Shihezi

Shihezi is a city in northern Xinjiang built from the desert in the 1950s by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a state agricultural-military organisation that reclaimed the arid Gurbantünggüt fringe for farming. Laid out on a modern grid with wide tree-lined boulevards, it is a model reclamation city and a major producer of cotton, tomatoes, grapes and melons. Its Military Reclamation Museum tells the pioneering settlers' story. For an international student, Shihezi offers a clean planned city, distinctive frontier history, fresh Xinjiang produce and access to the Tianshan foothills.