‍When talking about Xinjiang, visions that come to mind include beautiful scenery and delicious food. But there's more to this northwest China's Uyghur autonomous region for their eyes. A place rich with history and diverse with ethnic groups deserves a closer look.

CGTN reporters traveled to Xinjiang to discover how this place is developing its economy while preserving its unique culture.

Alataw Pass is one of the youngest Chinese border ports. Before the city was established in 2013, the city was just known as a railway stop. Five years on, up to 70 percent of freight trains to Europe pass through this border town.

Due to the strong wind climate in the city, an indoor workshop was built to transfer containers between two different railway systems of China and Kazakhstan. The ferry house has boosted efficiency. Within just eight hours, goods can travel from one country to another.

In addition to goods transportation, people-to-people trade is also vital in Xinjiang. The China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center is a free trade area located directly on the border of the two countries. It's the world's first cross-border free-trade zone and the largest duty-free shopping center in western China.

Covering 5.28 square kilometers, the cooperation center was established by China and Kazakhstan to boost bilateral trade. Now, with the boom in trade volume between China and Kazakhstan, the cooperation center has gained a lot of popularity.

Xinjiang has rich natural resources, more than 40 percent of its total area is suitable for the development of agricultural, forestry and animal husbandry. But there's a balance between the three of them. At the Sayram Lake area, local authorities are clearing out grassland for grazing to protect the ecosystem.

At 2,073 meters above sea level, Sayram is the largest alpine lake in Xinjiang. The lake covers an area of 458 square kilometers, but this number grows each year due to global warming.

Local authorities have carried out plans to protect natural resources. The 67-kilometer long highway around the lake was built to curb destruction of the grasslands. Now the average water quality at Sayram has reached the country's drinking standards.

Xinjiang is located at the pivotal point of the ancient Silk Road. The autonomous region is rich in cotton. Every year, the cotton-picking season begins in October and lasts as late as January or February. The long-lasting picking tide is due to the high productivity of the fields.

Farmers get paid double. They first rent lands to companies to grow cotton. Then the companies hire farmers to pick the cotton. The biggest advantage of growing cotton in Xinjiang is the favorable weather conditions there - more days of sunshine and less rainfall. The cotton harvested will then be shipped to processing plants in other parts of China.

When it is not planting, or harvest season, many farmers paint to record their daily lives. And some of their work has become cultural. Makit county is the home of Dolan or the hunter's culture. 300 Dolan painters live in Kumkusar village. So far, farmers in the village have painted an accumulated 40,000 artworks.

The farmer paintings from the Dolan culture can be traced back to the 19th century when rural area people didn't know how to write, but instead drew pictures of what had happened.

Snacks from all over China can be found at the night market in Hotan. It all began from the gathering of a bunch of street vendors. The local authorities then standardized the market in 2016. Among 260 vendors, more than 100 come from low-income families.

The people in Xinjiang are proud of their rich culture. And with its geographical advantages, the autonomous region figures to foster more opportunities as it gradually opens to the world.

(Wang Peng and Zhang Chen also contributed to the story.)