Zhang Qiongli, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress from the Tujia ethnic group, has a firm belief that sport has a major role to play in bringing people from all of China's 56 ethnic groups together.

After the opening of the annual session of the NPC, China's top legislature, on Thursday, she was asked by journalists outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing about her call for more support in organizing sports events in ethnic areas.

Zhang, a teacher from a high school in the Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture in Hubei province, said sport had proved to be a great way to unite people from different ethnic groups.

The popular "EnBA" basketball tournament held in the prefecture, for instance, had perfectly integrated people's passion for ethnic cultures and sports, she said.

"It's much more than a basketball tournament. It became a new platform for us to showcase our unique ethnic culture, which we are proud of, via performances during the games," she said, and it "boosts understanding and exchanges of people from different ethnic groups, and more importantly, strengthens the sense of the Chinese national community".