Historical Witness to Ethnic Equality, Unity and Development in Xinjiang

III. Constantly Strengthening the Foundations of Development

Over the past six decades, Xinjiang's economy has achieved steady and rapid development, which has accelerated the region' s modernization and laid a solid foundation for improved standards of living and progress in various social programs.

Marked improvement has been observed in Xinjiang' s overall strength. Its gross regional product (GRP) was only RMB1.2 billion in 1955 and RMB3.9 billion in 1978. In 2014, it reached RMB927.3 billion, a 116-fold increase over that of 1955 in real terms, with an annual growth rate of 8.3 percent, or 0.2 percentage point higher than China' s average during the same period. Over the years between 2010 and 2014, the average annual growth rate of Xinjiang's GRP was 11.1 percent, 2.5 percentage points higher than the national average. It ranked the fourth of all the country's province-level divisions - its highest ever placing as compared to the 30th in 2009. Xinjiang's per-capita GRP rose to RMB40,648 in 2014 from RMB241 in 1955, about a 24-fold increase in real terms, and a 5.6-percent annual growth. Xinjiang's fiscal revenues and expenditure, no more than RMB170 million and RMB180 million in 1955, grew to RMB128 billion and RMB332 billion in 2014. Over the period from 2010 to 2014, Xinjiang collected a total of RMB454 billion in fiscal revenues, and spent a total of RMB1,308.8 billion.

The gap between urban and rural areas has gradually been narrowed. When the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was founded, it had only few cities like Urumqi, Kashi (Kashgar), Yining (Ghulja) and Hami (Kumul). Its rural areas remained a closed natural economy. There was a yawning gap between urban and rural areas. After six decades of construction and development, enormous improvement has been observed in the production and living conditions of both urban and rural residents. The ratio of urban to rural population was 15.1:84.9 in 1955. By 2014, it had changed to 46.07:53.93. The ratio of urban residents' income to that of rural residents decreased from 3.2:1 in 2009 to 2.7:1 in 2014, narrower than that in the 11 other provinces and autonomous regions of western China. As Xinjiang's new model of urbanization develops fast, more and more rural residents are moving to the cities and enjoying a modern city life.

The economy of the various areas of Xinjiang is developing in a coordinated way. For historical reasons and due to different conditions, Xinjiang's northern and southern parts, which are divided by the Tianshan Mountains, varied sharply in development. Following the launch of reform and opening-up drive in 1978, Xinjiang decided to first develop the economic belt along the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. Development then extended to other parts and propelled the economic growth of the whole region. In 2014, the gross product of the economic belt reached RMB638.7 billion, accounting for 68.9 percent of Xinjiang's total. The state and the autonomous region have also attached great importance to the development of southern Xinjiang, which is mainly populated by ethnic minorities. Since 2010 in particular, Xinjiang has actively encouraged the development of the southern Xinjiang petroleum, natural gas and chemical industry belt and made strenuous effort to support the development of poverty-stricken areas there by giving them a high priority in funding and projects. The average economic growth rate of the four southern Xinjiang prefectures (Hotan, Aksu and Kashi prefectures, and Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture) increased from 10.5 percent in 2009 to 11.2 percent in 2014. A steady growth has been seen in the economic strength of southern Xinjiang, so has a constant improvement in the local people's standards of living.

The economic structure is being steadily optimized. Xinjiang's economy represented a typical pattern featuring traditional agriculture and husbandry as the main component. The ratio of added-value of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors was 54.4:26.1:19.5 in 1955, and the workforce distribution among the three sectors was 86.9:6.1:7.0. By 2014, the two ratios had improved to 16.6:42.6:40.8 and 45.4:16.0:38.6. A modern industrial structure, with the agricultural sector as the base, manufacturing sector as the spearhead, and service sector as an important component, had taken shape in Xinjiang. After 1978, Xinjiang has stepped up the adjustment of its pattern of ownership. It gave full play to the leading role of public ownership, forming a system of state-owned pillar industries such as petroleum, non-ferrous metals, chemical engineering, steel and coal, as the mainstays, thus having guaranteed the sustained, steady and coordinated growth of the national economy. Meanwhile, it has encouraged, supported and guided the development of the non-public sector. The number of individually owned businesses reached 720,000 in 2014, as compared to the mere 4,168 in 1978. In 2014, private investment in fixed assets was around RMB407 billion, contributing 48.2 percent of the total. Non-public industrial enterprises witnessed a growth rate 5.4 percentage points higher than the industrial sector as a whole, and contributed 33.8 percent to the increment of industrial enterprises with an annual sales revenue of RMB20 million or more.

