Ongoing success

In a memorial hall in Kekeya, a red account book is on display, containing records of forested areas in the region. The figures have risen every year, thanks to the completion of Kekeya's greening project.

Three more ecological projects on the peripheries of the Taklimakan Desert were launched after the project in Kekeya was completed.

In the basin of the Aksu River, an 84,000-hectare greening project has been completed, and a 71,000-hectare project in the valley of the Ogan River is on track to completion. Earlier this year, trees were planted across 4,000 hectares of nearby Kongtailike District.

Transport networks and irrigation and reforestation programs have been developed in tandem with the ecological projects. About 1 million people are expected to benefit when all the projects are completed sometime around 2020.

For the better preservation of the hard-won forests and to further stabilize residents' incomes, the local government has introduced more cash crops including a range of trees, such as apple, walnut and jujube.

Sweet, juicy Aksu apples have become a signature Xinjiang agricultural product, and are widely known across China.

After years of development, Aksu has become a major forestry and fruit production area in Xinjiang, with the prefecture's output reaching more than 13 billion yuan ($1.86 billion) last year.

To raise people's living standards, the local government has also strengthened pollution control and city construction, prompting more residents to take walks along the clean rivers and in the city's new parks and squares.

Xinhua