Province View-china.org.cn

Regional Chairman: Ismail Tiliwaldi

Capital: Urumqi

Government office address: 2 Zhongshan Road, Urumqi

Tel: 0991-280 3114

Postcode: 830041

Website: www.xinjiang.gov.cn

Geographic location

Situated in the northwest China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was known in China as the Western Territory in ancient times. Its 1.66 million sq km represent about one-sixth of the total territory of the country, making it the largest of China's regions and provinces. Xinjiang shares 5,600 km of frontier with Mongolia in the northeast, then Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the west, and then Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in the southwest.

Xinjiang 2004 - The Year in Review

General Economy
Gross domestic product (GDP)	GDP for 2004 was 220.02 billion yuan, up 11.1% from the previous year.
GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries)	The primary industry yielded a value added of 44.47 billion yuan, 5.1% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 101.01 billion yuan, a growth of 14.3%; the tertiary industry, 74.54 billion yuan, a growth of 10.4%. The proportion of the three sectors is 20.2: 45.9: 33.9.
Revenue and expenditure	Regional revenue was 32 billion yuan, an increase of 21.0% over the previous year. Regional expenditure was 41 billion yuan, an increase of 11.3%.
Consumer price index (CPI)	CPI was up 2.7% from the previous year.
Investment in fixed assets	Fixed asset investment was valued at 116 billion yuan, up by 15.8% from the previous year.
Major Industries
Agriculture	In 2004, the region's total agricultural output value was 51.5 billion yuan, an increase of 4.5% from the previous year.
Industry	The industrial added value was 74.5 billion yuan, an increase of 14.5%.
High-tech	The export value of high-tech products stood at US$38 million, up by 35.5%.
Construction	Its added value was 26.51 billion yuan, up by 13.9%.
Transportation	The annual volume of goods handled was 94.78 million tons, up by 13.2% from the previous year. The annual passenger flow reached 42.52 million, an increase of 24.3%.
Postal services	The annual turnover of postal operations totaled 740 million yuan, up by 2.8% from the previous year.
Telecommunications	The annual turnover of the telecommunications sector totaled 14.57 billion yuan, up by 35.8% from the previous year.
Retail	The annual turnover from retail sales reached 48.21 billion yuan, an increase of 14.5% from the previous year.
Tourism	Revenue from domestic tourism totaled 10.896 billion yuan, up by 22.9%. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism totaled US$91 million, up by 87.5%.
Continued Effects of Market Reform
Imports & exports	The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$5.64 million, an increase of 18.2% from the previous year.
Economic and technological cooperation	Overseas project and labor contracts signed during the year were valued at US$102 million. Business turnover for the year totaled US$86 million.
Foreign investment	Foreign direct investment realized in monetary terms was US$46 million, up by 14.5% from the year before.
Urban Construction and Management
Road transport	With the construction of 5,900 km of highways during the year, 257 administrative villages now have access to highway transport.
Social Undertakings
Science and technology	The region undertook a total of 50 sci-tech projects, an increase of 19.0% from the year before. During the year, the regional patent office handled 1,492 patent applications and awarded 792 patents.
Education	By the end of 2004, the region had a total of 28 institutes of higher learning. The number of students enrolled during the year stood at 50,900, up by 18.1%. A total of 47,900 adults got rid of illiteracy during the year.
Culture	The region had a total of 88 professional performing organizations, 91 cultural centers, 84 public libraries, 23 museums and 135 archives at the year-end.
Public health	There were a total of 9,087 medical and healthcare institutes equipped with 78,100 beds and staffed with 99,800 medical professionals and technicians at the year-end.
Sports	The athletes from the region won 5 first prizes in international and inter-continental competitions, and 15 first, 15 second and 19 third prizes in national games.
Welfare and aid	There are 150 township and community service centers in the region. About 588,400 urban residents have been covered by a government system of guaranteeing their minimum standard of living. A total of 508 welfare units in the region were equipped with 12,950 beds to put up 9,799 of the region's homeless and vagrant people by the end of 2004. The welfare lottery reaped sales of 644 million yuan, raising 225 million yuan for the public welfare fund. Direct donations received from the public were 16 million yuan.
Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards
Population	At the end of 2004, the total population of the region was 19.63 million, an increase of 1.5% from the previous year. The birth rate was 16.0‰, the mortality rate 5.1‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 10.9‰.
Employment	The employed population of the region at the end of 2004 stood at 7.39 million, an increase of 2.5% from the previous year-end. About 132,700 laid-off workers got re-employed. By the year end there were still 18,800 laid-offs from the state-owned enterprises.
Registered unemployment rate	The registered unemployment rate at the end of 2004 was 3.8%.
Social security	In 2004, insurance plans for unemployment, endowments and medical treatment covered a population of 1.39 million, 1.74 million and 1.96 million respectively. These figures are up by 2.6%, 9.9% and 11.3% respectively from the previous year.
Residents' income	The disposable income of urban residents was 7,503 yuan per capita, up by 4.9% from 2003. Rural residents' per capita net income was 2,245 yuan, up 3.1%.
Natural Conditions
Natural resources	Land About 68 million ha or 41.2% of Xinjiang's total area are considered suitable for the development of agricultural, forestry and animal husbandry. Of this there are some 48 million ha of natural grassland for grazing, 9 million ha available for reclamation, over 4 million ha under cultivation and 666,700 ha of man-made pastures. Xinjiang is one of the country's five major grazing areas. In addition there are some 4.8 million ha of land available for forestry including 1.5 million ha in production with reserves of some 250 million cubic meters of timber. Biological resources Xinjiang is home to 699 species of wild fauna, including 85 species of fish, 7 species of amphibians, 45 species of reptiles and 137 species of mammals. More than 4,000 species of wild flora have been identified, of which over 1,000 varieties such as bluish dogbane and Taraxacum kok-saghyz (T. kok-saghyz Rodin), are of significant economic value. Minerals Among the 122 minerals that have been discovered, several are the largest reserves nationwide. These include beryllium, muscovite, natron saltpeter, pottery clay and serpentine. Known reserves of iron ore are put at 730 million tons, while those for salt are 318 million tons, mirabilite 170 million tons and natron saltpeter over 2 million tons. With its deposits of more than 70 non-metalic minerals, Xinjiang is well known both at home and abroad for its muscovite, gemstones, asbestos and Khotan (Hetian) jade. Water and energy Xinjiang has an annual runoff of some 88 billion cubic meters of surface water together with 25 billion cubic meters of exploitable groundwater. Glaciers covering 24,000 sq km lock away over 2,580 billion cubic meters of water. Generous annual sunshine is in the range 2,600 to 3,400 hours. Estimates put Xinjiang's coal reserves at about 38% of the national total. Petroleum and natural gas reserves estimated at 30 billion tons, account for more than 25% of the national total.