The infrastructure has become more and more complete. In 2014, 175,500 km of highways were open to traffic, of which 4,316 km were expressways, five times more than in 2009, and Xinjiang had risen to the 12th place among all province-level administrative divisions in the country from the 27th in 2009. A total of 135,000 km of roads served the traffic in rural areas, linking 99.93 percent of towns and 98.71 percent of administrative villages. Some 98 percent of roads between towns and 85 percent of roads between administrative villages were concrete or asphalt ones that meet national standards and requirements. Rail transport in Xinjiang has developed from scratch. In 2014, the overall length of track reached 5,760 km. The region's first high-speed rail between Urumqi and Lanzhou has opened to traffic. A trunk rail network, stretching from east to west and from north to south, connects Xinjiang with other parts of China and with countries in Asia and Europe. In 1978, Xinjiang had only one civil airport and nine regional air routes. By 2014, it had in operation 16 civil airports, and 115 air routes totaling 160,000 km. Thus, Xinjiang now boasts the most airports and the longest air routes in operation of all China's province-level administrative divisions.

Water conservancy projects have led to a great improvement in working and living conditions. Xinjiang had 538 reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 16.908 billion cu m in 2014, as compared to three with a total storage capacity of 52.34 million cu m in 1949. Since 2010, key water conservancy projects bearing on daily life have taken priority in Xinjiang; they included high-efficiency water-saving projects in agriculture, "settlement of herdsmen" water projects, and safe drinking water projects in rural areas. By 2014, high-efficiency water-saving irrigation extended to 27.7 million (1.85 million ha) of farmlands, topping the whole country. Xinjiang had improved irrigation over 3,984,900 (265,660 ha), increased the area of forage land by 3,720,800 (248,053 ha), achieved a net increase of 3.03 million tons in fine forage and hay, and provided water sources for forage lands to safeguard the settlements of 106,000 herding families. Xinjiang's rural areas had a total of 1,315 water works of different sizes, which provided safe drinking water to 11.3 million people, or over 96 percent of the rural population. This has effectively held in check the spread of local infectious and frequently occurring diseases caused by water source pollution.

The power industry is developing rapidly. The South Hami-Zhengzhou +-800 kv UHVDC Transmission Project, Xinjiang's first UHVDC transmission channel sending electricity out of Xinjiang, was put into operation in 2010, and the building of the supporting power projects of the Zhundong-Huadong +-1100 kv UHVDC Transmission Project has started. Xinjiang's 110 kv and 220 kv grids were connected to the 750 kv higher-grade trunk grid. In 2014, Xinjiang had installed power-generating capacity of 55 million kw, and produced 209 billion kwh of electricity. It sent 17.5 billion kwh to other parts of China through transmission lines totaling 65,656 km. The installed capacity using new energy made up 20 percent of the total. A pattern of power generation with thermal power as the mainstay and other forms of power like hydro power, wind power, gas power, photovoltaic power and biomass power in support, has taken shape.

Xinjiang has become an information society. Six decades ago telegrams and post were mainly carried by animals. Now, its communications industry has entered the modern information era. There is Internet coverage across most of the region. In 2014, broadband user numbers exceeded 3 million, and there were 91 mobile phones per 100 people. Around 98 percent of villages had phone line connections and 97 percent of administrative villages had broadband connections. Xinjiang has invested great efforts in raising the status of Urumqi as a regional inward and outward hub in international telecommunication services. Its voice and data services have cross-border connections with more than ten foreign countries, and are able to connect international call services to the whole of the country.

Solid progress has been made in opening up to the outside world. Since 1978, Xinjiang, with state approval, has created 17 first-class ports and 12 second-class ports, in addition to successfully holding 19 Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fairs and four China-Eurasia Expos. It has set up two national economic development zones in Kashi and Khorgos, and the International Center for Cross-Border Cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in Khorgos. Now, there are in Xinjiang 23 state-class industrial clusters. It trades with 186 countries and regions. A new pattern of all-round opening up has taken shape in the region. The value of Xinjiang's combined imports and exports grew from US$51 million in 1955 to almost US$27.7 billion in 2014, averaging an annual growth rate of 11.3 percent. Between 2009 and 2014, applied foreign investment grew at an annual rate of over 12 percent, the volumes of overseas contract business increased by an annual average of 26 percent, and investment outside China went up by an annual average of 25 percent.

