Xi stresses preserving distinctive culture in ethnic regions

Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed that areas with large ethnic minority populations should preserve their distinctive culture and let it shine through the integrated development of culture and tourism.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on Monday when inspecting the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

While visiting the Zhaoxing Dong Village in Liping County on Monday afternoon, he was warmly greeted by local villagers with a performance of the grand song of the Dong ethnic group, a form of a folk chorus inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

He talked with villagers and tourists to learn more about the distinctive local features, visited a Dong culture exhibition center, and was shown around a local base of special industry featuring weaving, dyeing and embroidery.

Noting that ethnic minority cultures are an indispensable part of Chinese civilization, Xi stressed the importance to protect the tangible villages and residential houses with distinctive architectural styles, and to retain the intangible cultural heritage.

He also urged efforts to promote creative transformation and innovative development of the cultures, allowing the ethnic features to shine through practical use.

During the inspection, Xi had cordial conversations with local villagers at a drum tower, a unique architecture for the Dong ethnic group that serves as a communal gathering spot.

The villagers shared with him the gratifying changes their village has taken place in recent years.

Xi said that he is pleased to see the Dong village well protected and people of the Dong ethnic group enjoying a happy life.

He expressed the hope that the villagers could further advance rural revitalization, and contribute to the progress of Chinese modernization.

Xi stresses preserving distinctive culture in ethnic regions

Xi stresses preserving distinctive culture in ethnic regions

Xi stresses preserving distinctive culture in ethnic regions

Xi stresses preserving distinctive culture in ethnic regions

The United States military hit a civil factory in Yemen's Hodeidah city amid its fresh round of airstrikes on the Houthi-held Red Sea port city on Monday night.

The privately-owned iron and steel plant, located in the Salif district north of Hodeidah city, was targeted by 12 U.S. missiles.

Footage recorded by a China Media Group (CMG) correspondent showed that the roof of the factory completely collapsed after the airstrike, and broken bricks and tiles, as well as shrapnel from artillery shells, could be seen everywhere.

The factory had to stop production due to the damage to the equipment.

"The attack on this plant will leave 250 to 300 workers unemployed, with material losses estimated between 13 million to 14 million U.S. dollars," said Saleh Atifa, Houthi-appointed head of Hodeidah's industrial department.

The U.S. military claimed that they were targeting military facilities, but the steel plant was completely an independent civilian plant, according to the Houthis.

"The brutal hostility of the U.S. military targets civilian facilities and other key facilities. Like the steel plant you see here, it belongs neither to the state nor to the military, nor to the security department or the Houthis. It is an independent civilian factory," said Hodeidah governor Abdullah Atifi.

Over the past two days, dozens of Houthi-controlled military sites, as well as dozens of residential houses, have been targeted and bombed by U.S. fighter jets across the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, and several other northern and western provinces under Houthi control.

The tensions in the Red Sea are a visible manifestation of the spillover effects of the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict centered on the Gaza Strip.

The renewed conflict in the Red Sea comes after Israel halted the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza Strip on March 2, coinciding with the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

On Tuesday, the Houthi group announced that it would resume launching attacks against any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait until the crossings of the Gaza Strip are reopened and aid is allowed in.

US military hits civil steel plant in Hodeidah, Yemen