"The forest belt is thousands of miles, and the ancient wasteland has become fertile land; The canal water is rolling, and the red flag is floating in the green waves; The locomotive is flying like smoke and dust, cotton is like a sea, and grain is like a mountain......" a song in the 60s of the 20th century, "Racing Jiangnan Everywhere in the Frontier", so that the feat of the sons and daughters of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps spread all over the country. On October 7, the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps was held in Urumqi. The struggle of generation after generation of XPCC members has created a miracle of development in the ancient wasteland north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and has made indelible historical contributions to promoting Xinjiang's development, enhancing ethnic unity, maintaining social stability, and consolidating the country's border defense. In October 1954, the CPC Central Committee decided that most of the troops stationed in Xinjiang of the Chinese People's Liberation Army would be collectively transferred to work on the spot and set up a production and construction corps in Xinjiang to fulfill its special mission. A new chapter in New China's Reclamation and Garrisoning Frontier opens from here! At that time, Xinjiang's cultivated land area was limited, and the XPCC people adhered to the principle of "not competing with the people for profit" and launched a vigorous large-scale production campaign in the barren land where "the limelight and the tail of the water" were carried out. In Shihezixi Park in Xinjiang, a large sculpture based on the image of a female tractor driver in the third set of RMB one-yuan banknotes stands. In the eyes of the locals, this statue flashes with the shadow of Jin Maofang, the "most beautiful struggler". In 1952, Jin Maofang, who was still a little girl, resolutely came to Xinjiang and then became a glorious tractor driver. She and her comrades-in-arms got up at dawn, gnawed dry food when they were hungry, drank canal water when they were thirsty, and turned day and night, setting a labor record for sowing 120 acres of land in one day.
On June 1, 2011, Jin Maofang was at her home in Shihezi City, with a work photo of her driving a tractor behind her. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Ge That is the melody engraved in the bones of the XPCC people -- "The song of labor is all over the mountains, the enthusiasm for labor is high and high, the production movement is violently launched, and the difficulties cannot frighten us...... Although Jin Maofang is over 90 years old, he can still sing "The Garden on the Gobi Desert." Drink brackish water, live in nests, dig ditches to divert water, and open up wasteland to create fields...... The XPCC people set up camp along the Taklamakan Desert, the Gurbantunggut Desert and the border line, and reclaimed the border. Like small poplars and "living boundary monuments", it consolidates the country's border defense. Under extremely harsh conditions, changing the appearance of the local people who were poor and backward was a "tough battle" that the XPCC had to win at the beginning of its founding. In the past 70 years, the transformation of the Gobi Desert into a modern city is not only an indelible history, but also a time of passion for several generations of XPCC members, and a duty and mission that has been integrated into the bloodline. In 2023, the XPCC's GDP will be close to 370 billion yuan, its per capita GDP will exceed 100,000 yuan for the first time, exceeding the national average, and its per capita disposable income will exceed 40,000 yuan. At present, the cotton fields in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains are ushering in the harvest period one after another. Once upon a time, the cotton planting area in Xinjiang was pitifully small, and the area north of 42 degrees north latitude was even regarded as a "forbidden area for cotton planting" by foreign agricultural experts. Today, cotton has become the pillar and advantageous industry of the XPCC's agriculture, accounting for nearly one-third of the country's output, and the comprehensive mechanization rate of the XPCC's planting industry for farming, planting, and harvesting exceeds 95 percent. Over the past 70 years, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the XPCC has blazed a new trail of reclamation and garrisoning the frontiers under the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and explored a new model of XPCC construction and development that suits China's national conditions and Xinjiang's reality. Since its establishment, the XPCC has been fully integrated into Xinjiang society and has continued to build an interconnected social structure and community environment. The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are close to each other, watch and help each other, and work together to create a better life. Over the past 70 years, generations of XPCC members have taken root in the frontiers, sprinkled their youthful blood in the ancient wastelands north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and forged the XPCC spirit of "loving the motherland, selfless dedication, hard work, and pioneering spirit" with their actions. In the 14th Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, a group of veterans of the sand sea reclaimed the border and "planted" their lives in this sea of sand. "For decades, veterans have taken deep roots here like the desert poplars, silently guarding the hot land under their feet. The spirit of the XPCC has been passed down from generation to generation, and we young people must also have more missions. Hu Yuran, from Henan, resolutely chose to stay and build the frontier. In the continuous struggle from generation to generation, the desert has become an oasis, the desert has a new city, and the once barren land is shining with spiritual light. This year is the 57th year that Chen Xuegeng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has taken root in the frontier and engaged in the research and development and promotion of agricultural machinery. The 77-year-old Chen Xuegeng has never stopped developing a precision seeder for drip irrigation pipe laying under the film to fill the gap of similar agricultural machinery in China. Chen Xuegeng sighed with emotion: "The development of advanced productive forces is where the hope of the Corps' modernization lies. "In the new era, the XPCC's economic development has entered a new round of rapid development. With the help of reform, the XPCC has built a modern industrial system with its own characteristics. In 2023, industrial silicon and polysilicon production will account for 21.9% and 17.2% of the country's total, respectively.
On September 9, 2024, in Huaqiao Town, the 11th Regiment of Alar City, the First Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, farmers drove agricultural machinery to spray defoliants on cotton. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Shuo For 70 years, he has struggled endlessly. From the primitive and simple nests to the towering high-rise buildings, from the barren Gobi desert to the 12 tuncheng cities distributed in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, from the listing of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone to the creation of a new highland for opening up...... Everywhere is the son and daughter of the XPCC promoting the high-quality economic and social development of Xinjiang.
The country cares, the Corps is concentric, and "Xinjiang" can be expected!
Source/Xinhua News Agency
Editor/Yin Xiaojie
Editor-in-charge/Chen Jiechen, Li Guangqing
Producer/Sun Ying, Li Yajun