Adapt measures to local conditions to form advantageous and characteristic industries. Shihezi's primary and secondary industries have made some achievements. The Corps adheres to the principle of not competing with the people for profit in its site selection and construction, and mostly chooses to develop in difficult places. Hard work is the background of Shihezi's city. Under difficult background conditions, Shihezi has formed a highly mechanized agricultural and animal husbandry industrial cluster, and has made great achievements in characteristic industries such as photovoltaic, silicon-based, aluminum-based, cotton textile industry, and coal chemical circular economy industry chain.
Figure 2: Aerial photo of Shihezi city; Source: Xinhua News Agency, Shenwan Hongyuan Research
Shihezi is a famous military reclamation city, the largest city in the Corps, a pearl in the Gobi, and a people's city full of fireworks. I have three main feelings when I return home this time: 1. The consumption level of Shihezi people is increasing day by day, and the group market population is gradually concentrated in the urban area. 2. Residents’ demand for cultural and entertainment consumption is growing day by day, and new business formats are emerging. 3. The large-scale drone industry has broad and gratifying prospects.
1. Consumption levels increase and the population concentrates in urban areas
The roads became congested and parking became difficult: car ownership increased significantly. When I was in school, I always felt that the urban planning of Shihezi was very impressive and the roads were extremely wide. However, when I returned home this time, I was often troubled by traffic jams and parking difficulties. This intuitive feeling is consistent with the data disclosed by the Shihezi Municipal Bureau of Statistics: from 2017 to 2022, the cumulative number of civilian cars in Shihezi increased by 41.6%. Among them, the cumulative number of private cars increased by 48.7%. Latest data is lacking, but in the past three years when domestic new energy vehicles have been making rapid progress, Shihezi's car ownership may also be maintaining rapid growth.
City boundaries have widened and shopping malls have become more prosperous. When I was in school, I always thought that the high school urban area was the southeastern boundary of Shihezi City. However, in recent years, the urban boundary of Shihezi has been significantly broadened. The original farmland and villages south of Tianshan Road have been turned into vast areas of improved residential areas. In 2021, the first Wanda Plaza in Shihezi was also completed and opened south of Tianshan Road. It has now become an important shopping destination for Shihezi citizens.
Many friends from the group field have successively completed the purchase of houses in Shihezi. "Spring sows and autumn harvests in the Tuanchang, and returns to the city during the winter slack time" has become a fashionable choice for people in Shihezi Tuanchang. Shihezi has accelerated the urbanization process in a dual-urban and rural manner.
Figure 3: A large number of businesses and residences have been built south of Tianshan Road in Shihezi; Source: Baidu Map, Shenwan Hongyuan Research
2. Consumption upgrades give rise to new entertainment scenarios
The people of Shihezi desire a higher level of entertainment consumption infrastructure. Mahjong, billiards, bathing, and singing karaoke are the "four pieces" of leisure and entertainment in small cities, and Shihezi is no exception. These places are always overcrowded during the Spring Festival holiday. But from another perspective, cultural performances always attract Shihezi people to stop and watch. People have a yearning for entertainment life beyond the "four-piece suit".
The newly opened folk barbecue restaurant is bustling with people. On February 6 this year, a new folk barbecue tavern opened in Shihezi. The band's presence attracted a large number of consumers. They listened to folk songs, ate barbecue and drank some wine. Here, people looked back on the past year and looked forward to a better life in the future. This tavern is packed with seats every night, bustling with people and laughing, the sound of clinking wine glasses blending with singing, and the atmosphere of fireworks and art. It has become a popular place for hometown people to gather and check in during the Spring Festival and feel the vitality of the city. This new consumption model integrates music, food, social networking, and leisure, and meets the current needs of young people for relaxed gatherings and quality consumption.
Figure 4: The resident band is singing
Figure 5: The pub is packed with seats
Social fire activities in Wanda Plaza attract consumers to stop. During the Spring Festival, Shihezi Wanda Plaza carried out a series of celebration activities such as the national intangible cultural heritage parade, lion dance to welcome the new year, social fire to celebrate the new year, and koi falling from the sky to welcome the God of Wealth. I passed by several times, and the audience was always crowded and lively. The performances of the artists on the stage brought laughter to everyone, and further stimulated people's enthusiasm for gathering and consumption.
