LIVE from Xinjiang: cotton harvest

As the autumn harvest season arrives, cotton fields across Xinjiang transform into a sea of white. In Shawan, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, farmers are busy in the fields harvesting cotton. Shawan is a major cotton-producing area in northern Xinjiang. According to the local bureau of agriculture and rural affairs, the city planted 1.6457 million mu (about 109,713 hectares) of cotton this year, with mechanized operations accounting for more than 99 percent of the work from sowing to harvesting. Xinjiang is China's largest premium cotton production base, with output accounting for 92.8% of the national total in 2025.