Children play table tennis at a table transformed from a long bench in the old town of Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 20, 2015. Kashgar, the westernmost city in China, was the center of Uygur civilization for centuries, a place where people came together to trade and spread Islamic learning, on the caravan routes from Europe and Persia to China.
Photos taken on Oct 1, 2015 show the autumn scenery of Kanas, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
A series of photographs, chosen by China Daily, highlight just some aspects of the lives of the region's 22 million people.
When speaking of Xinjiang, most people think of exotic faces, shashlik (skewered meat) or the Silk Road, but there is much more to endear visitors to the vast northwestern land.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong (front, C) visits Xinjiang University in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Sept 25, 2015.
Creative patterns of "Heart" and "60 Years", formed in the yard of Tarim Red Dates Cooperative by farmers from the county of Ruoqiang, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, expressing their gratitude to and blessing for the arrival of the 60th anniversary of Xinjiang.
Hunan Dream Start E-commerce Co., Ltd, one company on the 13th floor of the Entrepreneur Plaza in Lugu Industrial Park, Changsha, Hunan province, is run by Adili Maimaititure, a Uygur youth from Shache county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region
The Bogedaer Racetrack in Wenquan county, enjoys an air of joy, when the people of different ethnic groups gather together from all directions, for celebrating the 60th anniversary of Xinjiang and the opening ceremony of 2015 Bortala Nadam Grassland Festival.
The Kazak ethnic group, with a population of 1.5 million, mainly lives in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Gansu province and Qinghai province.
Mulberry paper making is a traditional handicraft of the Uyghur people in China's Xinjiang. It is handmade and today only a few families still produce it.