BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese people are people with great unity, President Xi Jinping said Tuesday.

Over the past thousands of years, the Chinese people have been united and stuck together through thick and thin, built a united country with various nationalities, developed harmonious relationships between 56 diverse, interwoven ethnic groups, formed a big Chinese family where they keep watch for and help defend each other, Xi said at the closing meeting of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.