Legislative Summary of the CPC’s Major Theoretical and Practical Achievements in Ethnic Work in the New Era
The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to ethnic work. For over a century, the Party has persisted in integrating Marxist ethnic theory with the specific realities of China’s ethnic issues and with the fine traditional Chinese culture. Through practical exploration, it has continuously deepened its understanding of the laws governing ethnic work, and creatively blazed a correct path with Chinese characteristics for resolving ethnic problems. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to the "two integrations", advanced the sinicization and modernization of Marxist ethnic theory, and explicitly identified forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as the main thread of the Party’s ethnic work and all work in ethnic regions in the new era. This has led to the formation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on strengthening and improving ethnic work, guiding the Party’s ethnic work to secure new historic achievements. Under the guidance of these important thoughts, all regions have actively explored and innovated, yielding a wealth of typical cases and valuable experiences for promoting high-quality ethnic work and ethnic unity and progress. The enactment of the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress aims to translate the Party’s major theoretical and practical achievements in ethnic work into the will of the state through national legislation, improve institutions and mechanisms for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and further enhance the cohesion and centripetal force of the Chinese nation.
On July 31, 2025, primary school students participating in the "Red Pomegranate" Cultural Enrichment Xinjiang Summer Camp organized by State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. salute at the flag-raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency)
The Party Central Committee has placed great emphasis on the legislation of the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, regarding it as a major political and legislative task. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China explicitly called for formulating the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. On August 29, 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, which discussed and approved in principle the report of the Party Leadership Group of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the draft Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. The draft underwent two deliberations by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and extensive public consultation, fully incorporating opinions and suggestions from all sectors. In March 2026, the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress voted to adopt the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, providing strong legal safeguards for the Party’s ethnic work in the new era.
As a comprehensive and fundamental law governing ethnic work in the new era, this law elevates General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on strengthening and improving ethnic work—especially the major concept of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation—to the will of the state through national legislative procedures. It further consolidates the valuable experience and major achievements of the Party’s ethnic work in the new era through national legislation, guiding people of all ethnic groups to firmly uphold the community vision of sharing weal and woe, honor and disgrace, life and death, and a common destiny. It advances the modernization of the ethnic affairs governance system and governance capacity under the rule of law, rallying the united efforts of all ethnic groups for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Legislative Features of the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress
China’s Constitution is the fundamental basis and source for ethnic legislation, containing over 20 provisions directly related to ethnic affairs. The 2018 Constitutional Amendment enshrined the "Chinese nation" in the Constitution for the first time, explicitly mandating the "maintenance and development of relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony among all ethnic groups". This provides the fundamental legal basis for handling ethnic affairs and conducting ethnic work in the new era, as well as a clearer constitutional foundation for formulating the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. The law fully implements the provisions, principles and spirit of the Constitution, includes a preamble elaborating on the formation and development of the Chinese nation community, and declares the political stance of the Party and the state on ethnic work in the new era. Its General Provisions open with the statement "This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution", and its provisions enrich and develop the institutional connotation of relevant constitutional provisions on ethnic affairs. Together with the Constitution and other laws, it provides robust legal safeguards for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and advancing the building of the Chinese nation community.
The Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress votes to adopt the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency)
In terms of legislative function, this law is a promotional legislation. Unlike regulatory legislation, which focuses on defining rights and obligations and resolving disputes, promotional legislation emphasizes translating state will through institutional design, advocacy and guidance. As a promotional law, it properly balances the following relationships:
Striking a balance between "regulation" and "advocacy". While maintaining sufficient binding force, it avoids excessive interference in social autonomy. For acts undermining ethnic unity and progress or inciting ethnic separatism, it imposes clear legal liabilities to uphold the law’s rigidity. For constructive initiatives such as facilitating interactions, exchanges and integration among ethnic groups and fostering a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation, it adopts primarily advocative norms, guiding social actors through incentives, demonstrations and evaluations.
Correctly managing the "four pairs of relationships": the relationship between commonality and diversity, between the sense of community for the Chinese nation and individual ethnic identities, between Chinese culture and ethnic cultures, and between material and spiritual aspects. It upholds the principle of enhancing commonality while respecting and accommodating diversity in ethnic work, achieving a dialectical unity of commonality and diversity, and an organic integration of ethnic and regional factors. This maximizes the cohesion of all ethnic groups, promoting their common unity, struggle and prosperity.
Effectively linking top-level central design with local implementation. The law’s basic principles and institutions are translated into local practices, empowering provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities with districts or autonomous prefectures to formulate local regulations on promoting ethnic unity and progress in line with local conditions.
In terms of content, the law adopts a structure of Preamble + 7 Chapters, with 65 articles in total, presenting a clear logical hierarchy. It is the first law in over 30 years to include a preamble, marking a significant innovation in legislative form in the new era. The General Provisions comprehensively elaborate on the core tenets of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on strengthening and improving ethnic work—the "Ten Musts". Centered on forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, the provisions summarize experience and strengthen institutional design, covering the development of a shared spiritual home, promotion of interactions, exchanges and integration, and advancement of common prosperity. The entire law embodies a holistic and systematic legislative approach, organically integrating value guidance, mutual embedding and integration, economic development and rights protection to build a multi-dimensional, comprehensive institutional framework. It addresses fragmentation and coordination challenges in previous ethnic work, driving holistic and effective progress in ethnic affairs governance through coordinated, systematic legislation. For example, it mandates respect for the dignity of national symbols such as the national flag, national anthem and national emblem, aligning with relevant laws and the Patriotic Education Law to strengthen patriotic education. It emphasizes the nationwide popularization of standard spoken and written Chinese, requiring its use as the primary medium of instruction in educational institutions and as the official language in state organs, consistent with the Law on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language. It institutionalizes ethnic unity and progress initiatives and awards, designating the fourth week of September as Ethnic Unity and Progress Publicity Week. Elevating ethnic unity to a public interest with special legal protection, it empowers procuratorial organs to file public interest litigation against acts damaging ethnic unity, turning "soft constraints" into "hard sanctions".
Laws are critical to governance, and good laws underpin sound governance. The enactment of the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress marks a landmark achievement in translating the Party’s major theoretical and practical gains in ethnic work into state will under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. It exemplifies the comprehensive advancement of law-based governance in ethnic affairs, providing a vital legal basis for governing ethnic affairs in accordance with the law and driving high-quality ethnic work under the rule of law. It offers enduring, robust legal safeguards for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and advancing the building of the Chinese nation community.
Author Profiles: Feng Lixia, Director and Professor of the Department of Political Science and Law, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National School of Administration); Zhang Meiyun, PhD Candidate at the Department of Political Science and Law, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National School of Administration).
