medical treatment and language learning.

"I've been in the town for over a year and have got used to the life here," said Migiti, who came from Hetian county, Xinjiang, and is now an imam of the temporary religious activities in Shifosi.

"Many of the Uighurs who came here are migrant workers from the countryside, and we organize them to learn Mandarin to facilitate communication," said Yan. "When we care and help them, they also support us in return."

According to him, several Uighur merchants have volunteered to participate in the poverty alleviation campaign. A merchant named Hahar has even funded several Han poor children.

While jade is the magnet attracting more and more ethnic minorities to the county for a living, it is the warmth from the local community that make them truly settle down in Zhenping, their "second hometown" in Henan.