Celebrations held for 50th founding anniversary of Xinjiang
( 2005-10-01 )

URUMQI, Oct. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The 50th anniversary of the founding of theXinjiangUygur Autonomous Region was celebrated at a grand gathering in the regional capital, featured by a 50-gun solute, dove flying, the issue of commemorative stamps and other activities.

The celebration began at 11:00 a.m. with China'snational anthemplayed andnational flaghoisted amid the sounding of a 50-gun salute and the flying of 5,000 doves.

The founding of the autonomous region on Oct. 1, 1955 marked a "new historical phase of Xinjiang's development," Luo Gan, head of the central government delegation, told an audience of 12,000 people at the Hongshan Sports Stadium.

"Earth-shaking changes have taken place in Xinjiang in the past 50 years" under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, he said. According local statistics, the value of gross domestic production in the region hit 220 billion yuan in 2004, 42 times more than 50 years ago.

He pledged that the central government, as well as developed regions in east China, will continue to support Xinjiang in economic development "so as to jointly promote prosperity and development in Xinjiang and ensure lasting political and social stability in the northwestern frontier of the country."

In a separate speech delivered on Friday, Luo also called for efforts to strengthen national unity and resolutely fight separatists, extremists and terrorists.

At the heartland of the Euro-Asian continent, this northwestern most region of China covers an area of more than 1.66 million square kilometers, or one sixth of China's total land area. This makes it the largest provincial level administrative region in China.

Xinjiang is expected to become China's largest crude oil and natural gas producing area in five years. The Tarim Basin, Junggar Basin and another basin have a combined reserve of 20.9 billion tons of oil and 10 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, making up more than one fourth of China's oil and gas reserves on land.

A Chinese oil official once said jokingly that "if oilfields of Xinjiang sneeze, the office building of the Ministry of Oil Industry will shake."