Against the backdrop of the deepening development of curriculum-based ideological and political education, how the English discipline can fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education and effectively forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation has become an important issue in English education research in ethnic minority areas. This study takes the reading sections of the People’s Education Press (PEP) senior high school English compulsory textbooks as its research object. It constructs an analytical framework for content related to forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and statistically analyzes the ideological and political content in the textbooks from four dimensions: identification of the great motherland, identification of the Chinese nation, identification of Chinese culture, and identification of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics. On this basis, and in light of the characteristics and educational value of local historical and cultural resources of Xizang, the study further explores practical pathways for integrating such resources into senior high school English reading instruction. The findings show that, first, the reading sections of the PEP senior high school English compulsory textbooks already embody such content in a relatively systematic way, although the distribution across the four dimensions is uneven. In particular, identification of the great motherland and identification of Chinese culture account for a relatively large proportion, whereas identification of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics is comparatively weak. Second, although the textbooks provide a sound foundation for curriculum-based ideological and political education, there is still room for further expansion in local cultural experience, regional relevance, and cognitive support based on students’ lived experiences. Third, local historical and cultural resources of Xizang can help extend textbook themes, construct classroom contexts, and deepen students’ value understanding. Based on these findings, the study proposes a pathway centered on textbook texts, supported by local resources, mediated by students’ experience, advanced through cultural comparison, and implemented through language tasks.