Nowadays, there is some prejudice against ethnic minorities in social management and daily life, which could easily hurt the feelings of the ethnic minority groups and thus needs urgent attention from relevant authorities.

According to my observation, many ethnic minority citizens have had the unpleasant experiences of a second security check or an extraordinarily long check while flying.

Sometimes, people made a room reservation by phone for a business trip or vacation, but when they checked in at hotels, they were refused, under the guise of various excuses, as soon as the hotel receptionists recognized their ethnic minority identity.

Besides, in a few places largely inhabited by ethnic minority groups, there are often extra restrictions on activities such as holding conferences.

This biased treatment of ethnic minorities could have many side effects.

It could add to and deepen the conflicts between the Han people and ethnic minorities, jeopardizing national unity and leaving room for a small number of separatists and some hostile groups to foment trouble.

It's necessary to take extra precautions to guarantee security in some places that have special conditions. But we also need to trust the majority of ethnic minority citizens.

The overwhelming majority of citizens from ethnic minorities are patriotic. They long for the prosperity, solidarity and unity of the country.

Since the establishment of the PRC, we have built a sound and complete ethnic policy, based on which intimacy among different groups is forming.

Solidarity and unity should be a fundamental stance of the Chinese nation in the 21st century.

We need to stick to two beliefs: believing in the effectiveness of China's ethnic policy as well as believing in the loyalty of the majority of ethnic minority citizens.

Some officials and ordinary people hold a superficial and simplistic understanding on the ethnic issue. They lack an overall view to handle the issue.

There are isolated incidents of some ethnic minority citizens getting involved in violence, however, there is no need to be scared and jittery.

The whole society is responsible for national unity. Security in a specific field shouldn't be achieved at the cost of injecting discord between Han and ethnic minority groups.

Social management measures should help strengthen national affinity and solidarity. Public education on China's policy should be enhanced in every walk of life.

It's necessary for relevant authorities to fill in the loopholes in social management when treating ethnic minority groups, and get rid of a simplistic management style which may initially aim at maintaining stability, but hides some dangers for conflicts between Han and the ethnic minority groups in the long run. 

Paying attention to national unity and avoiding hurting ethnic minorities' feelings should be given special importance in future social management.

Under the new situation, we should create social management modes based on new characteristics that tackle problems of national unity. China needs a more professional, more humane and wiser way of managing ethnic issues, so as to stimulate social vigor and consolidate stability.

China's ethnic policy is unshakable. The key problem is to strengthen an overall view in social management: We need more wisdom to tackle problems concerning ethnic minority groups and should uphold the basic principle of maintaining national solidarity.

The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Yu Jincui based on an interview with Bao Mingde, a CPPCC member and a research fellow with the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. yujincui@globaltimes.com.cn