"Despite the slightly unbalanced internal development of the region, southern Xinjiang has changed greatly through 50 years of effort," said Ismail Tiliwaldi, chairman of northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on April 12.

Tiliwaldi said food problems in southern Xinjiang have fundamentally been solved, with even the most impoverished citizens receiving sufficient food and clothing last year. The region is now building on this success to further improve the situation.

Health conditions have improved significantly as well. The endemic and infectious diseases that prevailed prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 have been controlled or, in some cases, eradicated.

More than two billion yuan (US$242 million) has been spent to improve water supplies in southern Xinjiang over the past several decades. Now, 9 million residents have access to clean drinking water.

The days of lighting with oil lamps are gone forever. Electricity has reached every village in southern Xinjiang; and radio and television broadcasts are available to 90 percent of the population.

Transportation is no longer difficult. Roads extend to every village and railway lines have reached Kashi.

All the children in southern Xinjiang can go to school. This improvement results from the regional government’s efforts, begun last year, to promote compulsory education in 59 counties. The measures affect some 2.1 million students.

The regional government has turned its primary focus now to tax reform and health care, said Tiliwaldi.

Tax and fee reform in rural areas began last year. So far, 890 million yuan (US$107 million) in taxes and fees have been terminated or exempted, providing farmers and herders with per capita savings of 71 yuan (US$8.6).

The rural cooperative medical service pilot project will be expanded, raising the number of participating counties from the current five to thirteen. The goal is to have cooperative medical service available throughout southern Xinjiang within five years.

"Tremendous changes will take place when the problems concerning agricultural tax and cooperative medical service are solved," said Tiliwaldi. "Without a developed and prosperous southern Xinjiang, there cannot be a prosperous Xinjiang."