Figure 6: Shehuo performance at Wanda Plaza
Figure 7: Opera performance at Wanda Plaza
People's demand for better, newer, and more interesting forms of entertainment never stops. During holidays and slack winters, people need more and better ways of leisure and entertainment besides the "four-piece suit", and the gathering of people is always conducive to consumption growth and further drives economic growth. The people of Shihezi look forward to more high-quality entertainment activities and a higher quality of life.
3. An unexpected surprise: the accelerated formation of low-altitude economic industrial clusters
In addition to the traditional advantageous industries, Shihezi's drone manufacturing is the most surprising. When I came back this time, I was delighted to find that the drone and low-altitude economic industry clusters in Shihezi are accelerating. This is another major advantageous industrial cluster created by Shihezi in addition to the traditional advantageous industries such as cotton textile industry, animal husbandry, photovoltaic, silicon-based, aluminum-based, and coal chemical industries.
Shihezi successfully held the 2024 and 2025 Low Altitude Industry Innovation and Development Conference. The two conferences gathered industry resources, carried out policy interpretation, corporate signing and flight demonstrations, and built Xinjiang's leading low-altitude economic exchange and cooperation platform. The two conferences effectively promoted policy implementation, industrial agglomeration and scene expansion, making Shihezi the source and pioneer area of low-altitude economic development in the Corps and even the northwest region, laying a solid foundation for the construction of the entire UAV industry chain.
Relying on the General Aviation Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park, Shihezi has created an important UAV R&D and manufacturing base in the northwest region. China's first large-scale civilian drone, Hongyan (HY100), has achieved large-scale mass production in Shihezi, filling the gap in the mass production of large-scale drones in my country. The park has a modern pulsating production line and stable batch production capabilities, forming a complete manufacturing chain from R&D, manufacturing to delivery and service, driving the gathering of upstream and downstream enterprises and becoming an iconic carrier of new quality productivity in the city.
Shihezi drones have been deeply integrated into production, life and social governance, and their application scenarios are widely spread. In the agricultural field, UAV plant protection has greatly improved the efficiency of cotton fields and grain crop management and protection; in the logistics field, Hongyan large-scale UAVs have been put into regular freight routes to solve transportation problems in remote areas; in urban management, UAVs are used for high-altitude inspections, emergency rescues, and environmental monitoring; at the same time, low-altitude tourism, smart inspections and other scenarios are constantly expanding, truly realizing the industrial transformation of "from being able to fly to being useful" and injecting aerial kinetic energy into high-quality urban development.
Figure 8: The Second Low Altitude Industry Innovation and Development Conference; Source: Shihezi Science and Technology Bureau, Shenwan Hongyuan Research
Figure 9: Hongyan (HY100), my country’s first large-scale UAV that took off; Source: China News Weekly, Shenwan Hongyuan Research
The young city is full of fireworks, and the city of military reclamation is bursting with new industrial light. When I returned to my hometown of Shihezi this time, I really felt the vitality of this new military reclamation city. Carrying the original aspirations of generations of military reclamation people, Shihezi’s traditional agriculture and industry have been continuously transformed and upgraded, and the low-altitude economy is becoming another ray of industrial light in Shihezi. From the lively street markets to the popular new consumption places, from the solid industrial foundation to the ever-changing urban landscape, Shihezi is moving towards high-quality development at a solid pace. I sincerely wish my hometown will get better and better.
Shenwan Hongyuan Research "Spring Festival Insights" series of studies: Since 2018, the Shenwan Hongyuan Research Institute, known for its ideas and systems, has continued to practice grassroots insights into China's national conditions. During the Spring Festival of 2026, Shenwan Hongyuan Research, in order to further understand the national conditions and people's sentiments, improve its research capabilities, and cultivate feelings for the people, calls on analysts to review the past and sum up experience, look forward to the future, and forge ahead. They will use the Spring Festival to return to their hometowns to visit relatives and friends, and go on field trips. Taking advantage of opportunities to visit and travel, the research team uses visits to their hometowns during the Spring Festival every year to describe what they see and hear in more down-to-earth words and on-the-spot visits, so that "research" does not stick to the ivory tower, so as to clearly understand the multi-layered context of China's economy.
