Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (hereinafter referred to the XPCC), scattering inside Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is one part of Xinjiang, assumes the duties of cultivating and guarding the frontier areas entrusted to it by the state. It is a special social organization, which handles its own administrative and judicial affairs within the reclamation areas under its administration, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the state and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and with economic planning directly supervised by the state. It is subordinated to the dual leadership of the central government and the People's Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. And it is also known as the China Xinjian Group.
        Beginning from the Western Han Dynasty, all the dynasties in Chinese history adopted the practice of stationing troops to cultivate and guard frontier areas as an important state policy for developing border areas and consolidating frontier defense. In 1949, Xinjiang was peacefully liberated. To consolidate border defense, accelerate Xinjiang's development, and reduce the economic burden on local governments and the local people of all ethnic groups, the People's Liberation Army units stationed in Xinjiang focused their efforts on production and construction, starting large-scale production and construction projects. In October 1954, the Central People's Government ordered most of the PLA units in Xinjiang to be transferred to local civilian work by the unit, and be separated from the setups of national defense forces to form a production and construction corps, whose missions were to carry out both production and militia duties, and cultivate and guard border areas, creating a brand-new beginning of Army-Reclamation in Xinjiang history.
        Following the principle of "not competing for benefits with the local people" after its establishment, the XPCC built water conservancy works and reclaimed wasteland along the edges of the Taklimakan and Gurbantnggt deserts to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, respectively, and along the borders where the natural environment was adverse. Now they have built up ecologically sound economic networks of Oasis, with contiguous fields, crisscrossing canals, ubiquitous forest belts and radiating roads. Starting by processing agricultural and sideline products, the XPCC developed modern industry and gradually formed a multi-sector industrial system with light and textile industries as the main part and supplemented by iron and steel, coal, building materials, electricity, chemicals and machinery industries. With these projects in full swing, the XPCC saw its education, science and technology, culture and other undertakings follow suit. By the end of 1966, all the XPCC's undertakings had developed to a rather high level. The XPCC was dissolved in 1975, but in December 1981 the central government decided to revive it. Then the XPCC started its pioneering work once again, entering a new era of construction and development. The XPCC had built a maze of irrigation works, sand breaks and forest belts, rigged up a green barrier, created new Oasis.
        The fast and lifeful development of XPCC continuously allured young people from inner provinces and big cities to throw themselves into it, including transferred army man, middle school and collage graduates and second and third generations of XPCC, through the efforts of which the XPCC was strengthened. Up to the present, the XPCC, with a population of 2.5 million, consists of 14 divisions (reclamation areas), 175 state farms, 1400 industrial, construction, transport and commercial enterprises, 13 holding and listed companies and 8 state-level and 21 XPCC-level leading enterprises of agricultural Industrialization. Besides, there are in XPCC, 6 institutions for higher learning and adult collages, 775 elementary and middle schools, secondary technical schools and vocational schools. And it also possesses of 206 organizations of broadcasting and TV stations, 33 tittles of news-papers and magazines and 648 health services. All the development mentioned above gradually formed a multi-sector economic system and well-run social undertakings covering scientific research, education, culture, health, sports, finance and insurance, as well as procuratorial, judicial and public security organs.
        The XPCC has adhered to their aim of serving the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and actively aided the construction of local areas. Each year, they send batches of technicians to adjacent counties, townships and villages to give training courses in growing crops and operating and repairing farm machinery, and to spread advanced technologies. Since 1964, they have pooled funds each year to aid the local areas in planning and construction, and offered medical aid to people of all ethnic groups, as well as help in many other aspects. To support industrial development in Xinjiang, the XPCC has transferred gratis a batch of large, well-developed industrial, transportation, construction and commercial enterprises to the local areas, making great contributions to the modernization efforts of Xinjiang. Especially, the XPCC has shared their advantages in agricultural management and technology with the local areas and plaid key role in the new-type industrialization in Xinjiang. As an important force for stability in Xinjiang and for consolidating frontier defense, the XPCC adheres to the principle of attaching equal importance to production and militia duties. It has set up in frontier areas a "four-in-one" system of joint defense that links the PLA, the Armed Police, the XPCC and the ordinary people, playing an irreplaceable special role in the past five decades in smashing and resisting internal and external separatists' attempts at sabotage and infiltration, and in maintaining the stability and safety of the borders of the motherland.
