Wanting to spur an economic boom in Xinjiang, the government has tried to be a better matchmaker. Economies with greater financial muscle, such as Guangdong Province and Beijing, will help the least developed areas such as Hotan and Kashgar. Meanwhile, the three northeastern provinces—Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning—will partner with Tacheng and Altay in the northern part of Xinjiang since they have similar climatic conditions.

"Most importantly, we could learn from the partner assistance scheme for the quake-hit Sichuan Province," said Jurat Imin.

In a move to accelerate reconstruction in Sichuan and neighboring provinces, 18 provinces and cities teamed up with different disaster-stricken counties and contributed 1 percent of their annual fiscal revenues in assistance.

Plan in action

Though the program will not officially come into effect until 2011, the 19 regions have been making vigorous efforts to hammer out detailed plans for the assistance. In the past two months they have sent a number of investigation groups to Xinjiang to get a clear picture of the local economies, and many have already announced their initial steps. Beijing, for instance, plans to commit 7.26 billion yuan ($1.06 billion) over the next five years to improve housing conditions and protected agriculture in Hotan Prefecture. Guangdong Province will spend at least 9.6 billion yuan ($1.41 billion) on infrastructure and social welfare in Kashgar Prefecture.

Among the most dedicated provinces was Heilongjiang Province that will partner with the No.10 Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and three poverty-stricken counties in the Altay Prefecture including Fuhai, Fuyun and Qinghe.

In December 2009, Altay suffered the heaviest snowstorm in 60 years that crushed numerous houses and roads. The biggest victims were the nomads as blizzards destroyed vast grassland, leaving their sheep nowhere to graze. As part of its disaster-relief effort, Heilongjiang has planned to invest 60 million yuan ($8.79 million) this year to help with reconstruction and disaster prevention measures, including a number of water resource projects. In addition, efforts have also been pledged to settle the wandering nomads and help them build houses and find jobs.

Despite a fragile economic foundation, the future of Altay looks more promising. The region blisters with rich mineral resources, including gold and bronze. But mineral exploration has stalled due to a lack of financing. So an important goal of the assistance is to provide a sustainable source of funding and push forward mineral exploitation.

"We will spare no effort to adequately push through the support measures and pump fresh steam into the economy of Altay," said Song Xibin, Director of the Development and Reform Commission of Heilongjiang Province.

Song also hopes the program could be an opportunity to deepen cultural and educational communication.

"We are very grateful for the significant help from Heilongjiang, and will also closely coordinate with our partner to pave the way for an economic boom and improve the livelihoods of residents," said Qi Guoqing, Secretary of the Fuhai County Committee of the Communist Party of China.