The overall production capacity of agriculture has risen notably. After 50-plus years of development and construction, and especially since the reform and opening policies were introduced, a complete farmland irrigation network in Xinjiang has been preliminarily formed, and the level of modern farm equipment has risen. By 2001, the total power output of farm machinery came to 8,81 million kw, the net quantity of chemical fertilizers used for farming was 832,900 tons, and rural power consumption totaled 2.55 billion kwh. Meanwhile, the total sown area exceeded 3.4 million hectares, double the 1955 figure. The total output of food grains, cotton and sugar beet was 7.96 million tons, 1.57 million tons and 4.55 million tons, respectively, or 5.4 times, 62.5 times and 4,551.2 times the figures for 1955, respectively. Turpan grapes, Korla pears and Hami melons, which have long been famous Xinjiang products, sell well on both foreign and domestic markets. Specialty horticulture and crop planting have leapfrogged in the past few years. Livestock breeding is being promoted with the use of the latest findings in agricultural science and technology. At the end of 2001, the region had 46.04 million head of livestock, 2.8 times the number in 1955. In addition, Xinjiang has become the largest producer of commodity cotton, hops and tomato sauce, and one of the major livestock breeding and beet-sugar producing centers in China.

Industrial strength has risen rapidly. There were only 363 industrial enterprises in Xinjiang, with an annual output value of 98 million yuan, when New China was founded. In 2001, there were 6,287 industrial enterprises at and above the township level, with an added value of 45 billion yuan, and the output of major industrial products has all increased by large margins. In 2001, Xinjiang produced 19.47 million tons of crude oil, 28.2 million tons of raw coal, 302,700 tons of cotton yarn and 19.76 billion kwh of electricity - 591.78 times, 43.68 times, 81.8 times and 359.3 times the 1955 figures, respectively. It also produced 419,800 tons of refined sugar, 1.32 million tons of steel, 9.81 million tons of cement and 729,000 tons of chemical fertilizer. The region's industrial strength has greatly increased and the technological level has notably risen. A modern industrial system of considerable size complete with all necessary departments has taken shape, with the intensive processing of farm and sideline products as its leading industrial sector, backed up by the oil, petrochemicals, steel, coal, electric power, textile, building materials, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing and light industries.

Notable achievements have been made in water conservancy. On the basis of "oasis ecology and irrigated farmland," Xinjiang has carried out large-scale farm water conservancy construction. The multi-purpose project to harness the Tarim River has, on four occasions, diverted 1.05 billion cubic meters of water from Boston Lake to the lower reaches of the river. A number of modern, large-scale water conservancy projects represented by Kizil Reservoir and the Ulug Ata key water control project in Hotan and large numbers of trunk and branch canals, as well as seepage control projects have been built, thus rapidly increasing the amount of water diverted, the capacity of the reservoirs and the well-irrigated area in the whole region. By 2000, there were 485 reservoirs with a total holding capacity of nearly 6.72 billion cubic meters - 162 times and 200 times the 1949 figures, respectively. The total area of irrigated fields has been expanded to 3.39 million hectares. The flood control dykes and dams built in the period totaled 5,129 km, 17.7 times the 1949 figure of 289 km.

Swift expansion has been registered in communications and transportation sectors. Draught animals were the chief means of transport in Xinjiang prior to the founding of New China. There was almost no modern transport. In the more than 50 years since then, Xinjiang has witnessed a drastic change in the communications and transport industry. The Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway reached Urumqi at the end of 1962, bringing railway transport to the region for the first time. The 476-km-long western section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway, from Turpan to Korla, was opened to traffic in 1984. A stretch of 460 km was added to the western section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway in 1990, reaching the Alatav Pass from Urumqi, thus completing the second Eurasian continental bridge. In 1994, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway was double-tracked and opened to traffic. In 1999, the 975-km section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway was completed, extending from Korla to Kashi, and opened to traffic. By 2001, operating railway lines totaled 3,010.4 km. In 1949, Xinjiang had only several crudely built highways, with a total length of a mere 3,361 km, but by 2001, the region's highways had been extended to 80,900 km, including 428 km of expressways, 230 km of Grade 1 highways and 5,558 km of Grade 2 highways. The highway running through the Taklimakan Desert is a long-distance graded highway, the first one in the world built on shifting sands. Now, a highway network covers the whole region, with Urumqi as the center and seven national highways as the backbone linking the region with Gansu and Qinghai provinces to the east, the adjoining countries in Central and West Asia to the west and Tibet to the south. The network is also connected with the region's 68 provincial highways. Buses now run to all cities, prefectures, counties and townships in the region. Xinjiang has 11 airports, both newly built and enlarged, with international air routes connecting Urumqi with Alma-Ata, Tashkent, Moscow and Islamabad, as well as chartered flights to Hong Kong. In all, there are 92 air lines radiating from Urumqi to 65 cities in other parts of the country and abroad and to 12 prefectures and cities within the autonomous region. The total length of the air routes is 161,800 km.