The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has been a long-standing home to 13 ethnic groups. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and the establishment of the region in 1955, its people have witnessed tremendous progress both economically and socially. A series of photographs, chosen by China Daily, highlight just some aspects of the lives of the region's 22 million people.
From an early age, Kerim Abiliz's family chores included shuttling back and forth to collect water from a public tap a few miles from his home. The two buckets of water, which Kerim carried on the ends of a pole balanced across his shoulders, usually lasted his family two or three days.
More students in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are being educated in both their native tongue and Mandarin than in 2010, according to the latest statistics from the regional education department.
Integrating students from different ethnic groups in the same schools allows children to better understand and respect each other from a young age, and is also crucial to the future of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to a local education official.
The capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is looking to regain its former glory as a trade hub, thanks to the proposed Silk Road Economic Belt. Liu Jing and Cui Jia report.
More than 300 years ago, the Torghut tribe, an ancient people, undertook a journey that would lead them back to China, the country they had left more than a century before. Cui Jia and Mao Weihua report from the Beyinguoleng Mongolian autonomous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
The Kazak ethnic group, with a population of 1.5 million, mainly lives in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Gansu province and Qinghai province.
A visit to an oasis turns into a culinary treat of authentic Uygur flavors in the late hours.
Modern poet Shen Wei, who spent nearly three decades in the Northwest Chinese region, promotes the region's universal themes for writers there.
The Xinjiang dance festival opened Monday in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, featuring folk art in an international arena.
For more than 1,000 years traditional craftsmen have been making Atlas silk in Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Inspired by the shapes of flowers, leaves and fruits, the people weave beautiful patterns.
Tursunkhari Zunun, a six-generation Uygur potter, is pleased to see the continued success of his family's traditional clay crafts in the city of Kashgar, China's western-most city, where his works are the top souvenir.
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