TEXTILE CHANGES XINJIANG LIFESTYLE

Alim Molla, a 19-year-old Uygur man, likes to put on his headphones and listen to music when operating the warping reels at a textile factory in the county of Bachu, some 200 km east of Kashgar City in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Before starting his job, he trained at a vocational school for four months.

Alim has outlined a career path for himself: mastering the warping process in school, working in a textile factory for one or two years to build up some savings, acquiring car-repair skills and then working as a mechanic for the rest of his life. If not for the multiple factories in the county, he probably would have followed in his