新疆栽培棉花的历史很早,远在唐代,吐鲁番地区就有种植。南史上载有“高昌国有草,果实如茧,中间有丝,名曰白疊,取以为棉,共质软白”,古代的高昌即在现今的吐鲁番地区。据解放前华商纱厂联合会调查,新疆吐鲁番、莎车、鄯善、疏勒、和田等县均产棉,全省约有棉田百万亩,年产棉约30万担。但是在过去反动政府统治下,植棉技术非常落后,产量低微。解放以后,植棉业发展很快,播种面积逐年增加,单位面积产量逐年提高, The history of cotton cultivation in Xinjiang is very early, far in the Tang Dynasty, there Turpan region. South history contains “Gaochang grass, fruit, such as cocoon, the middle of the wire, the name white, take it as cotton, soft white,” the ancient Gaochang that in today’s Turpan region. According to a survey conducted by the Federation of Chinese Business Millworks before the liberation, Xinjiang Turpan, Shache, Shanshan, Shule and Wada all produce cotton. The province has about 1 million mu of cotton fields and an annual output of cotton of about 300,000 dan. However, under the reactionary government of the past, the technology of cotton-planting was very backward and the output was low. After the liberation, the cotton industry developed rapidly, sown area increased year by year, unit area output increased year by year,