The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

Driving the modernisation of Xinjiang is the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), which comes under direct political control from Beijing. Lacking Foreign Direct Investment, it is the XPCC (financed by the government) that fuels XUAR’s economy, which is dominated by heavy industry and oil extraction. The company also builds infrastructure such as roads and railways.

The organisation is truly monolithic. It employs 2.48 million people, 88% of them Han, which represents 12.9% of the entire population of Xinjiang. (At present, the Uyghurs have been concentrated in the south while Han migrants dominate the more developed north. ) It controls a third of the province’s arable land. More than just an industrial giant, the XPCC also manages the construction of cities to house its workers – the provincial capital, Urumqi is an example – often at the expense of traditional Uyghur dwellings. In many ways, it is thus a state instrument of territorial control, and is a key engine for bringing Han people into the region.

http://www.philip-sen.com/othermeans/2006/06/colonialism_in_the_21st_century.html