The driving force of scientific and technological innovation has remarkably increased in Xinjiang's socio-economic development. Since its founding, Xinjiang has experienced constant increases in its financial input in science and technology, in the size of staff in scientific work, in the variety research platforms and in the number of research achievements, which have gradually led to the establishment of a system of scientific and technological innovation with distinct regional characteristics. The contribution made by scientific and technological progress to the development of agriculture has increased year by year, and improved crop varieties make up over 90 percent of total output. Industrial technology and new and high technology are developing rapidly. Xinjiang leads the country in railway traction transformer technologies, solar and wind power equipment research and manufacturing, and information processing in ethnic minority languages. It has made major technological breakthroughs in the field of resources and environment technology, discovering the petroleum and natural gas reserves in the Tarim Basin. The technologies used in the Tarim Desert Highway and Shelter Forest Project meet the highest international advanced standards.

Steady progress has been made in environmental protection. The ecological system in Xinjiang is extremely fragile, with very limited environmental capacity. Oases account for only 5 percent of the region's total area. Over the past 60 years, and especially since 2010, Xinjiang has made ecological and environmental protection a top priority, insisting on sustainable development of resources and the eco-environment. It has devoted great efforts to protecting and building its ecological system, carefully balancing the interests of economic growth and environmental protection.

Xinjiang protects its environment in accordance with the law. It has drawn up detailed plans and regulations first to protect the environment. It enacted the Zoning Program of Major Functional Areas of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and amended or issued a series of local regulations, including the Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Environmental Protection, Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Environmental Protection in the Development of Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Regulations of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on Wetland Conservation of the Autonomous Region, and Regulations of Urumqi City on Air Pollution Prevention and Control. It now has 31 natural reserves of various kinds at or above the autonomous region level, 18 scenic spots, 52 forest parks, nine geoparks, one world natural heritage site, and 16 wetland parks. Fifty-four percent of its wetland areas are under protection, higher than the national average of 43 percent.

Xinjiang has intensified efforts in ecological and environmental protection programs. Since 2010, Xinjiang has planted or protected over 2,500,000 (166,667 ha) of forests by restricting access to mountain areas. Its total forest area and forest stock rank 14th and 12th in China. Now, belts of shelter-forests built to protect farmlands in all of Xinjiang's 82 counties and county-level cities have merged to form a network, 45 counties and county-level cities have reached the national standards in plains afforestation, and 95 percent of farmlands are effectively protected by the shelter-forests. The forest coverage in oases has risen from 15 percent to 23.5 percent, and a total of 3,258,000 (217,200 ha) of farmland has been returned to forest. Major projects for ecological protection have been launched, such as the Million Ecological Economic Forest Project in Ili Valley and the Project for Prevention and Control of Desertification around Tarim Basin, restoring a total of 24.6 million (1.64 million ha) of degraded lands and enclosing 51.6 million (3.4 million ha) of grassland to prevent grazing. It has curbed water and soil erosion over more than 4,000 sq km of small river valleys. The Comprehensive Reclamation Project of Tarim River Valley has provided emergency water supplies to its lower reaches on 15 occasions, gradually restoring prosperity there. In 2014, water quality was good in 94 percent of major rivers and 67.8 percent of lakes and reservoirs, as compared to 88.3 percent and 43.3 percent in 2009. This is much higher than the national average level.

Xinjiang has put in a lot of work to tackle pollution. Joint prevention and control of air pollution has been carried out in areas like Urumqi and Kuytun-Dushanzi-Wusu. There has been a considerable improvement in the air quality of the regional capital, Urumqi. During 2014, the city had 310 days with good air quality, the best ever for 20 years. Xinjiang has piloted environmental protection in some lakes with good water quality, such as Bosten Lake, Sayram Lake, Ulungur Lake and Kanas Lake. In order to safeguard drinking water, it has made great efforts to protect 367 centralized drinking-water source areas, and comprehensively improved the habitat of 1,836 villages. Xinjiang encourages ecological progress through examples. It has built up two national model cities for environmental protection, 43 national-level eco-friendly prefectures, towns and villages, and 1,057 autonomous region-level eco-friendly prefectures, towns and villages.

IV. Improving Standards of Living for All

Since the founding of the autonomous region, and especially since the launch of the reform and opening-up drive, Xinjiang has enjoyed overall economic and social development, and people of the various ethnic groups in the autonomous region have all benefitted from the fruits of the reform and development. Since 2010, Xinjiang has stepped up efforts and input in improving the people's living standards, undertaking over 500 key projects in this regard over the past six consecutive "people's livelihood years," with the expenditure on improving the people's livelihood accounting for over 70 percent of the region's yearly total public spending. This has made these six years a period in which the people are benefitted the most and see the greatest improvement in their material well-being and cultural life.

