BEARING FRUIT: Farmers in Xinjiang benefit a lot from growing specialty fruits (CHEN JIAN)

Mijit Kasim, 68, is a farmer living in Dolan New Village, Iganqi Township of Aksu City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Growing 1.3 hectares of cotton and having an orchard of 0.13 hectare, his family, which has four members, earns 35,000 yuan ($5,124.45) annually. In 2006, since the government planned to upgrade the environment along the Dolan River, Mijit Kasim's family, together with 500 other households, was resettled to their present village. Mijit Kasim received 250,000 yuan ($36,603.22) in compensation for his 400-square-meter house. His family then paid 210,000 yuan ($30,746.71) to move into a 288-square-meter villa uniformly built by the government. His family members all participate in the rural cooperative medical system, under which they receive compensation for most medical expenses.

HOMES: Dolan New Village, Iganqi Township of Aksu City. More and more farmers in Xinjiang are moving into earthquake-resistant houses (CHEN JIAN NEW)

The experience of Mijit Kasim and his family represents the achievements of new countryside construction in Xinjiang, such as specialty fruit trees, earthquake-resistant houses and the rural cooperative medical system.