Province Introduction of China: XinjiangPublished: 01 Apr 2009 19:38:45 PST<p class="authorInfor"]</p]Key Information
Introduction Xinjiang, the largest autonomous region of China, is located in the furthermost northwestern part of the country. It borders the Gansu and Qinghai provinces to the southeast, and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south. The region also shares a 5,000 km border with eight different countries.
Home to 47 of China��s 56 ethnic groups, a diverse range of religions co-exist within Xinjiang. Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism), Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Shamanism all thrive side by side in the country��s foremost multicultural melting pot.
Economic Overview Ever since the initiation of China��s opening-up and reform drive in 1979, the face of Xinjiang��s economy has been dramatically changed. In 2006, the region��s GDP reached RMB 301.9 billion �C an 11% increment from its GDP the previous year. Within this figure, the value-added output of agriculture was RMB 53.3 billion (5.7% higher than in 2005), the value-added output of industry was RMB 143.8 billion (13.5% higher than in 2005) and the value-added output of services was RMB 104.8 billion (8.6% higher than 2005).
Industry leads the province��s economy with a contribution of 47.60% to the GDP. The service sector also makes a substantial contribution at 34.70%. Agriculture contributes the remaining 17.70%.
In 2006, the total fixed asset investment in the region amounted to RMB 156.7 billion, which marked a 17.6% increase from the previous year. Table 12.11.1 shows the fixed asset investment breakdown by industry. Mining and quarrying, and extraction of petroleum and natural gas have the highest fixed asset investment �C over RMB 30 billion.
Retail sales of consumer goods grew by 14.1% in 2006, amounting to RMB 72.7 billion. In addition, the annual per capita disposable income of urban households amounted to RMB 9120, which was 14.1% higher than in 2005. Table 12.11.2 shows the composition of per capita urban household expenditure. More than 35.5% of expenditure is spent on food.
Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, plays home to the region��s largest consumer center. Retail sales of consumer goods in the area accounted for 36% of Xinjiang��s total retail sales in 2006. Major department stores and shopping centers such as the Urumqi Tianshan Department Store, Urumqi Pacific Department Store and Urumqi Youhao Department Store are located here. The French international hypermarket chain, Carrefour, has also established outlets and its Northwest headquarters in the city.
Agriculture Fruits such as the Yili apple, Korla pear, seedless white grape and Hami melon are famous both locally and abroad. The region is famed for its unique natural environment and resources that nurture the growth of specific fruits which cannot be easily farmed elsewhere. In 2006, the total output of fruit was 5.8 million tons (13.4% higher than in 2005).
Xinjiang is also China��s largest and fastest-growing base of cotton, hop and lavender. In 2006, the total output of cotton reached 2.2 million tons (an increase of 11.4% from 2005) while the total output of sugar beet was 5.5 million tons (up 32.6% from 2005).
Additionally, with the second largest pastureland in the country, the region is one of China��s major sheep farming areas and fine-wool production bases. In 2006, sheep yielded 89,600 tons of wool (a slight drop of 0.2% from 2005) and milk productionʵ���ҹ������`�� �����ץ��������ȹ��������Х��� ������������