For Xinjiang residents, work paves way out of poverty

A year ago when Mehmet Tursun decided to leave the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to open his own restaurant 1,000 kilometers away, he wasn't sure he was making the right life-changing decision.

Mehmet, 40, never went to high school and didn't speak fluent Mandarin. But the day he had to hire two more people in his Xinjiang-style restaurant in Langfang, Hebei province, to handle the growing number of customers, he was absolutely sure that he had made the right choice.

He and his partner earned a combined annual income of more than 100,000 yuan ($14,600) in 2017, which enabled them to lead a comfortable life in the city and support their families back home.

Du Gang, chief official in charge of poverty relief in Wuqia county, where Mehmet comes from, said that there's not a lot of farmland for villagers to grow crops and not many jobs available in the county or nearby, so their incomes were relatively low.

"Addressing employment of the region's surplus labor is the key to Xinjiang's social stability and economic development," Du said.

More than 6,000 people from Wuqia county were recruited in 2017 to work in another city or province, a move to support development of several areas of southern Xinjiang, which suffers from poverty, high unemployment, harsh natural conditions and a dense population.

Tursun Abudurekem settled into his life as a steel mill worker in Urumqi, the capital, where he has been since June.

The 29-year-old used to count on temporary jobs and farming for a living, which didn't guarantee him a steady income, let alone allow him to redecorate his old and shabby house.

"I felt ashamed to run into young people at my age who had their own beautiful houses due to their hard work. And I envied them a lot, too," Tursun said.

Now he earns more than 4,000 yuan per month and just renovated his house. He is beginning to save money for his marriage.

"In Xinjiang's rural areas, a stable salary means a considerably better life for a whole family," Du said. "We should try harder to help ethnic people who want to blend into modern life through hard work."

Du said the local government will arrange more training in language and professional skills to help people get better jobs.

"I have learned a lot in my work. And I will persuade more of my fellow townsmen to work in this factory when I go home on vacation," Tursun said.