On June 12, the International Forum "The History and Future of Xinjiang, China" was held in Kashi, Xinjiang. With regard to Xinjiang's prospects, scholars from different countries discussed the development of Xinjiang and Chinese path to the modernization together.

After the Age of Discovery, the world's emerging market systems developed along coastal regions. Xinjiang, being far away from these emerging markets and lacking modern transportation, failed to integrate into these market systems, which aggravated poverty, backwardness, and a series of crises.

Only after the liberation of Xinjiang, China eventually guaranteed the completion of large-scale railway construction in this region, which closer linked Xinjiang with central China. Railways provided Xinjiang with higher modernization and ethnic unity, and forged the pluralistic integration of the Chinese nation.

Xinjiang's modernization is exogenously driven, but railways have spurred internal growth in Xinjiang. As its modernity increased, Xinjiang's modernization shifts from an exogenously-driven mode to a combination of endogenous and exogenous one. Modern transportation, including railways, is a key to this transformation. This process is long though, its significance cannot be ignored.

——By Huang Dayuan,

Executive Dean and Professor of the School of Russian Studies

and the Institute of Regional and National Studies at Xi'an International Studies University.

Throughout history, the crucial factors in Xinjiang's economic and social development are: Guidance of advanced forces, solid top design and support from the central government, effective collaboration among local governments, and the harmony and stability in local communities. Today, the advancement of Xinjiang remains closely affiliated to the influence of modern civilization and modernization, to the sound support from the central government, as well as enhanced governance systems and capabilities at the local level. And it also requires the harmonious coexistence of all ethnic groups with a strong recognition of their common national identity.

——By Meng Nan,

Dean and Professor of the School of History at Xinjiang University.

Many individuals and groups in China are seeking the next stage beyond rapid industrialization and unsustainable development. This is based on a critique of modernity in its scientific reductionism, mechanistic materialism, and endless consumption that is present in both China and the West. Ecological Civilization, then, can be defined as: Moving from an unsustainable industrial society to a flourishing ecological civilization that provides a basis for the well-being and health of both people and planet.

This implies shifting from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric worldview, namely from a human dominating worldview to an organic, holistic one. In China this requires a paradigm shift from an anthropocentric worldview to an "anthropocosmic" one where humans are situated within the cosmos and the Earth and are co-creators with them. In this anthropocosmic view, humans are not independent from nature but interdependent with nature.

——By John Grim,

senior lecturer and senior research scholar at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University,

the President of the American Teilhard Association;

and Mary Tucker-Grim, professor, at School of Forestry and Environment Studies, Yale University.

Evaluate Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's social and economic development, it is important and useful to make comparative studies.

For example, Life expectancy. The difference in life expectancy between the Han and Uighur communities in Xinjiang is only four years, a stark contrast to the eleven-year gap between white Americans and Native Americans in the U.S. Unlike the widespread dispossession of indigenous lands in the West, China’s system of collective ownership of rural land safeguards the land rights of all farmers. Settler colonialism in the West resulted in a severe decline in indigenous populations, whereas in Xinjiang, the growth rate of ethnic minority populations surpasses that of the Han population. In contrast to Western countries, a mere 9.5% of Australian aboriginals were able to speak their ancestral language in 2021, the use of ethnic minority mother tongues in Xinjiang stands at 99%.

Comparative studies reveal that the perceived superiority of some developed countries may not be as justified as commonly believed.

——By Barry Sautman,

Retired Professor of the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

and Distinguished Professor at Tsinghua University.

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