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Xinjiang's Ethnical Economy Ready for a Leap
After half a century's development and construction, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region saw a rise in its economic highland, thus laying a material foundation for realizing an economic takeoff in the new century. Currently, people of different nationalities in the autonomous region are actively pitching into the great cause of western region development and setting off a new round of upsurge in economic construction.
In the first half of this century, Xinjiang people suffered from chaos caused by frequent wars. Although all the previous government and military officials had planned the exploitation of resources and economic construction, they could not get rid of the shadow of failures. By the peaceful liberation in 1949, there was not an inch of railway, nor sound factories and mines in such a large region. Even people's fear of the lack of grain came to the extreme. In some famine-hit areas, county heads could not but resign and go home.
Xinjiang gained its real prosperity only after the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in the age of reform and opening up centered on economic construction. For half a century in the past, Xinjiang has come first among the country's border provinces and regions in term of economic growth rate. From 1949 to 2000, Xinjiang's GDP is estimated to surge from about 0.78 billion yuan to 136.5 billion yuan. financial revenue from 74 million yuan to over 13 billion yuan. With the coordinated development of agriculture, industry and the tertiary industry, the national economy has entered the initial stage of industrialization. Science and technology, education, culture, public health, and other social undertakings have made all-round progress. People's living standards have greatly improved.
For half a century, farmers and herdsmen of different nationalities of Xinjiang Autonomous Region have united in the endeavor to open up oasis and set up an irrigation system for the farmland and grassland, as a result, the irrigated area had expanded from 18 million mu (15 mu=1 hectare) in the early period after liberation to 47.54 million mu in 1999, and created favorable conditions for achieving increase in the production of agriculture and animal husbandry for years running. During the 50 years, Xinjiang's annual grain output increased from 840,000 tons to 8.3 million tons, and that of cotton from 5,100 tons to 1.35 million tons. Presently, Xinjiang has become China's biggest commodity cotton production base, the second largest animal husbandry production base and the largest beet-sugar, hop and ketsup base in north China.
On the shambles shortly after liberation, Xinjiang set up a complete modern industrial system to establish a relatively strong comprehensive production capacity. Especially in the 1990s, Xinjiang leapt to become a significant crude oil extracting base and petrochemical base of China. Presently, the autonomous region has had 38 industries, including petroleum, petrochemistry, coal, electric power, metallurgy, machine-building, building materials, textile and food, and over 6,300 industrial enterprises with a fairly high level of technology and equipment. During the 50 years, Xinjiang's annual production capacity of crude oil climbed from 60,000 tons to 19 million tons, that of coal from 180,000 tons to 29.27 million tons, and iron and steel from 700 tons to 1.07 million tons.
After peaceful liberation, the central government and fraternal provinces and cities gave Xinjiang special care and helped it build infrastructures and basic industries, thereby enhancing its capability to sustain its economic development. By the end of this year, the autonomous region's total investment in capital construction will have exceeded 370 billion yuan, of which over 60 percent are State investment. At present, there are railways running through the east, north and south of Xinjiang. Even desert villages and border trading ports are accessible to highways. Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and nine cities in southern and northern Xinjiang have civil aviation services. Telecom transmission can instantly reach various parts of the world.
Looking forward to the new century, people of all nationalities in Xinjiang are full of confidence in the prospect of economic development. The autonomous region has set forth this goal: by 2005, Xinjiang's GDP will reach 210 billion yuan, financial revenue exceed 23 billion yuan, average annual increase in per-capita income of farmers will stand at about 150 yuan. During the 10th Five-Year Plan period, Xinjiang's fixed asset investment is estimated to be 420 billion yuan, a group of key projects will be built in the fields of infrastructure construction, ecological environmental protection and feature industries, thereby setting up a framework for the large-scale exploitation of resources.
By PD Online staff member Du Minghua
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