Every fall, Yang Qizhi treks thousands of miles from Henan province to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to pick cotton.

For the past eight years, the 52-year-old has earned about 13,000 yuan ($2,120) for two months of work picking cotton in Xinjiang during harvest. Her monthly income picking cotton is three times what she would make in her hometown.

Yang is one of tens of thousands of cotton pickers from Henan province who travel to Xinjiang by train every fall. About 280,000 cotton pickers are needed this year for the 520,000 hectares of cotton to be harvested, according to the Xinjiang Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security.