A scene from the film  Fade Away Pastoral, a film focusing on the changing life of Kazak people in the Xinjiang autonomous region.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Nowadays, migration in search of pasture only exists in some parts of the Xinjiang autonomous region, and the numbers are decreasing.

Many people choose to migrate by trains or cars, but many decide to settle down.

The ancient way of nomadic migration may disappear in coming times.

"In future, people will know about nomadic migration only from books or videos. So, in a way the film is like an effort to preserve history," says Zhou.

In the past, people on the grasslands said a man lived a good life if he owned a shotgun, a falcon, a horse, a hound and had a woman who loved him.

In the film, a member of the Humar family has already lost his wife. And then as time passes by, he loses his shotgun, horse, hound and falcon.

The losses imply his final farewell to his beloved grassland. And the film also shows herders welcoming a better life while giving up some of their earlier pleasures.