TIANSHANNET

The number of tourists to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region exceeded 150 million last year, up more than 40 percent, authorities at the ongoing session of the People's Congress of the region said Tuesday.

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region lifted 537,000 people out of poverty last year, said regional authorities at the ongoing session of the People's Congress of the region Monday.

Sengel, a 33-year-old herdsman in Altay Prefecture in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, started traveling through inhabited mountainous regions, only with a kind of ancient fur snowboards that were used by his ancestors about 12,000 years ago.

Mamani never thought he would ski 300 kilometers from his hometown in the mountains to the city of Altay in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to build 210,700 houses for underprivileged people in 2019, authorities said Thursday at the ongoing session of the People's Congress of the region.

Xinjiang Tianshan, comprising four components - Tomur, Kalajun-Kuerdening, Bayinbukuke and Bogda, is part of the Tianshan Mountain system of Central Asia, one of the largest mountain ranges in the world.

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has adopted weather modification practices to protect its vast farmland from natural disasters, like hailstorms and drought.

Trial operation of a major railway for transporting coal from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the inland areas started Thursday, according to the rail operator.

China's far western Xinjiang region on Thursday put into trial operation its second railway mainly specializing in transporting coal to other parts of the country.

Tucked into a corner of Kashgar's old city, near the busy and bustling hat bazaar, is a cluster of narrow alleys and a range of high and low houses, one sitting slightly uphill from the other. To Mardan Alip, the buildings and dead ends looked like an opportunity: a chance for fun, something to jump on.

People in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, have rejuvenated their old houses and turned them into tourist attractions over the past few years, bringing in more money and improving their living standards.

A new airport was put into use Wednesday in the city of Tumxuk, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, bringing the total number of civil airports in the region to 21.