We trace the changes through the eyes of five individuals on the occasion of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's 60th anniversary.
With a total population of close to 20 million as of 2014, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is among the country's provincial areas faced with the mounting challenges of an aging population.
China's air force dispatched a drone to the site of an earthquake in the far western region of Xinjiang on Friday to help in monitoring work, in what it said was the first time it had used an unmanned aircraft for such a task.
Weli Amet along with 102 others from Tumxuk city were the first group of employees assisted by Guangdong provincial government in a move to support development of several areas of southern Xinjiang.
Xinjiang has hired nearly 2,600 forest rangers after a government campaign to provide better salaries and perks for the invaluable workers.
Omar Ali, 44, gets up at 5:30 am, just before dawn, to take the only food and drink he will have all day until the sun goes down again.
After baking nang, a kind of crusty pancake, for her husband and children early in the morning, Guliayisham Memet puts on a brightly colored silk dress and rides her motorcycle to the carpet factory 3 kilometers away from where she lives, a small village in Toksun county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
China has decided to offer students from the southern areas of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region bonus points that will be added to the total scores of their national college examination, also known as gaokao, to give them a better chance of obtaining a place at a college or university.
Yihebale Ilham, who is 24-year-old, juggles work and study 3,000km away from home as she wants to be accepted by Beijing on her own terms.
China Southern Airlines will begin operating Xinjiang's first direct flight to St. Petersburg in Russia on July 16, it announced on Tuesday.
A comprehensive bonded zone was opened in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's border city of Kashgar on Monday.
Xidian University in Shaanxi Province has developed handwriting input for the Uygur and Tibetan languages, which are used by millions of ethnic minorities in China, after seven years of research and development