BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has encouraged people of an ethnic minority group living in a remote area of southwest China to build a good homeland, guard the border, and create a better future.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks Wednesday when answering a letter from people of the Dulong ethnic minority group in Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County of Yunnan Province.

In the letter, the Dulong people informed Xi that they had been lifted out of poverty as a whole group in 2018 and villagers were enjoying a better life.

Xi said he was very glad to hear the good news and congratulated them.

"Letting the people of all ethnic groups have a good life has been my aspiration as well as our common goal," he wrote.

After the founding of the New China in 1949, the Dulong people bid farewell to the primitive life. They have now shaken off the long-standing poverty.

"This vividly demonstrates that people's dream to live a happy life will surely come true with the strong leadership of the Party and the concerted efforts of the broad masses of the people," Xi said.

"Poverty eradication is only the first step, better days are yet to come," he noted in the letter.

The Dulong, one of China's smallest ethnic groups, live along the deep gorges of the Dulongjiang River in Yunnan. This area was listed as one of the least developed regions in the country.

The six administrative villages in Dulongjiang Township eradicated poverty as a whole last year.