Xinjiang media on the Xinjiang support package

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Xinjiang Metropolis Daily, May 21, 2010

Today’s big news comes from the Central Government, which has announced an economic support package for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region aimed at raising the per-capita GDP to the national average within five years.

The People’s Daily predictably filled the better part of its front page with a report on President Hu Jintao’s address to the three-day conference at which the package was revealed.

By contrast, the Xinjiang Metropolis Daily, which was inaccessible in Beijing for the better part of a year before Internet connectivity was restored to Xinjiang last week, resembled other commercial papers across the country: the top headline was devoted to the new policies, but the rest of the front page was a mix of advertising and more relevant local headlines, such as “Left turns prohibited at eight intersections” and “Which baby has the brightest smile?”

Instead, the paper included a special 16-page supplement that examined the policies and their possible effect on the lives of Xinjiang residents, and reviewed the history of the region’s prosperous development and eternal good will between ethnic groups. For the most part, the articles were reproduced from the People’s Daily or, as in the case of “Bathed in the Care of the Central Government” (沐浴中央的关怀) drawn from Xinhua background material.

All of it was upbeat and festive: the illustration of dancers on a drum on the section’s cover was echoed by similar photographs on the inside pages.

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Special section on the Xinjiang economic assistance program
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