Hard work by local government, businesses has paid dividends in recent years

Editor's Note: China shares a land border of about 22,000 kilometers with 14 countries. The once less-developed border regions have witnessed rapid growth in the past decade. In this series, China Daily looks at how these regions tap their geographical and other advantages to improve local livelihoods.

The band starts up, all twanging guitar and relentless drumming, as the stage is covered in colorful laser projections of nebulas.

The upbeat music mixed with cheering and singing pulses through the auditorium, reverberating through air filled with the pleasant scent of lavender blossoms. Anyone present would feel the rush of adrenaline.

That was the scene at a concert held on Monday near a lavender plantation in Yining county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

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Songs, scents and scenery boost tourism in region

Sea buckthorn plantations are giving Wushi, a county of deserts and mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, a new lease on life.

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Sea buckthorn boon for county in desert

Facts

Xinjiang

Population: 24.45 million

Area: 1.66 million square kilometers

GDP in 2021: 1.6 trillion yuan

Total value of imports and exports in 2021: 156.91 billion yuan