Chinese company representatives from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region showed their red wine products to local clients at the 2011 Ninth Kazakhstan-China Commodity Fair in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city. Zhao Yu / Xinhua News Agency

Editor's note: After 21 years of independence, Kazakhstan has turned into one of the most rapidly developing economies in the world. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was one of the most impoverished. On the occasion of its 21st Independence Day, China Daily reporters explore the reasons for Kazakhstan's economic success and assess the outlook for the China-Kazakhstan partnership.