        During the process of cultivating and guarding the border areas, the XPCC conscientiously accepts the leadership of the People's Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, abides by the laws and regulations of the government, respects the customs and religious beliefs of ethnic minorities, strives to do practical things in the interest of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and endeavors to develop a blending type of economy. In this way, the XPCC has forged flesh-and-blood ties with people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and attained the aim of joint frontier defense, sharing of resources, mutual complementarity and common prosperity. The development of the XPCC in turn has continuously received aid and support from governments at all levels in the autonomous region, and from people of all ethnic groups. In its initial period of land reclamation, people of all ethnic groups provided the XPCC with guides, production tools and other forms of aid, while local governments allocated large plots of state-owned wasteland and pastureland, mines and natural forests, which laid the foundation for the development of the XPCC. Many of the policies formulated by the autonomous regional people's government since the reform and opening-up have been expressly suitable for the XPCC and have thus gone a long way toward promoting the harmonious development between the XPCC and local economies. During its long years of development, the XPCC has become a mosaic of people from 37 ethnic groups, including the Han, Uygur, Kazak, Hui and Mongolian. In the reclamation areas live Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants and Catholics. The population of Muslims is over 250,000. Carrying out the central government's policies toward ethnic groups and religions in an all-round way, the XPCC handles religious affairs in accordance with the law, and has become a large, united, multi-ethnic family.
        Under the high recognition, care and leadership of the central government and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the past five decades since its instauration, the XPCC devotedly fulfilled its the historical duties entrusted to it by the state, carried forwards “the XPCC Spirit”: Love Our Motherland, Altruistic Dedication, Hard Working, Persevering Creation, created new Oasis in the wasteland and brought into existence a number of new towns from the Gobi desert. The XPCC has saw fast development and has made indelible historical contribution in accelerating the economic development of Xinjiang, promoting unity among ethnic groups, maintaining social stability, consolidating border defense, and shoring up the unification of the motherland.
        The XPCC’s Comprehensive Economic Strength Rising Rapidly
        Since the beginning of the new century, the XPCC, unhesitatingly following the developing strategy and instructions of the central government toward Xinjiang and the XPCC, has given top priority to its development in implementation of cultivating and guarding the border areas. While seizing the strategic opportunity of “Developing the Western Area”, the XPCC, making fully use of the XPCC’s great agriculture and Xinjiang’s mine resource advantages, has made great endeavors to build producing and processing bases for agricultural and sideline products and for exploiting and utilizing bases of mine resources. And meanwhile, it has also put into practice the sustainable development strategies of preponderant resources transform, invigorating the XPCC through science and education and rejuvenating the XPCC with talented people.
        To build harmonious XPCC and new-pattern state farms with the historic mission of cultivating and guarding the frontier areas, the XPCC has accelerated the industrialized operation of agriculture, the development of new-style industries and townified construction, and strengthened environment protection and construction. Through all above efforts, the national economy of the XPCC has seen fast development and its comprehensive economic strength has risen rapidly. In 2006 the gross national production of the XPCC increased from 17.6 billion yuan in 2000 to 38.01 billion yuan in 2006, up 11.5%. The per-capita GDP grew to 14750 yuan, an annual rising of 12.2 % over last year. The industrial structure has been also adjusted and optimized. In the Gross domestic product(GDP), the primary, secondary and tertiary industry accounted respectively for 39%, 26%，35% and the contribution made by three industries to the economic increase reached severally 35.7%, 32.1% and 32.2%.

Translation by: Gong Jianmin (From the Foreign affairs office of XPCC)