Former coal city fires up harmony

The city in north Ningxia used to be one of China's major coal-mining bases.

A former powerhouse for the whole region, and previously the source of nearly 40 percent of its GDP, the city's half-a-million population is mostly made up of former industrial workers and their families.

Since the late 1950s, with the development of coal mining in Shizuishan, workers from all over the country moved to the city, contributing to a new immigrant culture, while making the city more inclusive and diverse, with over 20 ethnic groups currently represented.

"Industrial development has laid a solid economic foundation for the work of ethnic unity in the city of Shizuishan," says Wu Xiaobing, an official at Dawukou district government in Shizuishan.

The city has recently built an ethnic unity exhibition hall at an industrial park, which was once the site of a coal mine, drawing many visitors.

"People used to care more about things within their own companies or communities, but now they have perspectives that stretch wider and farther," says Zhang Mingzhong, the United Front Work Department of the Shizuishan municipal Party committee.