A team from the Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), led by Bater, vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, conducted a survey in East China's Shandong province from Sept 16 to 20, focusing on building of strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. 

The team visited cultural and historical institutions, research institutes, rural communities, schools and religious venues in the cities of Jining and Tai'an, and held discussions with local officials, residents and scholars. 

The team noted that Shandong, as one of the cradles of Chinese civilization and the birthplace of Confucianism, has long witnessed close exchanges, integration and joint development among various ethnic groups, contributing to the inheritance and development of Chinese culture and the building of the nation. The region's history over thousands of years demonstrates that the formation and development of the community for the Chinese nation reflects the will of the people, the trend of the times and a historical inevitability, the team said. 

The team emphasized that in the new era, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has put forward the original concept of fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and the major strategic task of consolidating the community for the Chinese nation.  

They called for deeper research and broader consensus-building on key issues such as upholding the CPC's leadership, building a shared cultural home of the Chinese nation, advancing common prosperity, promoting greater integration among all ethnic groups, governing ethnic affairs in accordance with the law and telling the stories of the Chinese nation as one community. 

The team stressed that the CPPCC should give full play to its political advantages to unite people of all ethnic groups more closely around the CPC Central Committee, jointly advance Chinese modernization, and contribute to building a more inclusive and cohesive community in the course of realizing national rejuvenation.