Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, waves to the crowds gathering to see him off at Urumqi Tianshan International Airport in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, September 25, 2025.
Residents and officials of all ethnic groups in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been greatly inspired after Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the grand gathering celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Urumqi on Thursday morning.
President Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Xinjiang from September 23 to 25. Xi urged the region to build a socialist modern Xinjiang that is characterized by unity, harmony, prosperity, affluence, cultural progress and a sound eco-environment, where people live and work in peace and contentment.
Local people said that over the past seven decades, the region has undergone great changes with rising living standards, and pledged to continue contributing to building a modernized Xinjiang in the course of Chinese modernization.
Halimulati Rexiti, a performer from the Turpan City Song and Dance Troupe, said she’s especially happy and excited to meet the general secretary. “My hometown has changed tremendously. All ethnic groups live like one family, united like pomegranate seeds,” she said.
Ma Lingxiang, a community head of Urumqi, hailed the convenience of medical care and education in Xinjiang today. “Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, our sense of security, happiness, and fulfillment has been steadily improving,” he noted.
By the end of 2020, Xinjiang, once one of China’s most impoverished areas, had emerged from poverty alongside the rest of China, lifting 3.06 million rural residents out of destitution, according to the white paper titled “CPC Guidelines for Governing Xinjiang in the New Era: Practice and Achievements.”
Official data shows the regional GDP hit over 2 trillion yuan (around $281.4 billion) in 2024, 203 times that of 1955, reaching an average annual growth rate of 8 percent. The population of Xinjiang has increased from 4.78 million in 1953 to 25.85 million in 2020, with the ethnic minority populations growing from 4.45 million to 14.93 million during the same period.
Officials in Xinjiang vowed to carry out CPC’s guidance on governing Xinjiang to further promote the region’s development.
Bai Lin, an official of Hetian, said that as a representative of officials assigned to Xinjiang, he feels deeply honored and proud. “The general secretary has asked us to adhere to the Party’s strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era. We will unite and forge ahead to promote ethnic exchanges and integration, living up to his expectations,” he noted.
Tang Peike, a village official, said President Xi’s visit to Xinjiang shows his care and concern for people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. “We will follow his guidance, develop industries with Xinjiang strengths, and help villagers achieve common prosperity and better lives,” Tang said.
Peng Ziyuan, deputy Party secretary of Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Investment Group Co., Ltd., pledged to further integrate Xinjiang’s distinctive resources and make Xinjiang a global well-known tourism place. “We are now more determined to deepen cultural and tourism integration and promote high-quality development in Xinjiang,” he said.
SOURCE: CGTN News