With the completion of transformation to permanentsettlementbased economic production and way of life, social culture in the shepherd areas in the current Xinjiang is going through an unprecedentedly significant period of development. Great changes have taken place in traditional social structure, social customs and conventions, cultural education and ideology of the shepherds under the function and compact of varieties of elements, internal and external. As a result, the current social culture in shepherd areas in Xinjiang now assumes a feature of plurality and tends to gradually become identified with the mainstream culkture of contemporary society.

contemporary Xinjiang shepherd areas; Kazak shepherd areas; social culture