IN a community in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, milk tea is not just a beverage.
While a pot of milk tea simmers in a courtyard, local residents gather with cups in hand to discuss everyday issues ranging from faulty to minor neighborhood disputes.
Kunqi Maili Community in the city of Yining, in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, is home to more than 2,100 residents from nine ethnic groups, including Uyghur, Han, Hui, Kazak, Mongolian and Uzbek.
Using the popular local beverage as a bond, the “milk tea gathering” replaces dreary formal meetings, offering a relaxed space for residents to sit down and speak their minds over a cup of tea.
For some, the tea gathering may help boost their business. Local craftsman Abduxukur Abdukadir has a problem. His handmade leather boots are of fine quality, yet the steady stream of tourists during peak season has not translated into sales. At the gathering, the neighbors suggested he turn the boots into souvenir keychains, while Zulayat Nurat, a local gourd painting artist, offered to help.
Zulayat Nurat also put forward demands for wider promotion of her traditional gourd painting craft. The community responded swiftly, promoting her works on official platforms and offering a 30-square-meter studio free of rent. “The community truly values our efforts,” she said.
The milk tea gatherings started in 2023 and have been held monthly ever since, according to Nijat Parhat, Party chief of the community.
“We intended to sit down with residents from all ethnic groups, listen to their difficulties and concerns, and help solve their problems so that they can have a better living environment,” he said. Thanks to such gatherings, a parking lot and a small football pitch were built after complaints were raised about difficulties to park and a lack of playing ground for children.
From January to May this year, 4,260 gatherings were held in Yining across its 24 townships and sub-districts, with 127,800 resident participations. Over 2,000 suggestions were collected and nearly 1,000 livelihood issues were resolved.
The approach is not unique to Xinjiang. In Wuyishan, a county-level city in east China’s Fujian province, the local people’s congress in Wufu Township has set up a tea lounge on an ancient street, inviting residents to share tea and, more importantly, their opinions and concerns.
Nationwide, China is promoting the “Fengqiao Experience,” a community-level social governance model that originated in Fengqiao, a township in east China’s Zhejiang province, in the 1960s.
Under this model, social disputes are resolved at the grassroots level, among the people themselves and without escalation to higher authorities.
In Xinjiang, specifically, this community-level self-governance model has been promoted to all villages and communities across the region. Over 85 percent of matters for decision-making at grassroots self-governance organizations come from public proposals, demonstrating the effectiveness of primary-level democracy.
