Shihezi: A dynamic western city

A city constructed with bare hands 50 years ago, Shihezi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has now developed into one of China's excellent cities in terms of living conditions, even winning the UN Habitat Award for its achievements in improving the living environment for local residents.

But 50 years ago, it was just a remote area of Manas county in Xinjiang.

A miracle worked by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Group - an organization consisting of demobilized soldiers and immigrants, and engaged in land reclamation and agricultural production - Shihezi is now a young and modern city in an oasis by the edge of the Junggar Desert.

A military land reclamation museum is located on the North 3 Road in Shihezi, recounting the history of the city and the glories and dreams of generations of constructors.

One exhibition room of the museum displays a large number of photos. Among them, the Diwozi pictures are the most impressive.

Diwozi, a unique kind of shield for the pioneers of the city, is a pit dug in the ground that is covered with reeds.

In the early 1950s, the city of Shihezi was actually a large community of Diwozi.

Today, Diwozi can never be found in the city proper. But some Diwozi buildings are still well preserved in the suburbs, telling of the difficulties that the city's pioneers experienced in the early days.

Shihezi is now an open and modern city.

It is called "little Shanghai" of the west.

Even in the early 1950s, Shihezi was a meeting place of cultures from various places in the country.

At the time, many immigrants from Shanghai settled down in the city, bringing with them their own ways of living and thinking.

"When I was a student, many of the teachers of my school were from Shanghai. Outside the school, there were also many Shanghai immigrants engaged in various professions. Their way of living has had a big influence on us. Just like Shanghai, Shihezi has been a fashionable and dynamic city for decades," a local teacher surnamed Xin recalled.

Like Shanghai and Beijing, Shihezi has many large supermarkets invested by such big names as PriceSmart, which are flooded with shoppers.

Thanks to its rich agricultural and natural resources, the city has also attracted such famous domestic companies as Master Kang and Wahaha to open their operations there.

Also, more and more commercial and entertainment facilities are being opened in the center of the city.

All these indicate that Shihezi is a city with ample business and job opportunities and a suitable place for living.

(China Daily 12/28/2007 page6)