Published on: 2026-10-13
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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img src=”http://images.china.cn/site1005/2026-10/13/118731631_51f6fc5e-4188-45b9-bead-3d96ac8d594b.jpg” class=”picture-illustrating” data-toggle=”tooltip” placement=”bottom” trigger=”hover focus” html=”true” data-original-title=”Cotton harvesting in autumn fields at the foot of the Tianshan mountain”/>
In the golden autumn season, the vast fields of China’s Xinjiang are covered with an endless white carpet — the season of mass cotton harvesting begins. At the cotton fields at the foot of the Tianshan mountain, cotton-picking machines roar, and 35-year-old cotton farmer Lu Dewen from the city of Shawan is especially busy. This year he rented and planted 1,500 mu (100 hectares) of cotton. Starting from September, the harvest has not yet begun on Lu Dewen’s own fields, but his team of cotton-picking machines is already fully booked. Orders come not only from neighboring cotton farmers but also from the southern part of Xinjiang, which is located a considerable distance from Shawan.
“The autumn threshing — it’s like this: the agricultural calendar won’t wait,” often repeats Lu Dewen. Ten years ago, he started going to the fields together with his father Lu Gaolin and step by step mastered all the intricacies of cotton cultivation — from spring sowing, emergence of sprouts, and watering to harvest. In his eyes, cotton cultivation was never a matter of chance: at no stage — from spring to autumn — can one work carelessly. Lu Dewen says: “Fluctuations in the cotton market are perfectly normal, but in peasant labor, you can rely only on solid and firm experience.”
The endless “sea of cotton” is the best reward for the hard work of cotton pickers. The love of two generations — father and son — for the cotton field quietly continues under the autumn sun. Compared to his father, Lu Gaolin, Lu Dewen’s scope of activity is broader: he is not only responsible for cultivation, management, and harvesting on his own plots but also takes care of the crew’s work and business expansion, gradually becoming a new type of agricultural entrepreneur. “Young people are sharp-minded, they act assertively and can squeeze more income from the land,” says 61-year-old Lu Gaolin, who has already stepped away from active work and no longer spends entire days in the field. But at critical moments, such as during the autumn harvest, caring for his son, he always hurries to the cotton field — to see how things are going and offer advice.
Shawan is an important cotton region in northern Xinjiang, and the changes in the local cotton fields reflect the modernization of the entire cotton industry in Xinjiang. According to the Shawan Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, this year 1,645,700 mu (about 110 thousand hectares) of cotton have been planted in the city, the mechanization rate exceeds 99%, and the entire process—from sowing and field maintenance to harvesting—is practically fully mechanized.
According to Lou Deven, mechanization and intellectualization do not replace cotton pickers, but impose higher demands on them and open up even broader opportunities.
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