“Go West”

1999 Strategy to narrow disparities in levels of income and development between coastal and western provinces.

Government Policy set out in 10th and 11th 5 year “plans”

11th 5 year plan 2006-11

• Change of emphasis –

• sustainability rather than just growth rate, • spreading the prosperity to bring more

balanced development• Serving the people to improve the quality

of life• Continuing support for Centre & West;• revitalisation of the NE

Province Water supply quantity/108 m3/aSurface Underground Others Total

Water use quantity/108m3/aAgriculture Industry Daily life Total

Shaanxi 44.9 35.4 0.2 80.5 57.8 13.2 9.4 80.4

Gansu 95.2 24.7 0.2 120.1 96.5 16.7 6.7 119.9

Qinghai 23.2 3.9 0.0 27.1 21.5 3.5 2.1 27.1

Xinjiang 410.7 45.1 0.2 455.9 429.5 10.2 8.3 448.0

Shaanxi Province: development priorities

• 1. Agricultural development• 2. Afforestation • 3. Technological renovation of cotton textile mills and printing and dyeing• 4. Transport infrastructure• 5. Coal processing technology• 6. Development of coal-bed gas, copper and natural gas reserves• 7. Manufacturing of business IT equipment • 8. Development of electronic components industry• 9. Production of herbal medicines• 10. Designing and manufacturing of civilian aircraft (in government

partnership)• 11. Tourism

Shaanxi Province: Xian

Loess plateauOnly a short drive to the north of Xi’An

Farmers’ cave houses in loess

This is a kang, a family bed heated in winter by a fire burning underneath. This is inside the cave house.

Cooking…woks with fire below, fuelled by wood or briquettes made from coal dust.

Loess plateau, gullies in foreground, village in background. The loess, which is in places >100m deep, is fertile but holds little water. Many families live in chronic poverty. There are government (and World Bank) projects to prevent further deforestation and encourage tree planting, use of dry farming techniques and conservation of rainfall

High Tech & high value farming

Xiwei Garden City, near Xi’an

Gansu Province: development priorities

• 1. Agricultural processing & storage• 2. Afforestation• 3. Development of a quality wine industry• 4. Planned development & use of water resources• 5. Modernisation of woollen fabric industry• 6. Transport infrastructure• 7. Production of ultra-high output graphite electrodes and

carbon products• 8. Production of natural gas chemicals• 9. Manufacturing of drilling machines and oil field equipment• 10. Electronic components• 11 Tourism

Deeply dissected loess in Gansu

Sensational sandstone scenery in Gansu

The new Xining to Lanzhou road along the Huang He valley

Rolling mill near Lanzhou

Evidence of closure of state-owned enterprises

A copper mine

HEP generation

1. Agricultural processing2. Afforestation3. Cultivation and processing of high-quality tomatoes4. Cultivation of high-quality grapes and wine making5. Rational development, utilisation and conservation of water resources6. Transport infrastructure7. Development of cotton fabric production8. Construction of wind and solar power plants9. Development of mineral resources10. Tourism

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region:development priorities

Development of the tourist industry

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/8152132.stm

• XINJIANG: ETHNIC UNREST • Main ethnic division: 45%

Uighur, 40% Han Chinese• 26 June: Mass factory brawl

after dispute between Han Chinese and Uighurs in Guangdong, southern China, leaves two Uighurs dead

• 5 July: Uighur protest in Urumqi over the dispute turns violent, leaving 156 dead - most of them thought to be Han - and more than 1,000 hurt

• 7 July: Uighur women protest at arrests of menfolk. Han Chinese make armed counter-march

• 8 July: President Hu Jintao returns from G8 summit to tackle crisis

Grassland is easily degraded by overgrazing

• China says it is launching a long-term project to combat environmental damage in the valleys of its two largest rivers, the Yangtze and the Yellow River, as well as in the remote north-west and south-west of the country. The scheme announced by China's ministry of forestry envisages the planting of 26 million hectares of forest by the year 2030 as part of a plan to stop severe water and soil erosion caused partly by rapid economic development.

• 1998

Hotel development at the foot of the Tian Shan mountains

Kazakh yurts in their Tian Shan summer pastures

Part of Xinjiang’s trade with KazakhstanTomatoes produced on a huge state farm near Urumqi

Vineyards and driers in the Turfan depressionMost are table grapes or dried as raisins but value is added by turning it into

wine

Afforestation for dune stabilisation by an oasis

Prospecting for minerals in Gobi desert

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8217748.stm

Water resource constraints on sustainable development in North West China

Glaciers in Qinghai/Tibet are in rapid retreat

Xinjiang’s capital city: Urumqi in 1993 & 2005

An Urumqi market