Shotlist Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Dec 21-22, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 1. Aerial shots of Urumqi-Yuli Expressway 2. Aerial shot of Tianshan Shengli Tunnel 3. Aerial shots of Urumqi-Yuli Expressway Urumqi City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Dec 19, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Shi Yanchun, deputy director, Transport Management Division, Transport Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (ending with shot 5): "The expressway effectively connects the economic arteries between the northern and southern areas of Xinjiang, facilitating a smoother flow of regional resources and closer industrial linkages. It also forms a new pattern of coordinated regional development, ensuring the efficient movement of people, goods, and capital." Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Dec 21-22, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 5. Aerial shots of Urumqi-Yuli Expressway Urumqi City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Dec 19, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Yafei, deputy director, Construction Management Division, Transportation Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region: "This is of great significance for filling the gaps in the western road network, outlining a beautiful transportation system in China, promoting major initiatives such as the Xinjiang Free Trade Zone and tourism development plan, building a golden channel across the Eurasian continent and a gateway for opening up to the west. It is also significant for supporting the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting regional coordinated development, rural revitalization, and the development strategy of the western grand channel in the new era." Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Dec 21-22, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 7. Aerial shots of expressway Storyline The official operation of the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, one of the core components of Xinjiang's highway network, will serve as a bond connecting northern and southern areas of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. After over five years of construction, the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway that traverses the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang opened to traffic on Friday, cutting by half the driving time from the southern to the northern parts of the towering mountains. Thanks to the opening of the expressway, the travel time from the regional capital of Urumqi, north of the Tianshan Mountains, to Korla, south of the Tianshan Mountains, has been shortened by half, from seven hours to about 3.5 hours. "The expressway effectively connects the economic arteries between the northern and southern areas of Xinjiang, facilitating a smoother flow of regional resources and closer industrial linkages. It also forms a new pattern of coordinated regional development, ensuring the efficient movement of people, goods, and capital," said Shi Yanchun, deputy director of the transport management division under the Transport Department of Xinjiang. The operation of the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway has effectively linked the Beijing-Urumqi Expressway, the Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway, and the Xining-Hetian Expressway, creating a multidimensional transportation network that covers the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor and the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor. This development establishes a new transportation pattern that connects Xinjiang with other regions. "This is of great significance for filling the gaps in the western road network, outlining a beautiful transportation system in China, promoting major initiatives such as the Xinjiang Free Trade Zone and tourism development plan, building a golden channel across the Eurasian continent and a gateway for opening up to the west. It is also significant for supporting the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting regional coordinated development, rural revitalization, and the development strategy of the western grand channel in the new era," said Li Yafei, deputy director of the transportation bureau of Xinjiang. By the end of 2025, the total mileage of expressways in Xinjiang is expected to reach 237,000 kilometers, achieving complete coverage of expressways in the region.