URUMQI, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The central government and regional government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have invested about 3 billion yuan (430 million U.S. dollars) into promoting public culture development over the last five years.

Since 2013, the region has spent over 2.1 billion yuan on infrastructure construction, 680 million yuan on promoting free admission to museums and libraries, and another 166 million yuan on developing public digital cultural products, according to Wang Shusheng, head of the public culture office of the regional department of culture.

Statistics show that about 100 million yuan has been distributed to impoverished counties in Kashgar, Hotan, Kizilsu and Aksu prefectures in the southern part of the region since 2015, Wang said.

So far, the region has 9,430 public culture organizations including public libraries, museums and art galleries, with 37,000 employees, covering all districts, counties and villages.