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A ‘mysterious corps’ was power behind the making of Xinjiang
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Sixty years ago, a huge paramilitary corps that today administers eight cities with a combined population of 2.7 million was not widely known to exist.
“We used to be called the ‘mysterious corps’. The exact locations of our regiment could not be revealed to outsiders,” said Xiong Ying, a member of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, or XPCC, a group established to reclaim land from desert, build cities and guard the border.
The XPCC now has its own administrative and judicial bodies and runs more than 4,000 companies, 14 of which are listed on the stock exchange.
Over the past six decades, it has opened up and spearheaded regional economic development in Xinjiang, which is preparing to celebrate its 60th anniversary as an autonomous region next month.
Two decades ago, Xinjiang Tianye Group was a failing plastics company. Now it is XPCC’s biggest enterprise, which exports chemicals, food, irrigation and water-saving equipment to over 60 countries and regions.
A water-saving irrigation system, which proved successful on parched land in Xinjiang, has been used on 4 million hectares of land across China. It is also marketed to farmers in countries such as Kazakhstan and Pakistan, where it has been installed on more than 10,000 hectares of land.
At an international expo held by XPCC last week, officials and companies from five neighboring countries attended.
Liu Xinqi, deputy Party secretary, told his guests: “XPCC has unique advantages, solid industrial infrastructure, and a strong urge to open up.
“It needs to deepen cooperation with both domestic and overseas businesses. We will create more opportunities for cooperation,” he said.
Political commissar Han Yong said: “Although the corps is located in the western borderlands and constrained by military rules, it cannot cut itself off from the rest of the world.”
“Russia is looking to strengthen cooperation with XPCC in agriculture. We have been given great opportunities as the two countries build the Silk Road Economic Belt,” said Russian State Duma member Svetlana Maximova, who was at the expo.
Jin Maofang, 82, a Shihezi resident, is respected in her community as part of a first generation of “military explorers.”
But 54 years ago, Jin, a young soldier from a well-off family in eastern China’s Shandong Province, was not sure about her fate when she was dispatched to the remote borders of Xinjiang.
“I fell ill on my trip to Xinjiang, and when I arrived, I saw nothing but sand, desert and flying dust,” Jin recalled.
Over the decades, millions of people like Jin have overcome hardship and witnessed great changes.
“I remember working 12 hours plowing the field non-stop. When I was so tired that I could barely stand, I would lie down on the ground to sleep a few minutes,” she recalled.
“But we were firmly committed to changing the landscape of the desert, using our own hands to plant trees, reclaim farm fields and build our lives,” she said.
Jin’s image was on the one-yuan note in the 1960s — a proud symbol of industrialization. “The image is not only me. It tells the tale of that generation,” she said.
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