A museum, like no other, sits in the heart of Beijing. A treasure trove, which boasts numerous artifacts and ancient texts, reflecting China's rich ethnic culture, is contained in that museum. The National Palace of Ethnic Cultures, built in 1959, is located on the west section of Chang'an Avenue. 

The National Palace of Ethnic Cultures, one of 10 major buildings erected in the capital to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, is often referred to as "the palace of ethnic cultures," "the palace of ethnic classics," and "the home of ethnic groups." The museum is home to more than 50,000 cultural relics, more than 600,000 volumes of ancient literature, and more than 4,200 artistic works. 

The museum houses one of China's most diverse collections of ethnic minority relics, ancient literature, and artistic works. Its extensive collection of artifacts clearly illustrates the long history of interactions, exchanges, and integration among China's ethnic groups. The artifacts are powerful evidence of the nation's unity in diversity, and the development of a Chinese nation with a great level of cohesion. 

The museum has curated various distinct and high-quality exhibitions, such as "Forging a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation," one of its most-talked-about exhibitions, held in 2017. In August 2023, the Exhibition of Cultural Relics and Ancient Books on Forging a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation, opened. 

From left: Aynur Ahmat, He Xin, Feng Ziqian and Liu Fang

Young Team

To prepare for the exhibition, and relevant themed exhibitions in the future, the National Palace of Ethnic Cultures cultivated a team of young docents, and named the team the National Palace of Ethnic Cultures docent team for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. The team now has 52 members, including 40 women. They are not full-time docents; instead, they are employees from 15 of the museum's departments. "We are an open team. All new employees of the museum will be recruited onto the team," says He Xin, an ethnic Manchu woman and leader of the team. 

The team's members represent the various ethnic groups in China, including the Manchu, Oroqen, Uygur and Yi minorities. "We are a team composed of people from different ethnic groups, and we tell the stories of the interactions and exchanges between the various ethnic groups. This is what makes us special, and it is also one of the highlights of our work," says Aynur Ahmat, a Uygur member of the team. 

The team is a small community of its own, where people from China's different ethnic groups work in unity, for a common purpose and mutual progress. 

"To ensure we will deliver high-quality docent services, we train to strengthen our theoretical studies, to revise our scripts, and to learn from docent teams in other museums," says Liu Fang, an ethnic Han woman. "We need to memorize a script of more than 40,000 Chinese characters. It is estimated that each one of us delivers at least 10 docent services a month. For me, I once provided services to 12 visiting groups in a day," says Feng Ziqian, a young ethnic Yi woman. 

Telling Stories of Community for Chinese Nation

Since the opening of the exhibition, in August 2023, the team has provided more than 4,000 docent service sessions, which have benefited more than 3,300 visiting groups, with a combined 300,000 spectators. It has also provided services to 41 groups of foreign visitors. The team's members, by providing multilingual docent services, and by interacting with foreign audiences, present the charm of China's ethnic culture, and its ethnic unity and progress, to the world. 

About a week after the exhibition opened, a group of children and teenagers of Chinese descent from abroad, who was attending a summer camp in China, arrived to view the exhibition. They were from more than 20 countries, and the youngest member was only 6 years old. "Communicating with them and delivering our docent services properly were huge challenges for us. I remember how we were both excited and nervous upon receiving this task. We studied carefully and revised our scripts. We decided to present China's history and ethnic culture by telling the stories of China's ancient cultural relics. We received a positive response from our young audience," says Feng. 

Liu recalls a time when the team provided services to a group from Southeast Asia. "When communicating with a foreign audience, we focus on outlining the concepts of 'harmony in diversity' and 'a community with a shared future.' Audiences show their strong interest in China's ethnic culture. By interacting with them, we have helped the audiences gain a deeper understanding of the diversity and inclusiveness of China's ethnic culture. In the meantime, we have become more aware of the importance of cultural exchanges. This experience inspired us to improve our multilingual proficiency, to better tell the stories of the community for the Chinese nation to the world," Liu says. 