Employment channels are constantly expanding. In 2014, the registered urban unemployment rate of Xinjiang was 3.2 percent. From 2010 to 2014, 2.5 million new urban jobs were created, averaging a yearly growth of 500,000. In 2010, Xinjiang established a registration system for people with difficulties in finding work and for families of which no member was gainfully employed. By 2014, under this system Xinjiang had helped 29,000 members of these "zero-employment" families find jobs, cutting the number of zero-employment families by 26,000. From 2010 to 2014, Xinjiang provided jobs to 303,000 university graduates, with the employment rates of university graduates and university graduates of ethnic minority origins reaching 88.6 and 82.7 percent, respectively. By May 2011, it had virtually resolved the employment problems of 75,000 unemployed graduates of junior colleges and technical secondary schools who had registered before the end of 2009, of whom 84.6 percent came from ethnic minority groups. Some 1.66 million job opportunities were created for rural surplus labor in 2009. This figure increased to 2.85 million in 2014. During this five-year period, the relevant wage bill totaled RMB56.6 billion.

The life of the people has kept improving. In 2014, the per-capita disposable income of urban residents averaged RMB21,881, an increase of 51.2 fold over that of 1980, representing an average annual growth of 12.3 percent. This also represented an increase of more than RMB9,624 over that of 2009. The per-capita net income of rural residents was RMB8,114, increasing by 41.4 fold as compared with that of 1980, averaging an annual growth of 11.5 percent. This was an increase of more than RMB4,231 as compared with 2009. The Engel coefficient of urban and rural residents continued to decline, from 36.3 percent and 41.5 percent respectively in 2009 to 31.3 percent and 34.5 percent in 2014.

Living conditions of both urban and rural residents have continued to improve. In 2004, Xinjiang started an earthquake-resistant and comfortable housing project; and since 2010, it has launched projects of offering comfortable housing and enriching the people, settlement of herdsmen for developing animal husbandry, and urban affordable housing. By 2014, more than 4.8 million farmers and herdsmen and 2.07 million middle- and low-income urban residents had moved into new homes. The average flood space for an urban household was 85 sq m, and that of a rural household was 105 sq m. All urban households and 72 percent of rural households have been provided with facilities for heating. In urban areas, the water supply covered 96.3 percent of the population, and the centralized sewage treatment rate reached 78.6 percent. Sixty-three percent of domestic garbage underwent hazard-free treatment. In built-up urban areas, the green coverage rate was 34.9 percent, and per-capita green park area was 10.7 sq m. Projects to improve the communal environment in rural areas and demonstration projects of comprehensive improvement of rural environment were launched, gradually bringing about a clean and neat village environment for more than 2 million farmers and herdsmen.

Continuous development has been seen in education. Since 2010, education in the region has ushered in a new period of rapid development. Over the past five years, education expenditure has exceeded RMB250 billion. In 2014, the proportion of education expenditure in theGDPincreased to 6.47 percent. Xinjiang has 9,230 schools of various types and at all levels, with 4,734,800 students and 338,200 full-time teachers. From 2010 to 2014, the three-year kindergarten enrollment rate grew from 51 percent to 72.4 percent; the proportion of junior high school graduates getting enrolled into high schools increased from 74 percent to 91 percent, while the gross high school enrollment increased from 67 percent to 84 percent. The university and college admission rate grew from 64 percent to 79 percent, and the gross enrollment rate of higher education increased from 22 percent to 31 percent. This brought Xinjiang to a level of higher education take-up similar to the rest of the country. A full system of vocational education was in place, with 176 secondary vocational and technical schools providing for 219,500 students.

Bilingual education has undergone full development. As of the 1950s, ethnic minority students have gradually been offered bilingual courses, thus ensuing steady development in this regard. In 2014, a total of 269,400 Xinjiang students - from pre-school to high school - were receiving bilingual education, and the coverage of bilingual education in various forms reached 100 percent. From 2010 to 2014, the take-up of two-year pre-school bilingual education grew from 59 percent to 89 percent. Practice has proved that bilingual education has further promoted relations among different ethnic groups, in addition to improving the employability of the ethnic minorities.

The mechanism for guaranteeing education has improved. In tandem with the rest of China, Xinjiang has implemented the policy of "two exemptions and one subsidy" - exemption from miscellaneous fees and textbook fees, and subsidized living expenses for resident students, and abolishing tuition and miscellaneous fees for urban primary and middle schools and realizing free compulsory education. The policy of "three exemptions and one subsidy" has been implemented for high schools and secondary vocational schools in the four prefectures of southern Xinjiang, i.e., exemption from tuition, textbook and boarding fees, and subsidized living expenses for resident students, in order to realize 14-year free education there. A nutrition improvement program has also been implemented for all rural students undertaking compulsory education, covering 36 counties and all junior high school classes specially set up in some cities in Xinjiang for minority students from remote impoverished areas. A system for subsidizing students from pre-school to higher education has been established, and its coverage even extends to students from Xinjiang studying overseas at their own expense, ensuring that students from all ethnic groups enjoy equal access to education.

