China releases preview of Xinjiang documentary

Special: Xinjiang

What comes to mind when you think of Xinjiang? Vast expanses of desert, towering mountains, diverse minorities living in harmony, cultures fusing together? The fact is that Xinjiang has so many facets that its charm can hardly be put into words! Thankfully anyone interested in experiencing the real Xinjiang is in for a treat when the documentary World's Ultimate Frontier is aired on January 19, according to the English-language news channel of China Global Television Network (CGTN).

CGTN on Wednesday released the one-minute preview of the documentary, giving its audience a glimpse of the panoramic landscape, the friendly people and the unique customs and cultures of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region following the steps of three foreign hosts.

"Xinjiang is huge, ranging all the way from the snow and mountains to the heat and sand of the desert," one narrator describes the region. The preview of the documentary shows the three hosts travel extensively across Xinjiang region, located in China's far western frontier, bordering several countries in Central Asia including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Xinjiang is "the frontier of China and the heart of Eurasia," the video says.

Spanning across 1.66 million square kilometers, the region is roughly three times the size of France and accounts for one-sixth of China's territory. "I'm really at the frontier of the frontier," one of the hosts raves in the video.

"Xinjiang has always been a crucible - the fusion of cultures," with the narrator, the video presents people of ethnic groups living, exploring and enjoying life in the region. "Sometimes you don't speak the same language but you still connect. You still feel like you are similar," says another host in the video.

The audience will be led by the three hosts to explore the vast Xinjiang through the documentary which uses the narrative style of Western documentaries, vividly showcasing the economic and social development of Xinjiang as well as the improvement of the people's livelihood in the region.

Recently, a Global Times reporter travelled to Xinjiang, enjoying local unique cultural traditions of its various ethnic groups - such as Kazakh throat singing on the grasslands, the Kirgiz eagle hunting customs on the Pamir Plateau, and the Xinjiang songs sung at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Also, the Global Times reporter found that more and more young people have realized their self-worth there with the continuous improvement of Xinjiang's economic industrial structure. The diversified development and opportunities in the region have also attracted many people from all over the country to travel there, with some even choosing to settle there.

Whether it is the story of Xinjiang locals or outsiders who came to Xinjiang from other parts of the country to study and settle down, it's clear that people of all ethnic groups have achieved prosperity with a sense of unity, cooperation, as well as economic and social development.

Due to Xinjiang's unique natural conditions, it faces challenges in improving living conditions, so personal efforts are needed in the process of economic marketization.

In this situation, governments at all levels in China have taken active measures. For example, they carry out paired assistance, in which many provinces and cities support the construction of various areas in Xinjiang, the Global Times learnt.

However, there have been many rumors and smears about Xinjiang's social and development situation that seriously deviate from the facts, and what has been seen in reality is that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are full of hope in the process of pursuing and realizing a better life.

Chang Jian, director of the Human Rights Research Center at Nankai University, said that the sense of gain, security and happiness can be seen on the face of the locals, and people have not been affected by various foreign noises.

In the end of last year, China released the 2023 Report on Xinjiang's Human Rights and Legal Protections, which is Xinjiang's first blue book of its kind, in Urumqi, comprehensively demonstrating the efforts and achievements of promoting high-quality development of human rights cause in Xinjiang in Chinese modernization drive.