On October 5th, on the Pamir Plateau in Simhana Village, Jigen Township, Wuqia County, Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, villager Musa Purhan hurried to the village postal express service station early in the morning to collect his package: "I bought festival snacks and mooncakes online - so convenient!" Simhana Village is located over 1,600 kilometers from Urumqi and represents the logistics "last mile" in Xinjiang. In the past, without express delivery service points in the village, residents could only have their online purchases delivered to the township level.
The transformation began with the implementation of the national "Express Delivery to Villages" project. Ayimsha Tohetahong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Vice Chairman of Wuqia County CPPCC, explained that express deliveries can now be sent directly to villages, making online shopping much more convenient for residents.
Through the development of a three-tier county-township-village postal and logistics system, Xinjiang has achieved over 96% coverage of village-level express delivery services. In 2024, Xinjiang completed 460 million express delivery transactions, a year-on-year increase of 39.2%, ranking among the top nationally in growth rate.
Small packages relate to big livelihoods, and small service points leverage great happiness. "Express delivery to villages has improved the quality of life for farmers and herders, especially for those in remote areas, where express delivery accessibility has changed their consumption patterns," said Ayimsha Tohetahong.
For a long time, due to long transportation distances, Xinjiang's logistics costs remained high, with issues of "no free shipping" or even "no delivery" consistently troubling local consumers. How can goods traveling thousands of kilometers achieve free shipping? Reducing transportation costs is key.
Since 2023, Xinjiang has explored a new model of "national consolidation centers shipping to consolidation centers, then consolidation centers shipping to Xinjiang." Simultaneously, it has promoted the establishment of Xinjiang headquarters for 10 major domestic postal and delivery companies in Urumqi, building logistics hubs.
Under traditional logistics models, goods from each merchant or customer were transported independently, leading to scattered freight volumes and increased costs. Kong Xiangying, Vice President of JD Group, explained that under the consolidation model, merchants only need to ship products to consolidation warehouses in places like Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Xi'an, Shaanxi, with e-commerce platform partner logistics service providers handling centralized secondary transportation, increasing volume while reducing costs.
"Road-to-rail" container express trains have also significantly reduced logistics costs. In March last year, the nation's first express e-commerce "road-to-rail" container train departed from Xi'an, arriving in Urumqi 38 hours later - about 5 hours faster than road transport, improving delivery efficiency by approximately 12% and reducing shipping costs by about 57%.
With these measures taking effect, Xinjiang's social logistics costs show a steady downward trend. The latest statistical calculations show that the ratio of Xinjiang's total social logistics costs to regional GDP is 14.7%, a cumulative decrease of 7.8 percentage points since 2012. As many online shopping platforms now offer free shipping to Xinjiang, the region is rapidly joining the ranks of "free shipping zones."
"I never expected that ordering in the morning would arrive in the afternoon!" said Ismayil, who operates a dried fruit store in Kashgar Ancient City. On March 30th this year, the first day of JD Logistics Kashgar warehouse trial operations, Ismayil ordered skincare products for his wife in the morning, and the package was delivered to him with free shipping at 4 PM that afternoon.
The 20,000-square-meter JD Logistics Kashgar warehouse operates fully automated sorting equipment efficiently. Small and medium-sized orders have achieved automated sorting, improving processing efficiency by 30% and achieving 99.8% sorting accuracy, providing strong support for rapid order fulfillment in southern Xinjiang.
With the JD Logistics Kashgar warehouse in operation, express delivery times for the four prefectures in southern Xinjiang have been shortened by 2-3 days, with same-day delivery now possible at the fastest. "The launch of the Kashgar warehouse has enhanced the shopping experience for local consumers," said Yang Jianhua, head of JD Logistics in Xinjiang.
"Turpan grapes, Hami melons, Korla fragrant pears praised by everyone, Yecheng pomegranates are the best." With the rapid development of Xinjiang's modern logistics industry, these high-quality but perishable agricultural products can now be quickly delivered to consumers nationwide.
In June this year, at Shihezi Garden Airport, a JD Logistics cargo plane loaded with freshly picked small white apricots took off for Beijing Daxing International Airport. Leveraging a nationwide warehouse and distribution network, Jiashi plums now travel from branch to dining tables in East China in 56 hours instead of 8 days, with loss rates dropping from 9% to 1.8% and logistics costs reduced by 12%.
Standing beside the western boundary stone in Simhana Village, villager Miman Jiang Maimaiti Juma gazes at the nearby highway where postal vehicles head toward Kashgar Laining International Airport, carrying his family's lamb: "In 2024, I sold 101 sheep through e-commerce platforms, with sales exceeding 70,000 yuan."
Ayimsha Tohetahong said: "Last year, our cultivated 'Tuoyun Soda Sheep' and 'Ongling Herder' brand beef and mutton flew to various destinations, with sales increasing significantly. High-altitude late-ripening apricots that were unknown in the past are now sold nationwide and becoming increasingly famous."