Practitioner, Promoter

By providing docent services, the team's members have gained a deeper understanding of what it means to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. 

"As a docent, I realize my docent services are not only spreading knowledge about cultural relics and ancient books, but are also communicating the history of the development of the community for the Chinese nation. I guide the audiences in understanding the development of China's ethnic groups, and their interactions, which enables the audiences to strengthen their sense of identity with and pride in the Chinese nation. By doing my job well, I am helping forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation," says Aynur. 

"The exhibition poses a challenge for us, but it also helps us improve and elevate ourselves," adds He. "By delivering docent services, we have gained a good command of the theory and knowledge of the history of China's ethnic groups, and we have obtained a deeper understanding of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. Given that deeper understanding, we have become more capable of telling the stories of China's ethnic culture."

In recognition of the docents' efforts, the docents (as a team) were honored, as role models for ethnic unity and progress, during the National Conference on Commending Models for Ethnic Unity and Progress, in September 2024. The docents were excited about receiving the honor. 

"To us, the honor represents both recognition of our previous efforts, and greater responsibility for us to work harder in the future. Inspired by the honor, we will continue to find more creative ways to carry out our work, and to deliver high-quality docent services. We will live up to the honor, live up to the responsibilities bestowed on us by the times, and we will make greater contributions to forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation," says Liu. 

The team already has plans for its future work. "We will strengthen training for our team members, to help improve our theoretical competence and professional skills. We will plan for more diverse, interesting publicity activities, to raise public awareness of ethnic unity and progress," says He. "We will support localities in cultivating their own docent teams. Themed exhibitions have been set up in a number of localities, especially in areas with large ethnic minority populations. There is an urgent demand for docent training. We have held training sessions in Xilinhot and Erenhot, cities in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. We will use our own action to help forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation."

Adds Liu: "We will provide targeted docent services to different groups, such as teenagers, the elderly, and foreign visitors. In an effort to advance society-wide education on China's ethnic culture, we will promote training classes, to cultivate children docents (let them experience telling the stories), enhance cooperation with middle schools, universities and colleges, and develop more diverse, off-campus practice opportunities for students. We will deliver more affectionate and intriguing docent services to audiences, and we will better play our role as an important bridge connecting audiences and China's ethnic culture." 

Introduction to the Exhibition

The Exhibition of Cultural Relics and Ancient Books on Forging a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation is divided into three sections: "Great Unity," "Great Integration," and "Great Solidarity." Organizers have meticulously curated more than 2,100 relics and books, selected from more than 150,000 cultural relics and more than 510,000 ancient books, to recount the stories of interactions and exchanges between various Chinese ethnic groups, and to vividly present the great unity of the Chinese nation. The artifacts also present the history of the formation and development of China as a unified multiethnic country.  

In the "Great Unity" section, ancient astronomical charts on the exhibition hall's ceiling capture the ancient Chinese belief in the unity of heaven and humanity. The Pillar of Converging Thought (the Jisi pillar) is at the front, symbolizing that China's charming culture is the convergence of the cultures of China's ethnic groups. A petal-shaped ancient book wall is in the back. 

In the "Great Integration" section, the gauze curtain displays a traffic map of the Western Regions in ancient times, depicting the prosperous scene of the ancient Silk Road. Some major traffic corridors for ethnic groups lie on the ground. Through these corridors, people from different ethnic groups migrated and conducted business. The corridors also witnessed the exchanges and integration of ethnic groups.  

Concentric Resonance, an area for interactive communications in the "Great Integration" section. 

In the "Great Solidarity" section, a wall displays musical instruments used by various ethnic groups in China. The wall represents the great solidarity of people of all ethnic groups, as they play music together.  

Video by Cui Rui

Photos from Zhang Jiamin, Interviewees and VCG

(Women of China English Monthly February 2025)

Editor: Wang Shasha