The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China has established 54 textile enterprises as a basis for a textile industry covering cotton, woollen, silk, linen and knitted goods. Total value of the region's textile products went up at an average annual progressive rate of 24.2 per cent from 1952 to 1978.

Xinjiang's first cotton mill, the Qiyi (July 1) in Urumqi, was set up in 1952. It has developed into an integrated spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing textile mill. The present silk integrated complex in Hotan grew out of a silk filature built that same year.

Textile enterprises in Xinjiang today turn out some 200 varieties of goods ranging from cotton yarn, cotton cloth, printed cloth, knitting wool, woollen blankets, woollen goods, silk piece goods to knitwear. The region is not only self-sufficient in textile goods, but also supplies other places. Some of its textile products are sold on the international market.

When the textile industry was being set up in Xinjiang, older textile mills from other parts of the country not only sent technicians and equipment, but also helped train a large number of workers of Uygur, Kazakh, Uzbek nationalities. Many of them have become veteran workers or managerial staff members.

Before liberation, there was no textile industry in Xinjiang although it produced cotton and wool. The local demand for textile goods was met by handicraftsmen or shipped in from other places