1st LD-Writethru: Xi replies to daughter of Uygur patriot, stresses ethnic unity

Chinese President Xi Jinping has written to a daughter of Kurban Tulum, who was twice received by the late Chairman Mao Zedong, underlining ethnic solidarity and efforts to build a bright future for Xinjiang under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"I am glad to learn that you are still in good health when you are nearly 90 years old, and your family, with over 100 members, live a happy life," Xi said in the letter to Tohtihan Kurban, the eldest daughter of Kurban Tulum.

"I heard the story of how Kurban Tulum loved the Party and the country when I was a child, and it was quite touching," Xi wrote, calling Tulum an excellent representative of people of all ethnicities in Xinjiang.

"All these years, you have carried forward your father's love for the Party and the country, setting an example for younger generations and neighbors," Xi wrote.

Xi also expressed hope that the family of Tohtihan Kurban, their friends and neighbors, have followed the example of Kurban Tulum to love the Party, the country and the "big family of the Chinese nation."

Tulum was a peasant from Hetian, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, who became a CPC member.

In order to express gratitude for the peaceful liberation of Xinjiang in 1949, Tulum wished to ride a donkey from Xinjiang to Beijing to visit Chairman Mao in the 1950s, before he later met with Mao. Endi