GUIYANG - A group of memorial trees, including a central one named "Heart to Heart", have been planted during the big party on the day off at the ongoing ninth Chinese Traditional Games for Ethnic groups?on Thursday.

The woods, with 34 smaller trees encircling the "Heart to Heart" memorial tree, were planted to mark the ethnic solidarity and harmony, which have been emphasized and enlarged at the ongoing ethnic games.

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At the outset of the festivities, representitives from the 34 delegations taking part in the quadrennial event alongside with senior officials from the host authorities jointly planted the central tree with each representitive taking 1kg soil and 500ml water here from hometown.

Mu Dan was one of the first pair of torchbearers at last Saturday's opening ceremony, representing Tianjin, an important port in North China that had hosted the very first Chinese Ethnic Games in 1953. Among the planters, the shuttlelock kicker couldn't be more excited.

"It will be a moment that I never forget," she said. "Planting a tree here is just like sowing a seed of national unity together with friends of various ethnic nationalities."

"I will definitely come back years later to see the tree here and cherish forever the unique memory of today," she added.

The soil that Mu brought here was taken from Jixian, a district of Tianjin with a history tracing back to China's Chunqiu Period almost 2800 years ago, while the water irragating the tree was from Haihe River, the most important water network for North China.

From the hinterlands of the north, from the lush jungles in the south, from the mountains of Taiwan in the east, to the top of the world in the west, the soil and water taken from every corner of the multi-national country were gathered under the memorial tree and made the scene more memorable.

As a tradition for the ethnic games, all participants took a day off on Thursday and joined local citizens in a big party, which provided folk shows, interactive games as well as long table dinner serving 9999 guests at the host city Guiyang's Guanshan Lake Park.

The party has been made regular by every version of the ethnic games to promote multi-communication and enhance mutual understanding between 56 ethnic nationalities of China.