Public health has been improved steadily. Through 60 years of development, total healthcare resources continue to expand, while the health service system continues to improve. As a major indicator of people's livelihood, since 2010, financial input in healthcare has kept growing. In 2014, Xinjiang boasted 18,873 medical and health institutions at various levels and of various types, manned by 153,417 health professionals. In the region, every 1,000 people averaged 6.22 hospital beds, 2.38 licensed (assistant) doctors and 2.60 registered nurses, a level higher than the national average. The health emergency response capacity has been significantly enhanced, and major epidemic and endemic diseases have been brought under effective control. Key health indicators have improved remarkably. From 2010 to 2014, the infant mortality rate fell from 2.66 to 2.16 per thousand, the maternal mortality rate went down from 43.41 to 39.27 per 100,000, and average life expectancy reached 72.35 years.

There has been a steady improvement in the provision of social security. In 2011, Xinjiang led the country in establishing systems of basic old-age insurance and basic medical insurance that gave overall consideration to both urban and rural areas and cover all the local population, providing everyone access to basic social security. The coverage of the new cooperative medical system for agricultural and pastoral areas was 99.7 percent. The coverage of the new rural social pension insurance reached 98.5 percent. Unemployment, work-related injury and maternity insurance systems have been extended to cover all occupational groups. In 2014, there were 33.5 million registrations in Xinjiang's various social insurance schemes, an increase of 10.73 million or 47 percent over 2009. The coverage of these insurance schemes exceeded 90 percent, essentially ensuring that all those in need of insurance are provided for.

For 10 consecutive years, Xinjiang has adjusted the basic pension for enterprise retirees, increasing the basic monthly pension from an average of RMB1,338 in 2009 up to RMB2,298 in 2014, a level of increase that tops the whole country. For four consecutive years, the unemployment insurance benefits have been increased, with the per-capita average monthly unemployment insurance reaching RMB761 in 2014. The annual per-capita government subsidy for urban residents' medical insurance was raised from RMB120 in 2009 to RMB330 in 2014, RMB10 higher than the national average.

Social assistance has continued to strengthen. Subsistence allowances and other life assistance systems have been established. Life assistance plays an increasingly important role in underpinning security. The system of subsistence allowances covers both urban and rural areas, again ensuring that all of those in need of insurance are provided for. From 2009 to 2014, the monthly subsistence allowance for urban residents increased from RMB176 per capita to RMB329 per capita, while that of rural residents rose from RMB68 to RMB129. Subsidies for disabled servicemen and family members of revolutionary martyrs and servicemen doubled. For rural households enjoying the "five guarantees" (proper food, clothing, medical care, housing and funeral/educational expenses), subsidies for those living in nursing homes increased from RMB3,036 to RMB6,750 per year, and that for those living at home grew from RMB2,280 to RMB4,301 per year. In 2014, there were 1,726 old people's homes, with a total of 52,183 beds, averaging 20.6 beds per thousand elderly people. People over the age 80 now enjoy a basic living allowance and free medical check-up. The minimum basic living expenses for orphans supported by welfare institutions grew from RMB360 per month in 2009 to RMB900 per month in 2014.

Remarkable results have been achieved in poverty alleviation. In the 1990s, the state launched the Seven-Year Poverty Alleviation Program (to lift 80 million people out of poverty), during which Xinjiang had managed to solve the problem of providing food and clothing for 1.32 million impoverished people. From 2001 to 2010, Xinjiang solved the problem of shortages of food and clothing for 2.84 million people, thus entering a new stage of consolidation and development in this regard. From 2011 to 2014, Xinjiang carried out policies of regional development and priority poverty alleviation in the three prefectures of southern Xinjiang (Hotan, Kashi and Kizilsu), and in border areas and poor mountainous areas. Over these four years, special funds allocated for poverty relief totaled RMB10.1 billion, 12,000 poverty alleviation projects were implemented, poverty alleviation training was provided to 775,000 recipients, and poverty reduction programs were carried out in 1,902 poverty-stricken villages. Thanks to these efforts, Xinjiang's poverty-stricken population was reduced by 1.39 million, and marked improvement has been seen in the work and living conditions of farmers and herdsmen in the poverty-stricken areas.