Jianghan University hosted the 12th City Games Wuhan 2025 (Ethnic Minority Participation Events) & the 5th Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of China on Sep. 24. Hu Yongzheng, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee and Director of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Party Committee, attended the opening ceremony and announced the games open. Jing Xinhua, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jianghan University Committee and President of Jianghan University, and Zhang Hongxing, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jianghan University Committee, were also present.
The one-day event was sponsored by the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government and co-organized by the Wuhan Municipal Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, Wuhan Municipal Sports Bureau, and Jianghan University. A total of 525 athletes from all ethnic groups across the city formed 20 delegations, representing various districts and municipal colleges and universities. The games featured 5 major events and 23 minor events, including cuju(ancient Chinese football), jianqiu (shuttlecock game), ethnic group calisthenics, board shoe racing, and land boat dancing. Competitive, skill-based, and performance-oriented traditional ethnic minority sports were all showcased.
On behalf of Jianghan University, President Jing Xinhua welcomed all leaders and guests. He emphasized that the university has always attached great importance to ethnic unity and progress work, with nearly 1,700 ethnic minority teachers and students from across the country currently studying and working on campus. The university has actively fostered a harmonious atmosphere where teachers and students of all ethnic groups live, study, build, share, work, and rejoice together through various initiatives. These include developing a series of “golden courses” on ethnic unity education, establishing the “Practice Base for Forging a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation” and organizing the “Pomegranate Seeds Heart to Heart” series of ethnic cultural activities. President Jing noted that the games not only serve as a comprehensive test of Wuhan's traditional ethnic minority sports standards but also a concentrated display of the excellent traditional cultures of various ethnic groups.
The opening ceremony featured a stunning combination of youth performances and traditional art. Students from the university’s art troupe presented vibrant singing and dancing, which resonated with “daliuzi”—a national intangible cultural heritage (ICH) from Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County. Students from the Dance Department of the School of Music and singers from Wuhan Conservatory of Music jointly performed the Tujia nationality sayeryo, a traditional Tujia folk song and dance, earning enthusiastic applause. Teachers and students from the China Racing College pushed the atmosphere to a climax with exciting racing demonstrations. Beside the competition venues, an ICH market served as a “mobile classroom.” Twenty-one ICH-themed stalls, including tie-dyeing, sugar painting, and paper cutting, covered cultural appreciation, food tasting, and hands-on experiences. This allowed guests to feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage while browsing and participating. Showcasing ICH during the sports games is both a practice to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and an exploration to bring ICH “to life.”
JHU attached great importance to the event, with relevant departments cooperating closely to make careful preparations and arrangements for venue facilities, competition organization, logistics support, and volunteer services. Seventy-five student volunteers were deployed to various venues, providing thoughtful services such as registration, guidance, and material distribution for guests and athletes.
Wei Xuelong, a Wa ethnic athlete from Huangpi District, said, “This is my first time at Jianghan University. The campus is beautiful, and the volunteers are meticulous and very patient.”
Leaders from relevant departments attended the games, including the United Front Work Department of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, Hubei Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, Publicity Department of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Education, Wuhan Municipal Sports Bureau, Wuhan Municipal Public Security Bureau, Wuhan Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, Wuhan Institute of Socialism, as well as united front and ethnic and religious systems from all districts of Wuhan and leaders of municipal universities.
Guo Qing, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Wuhan Municipal Sports Bureau, delivered a speech on behalf of the bureau.
By Huang Yunya, Gao Xi and Li Sha