The incorporation of Second East Turkestan Republic/Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China in 1949, known in Chinese
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
as the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang, refers to the takeover of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
's
Xinjiang Province
Xinjiang Province is a historical administrative area of Northwest China, between 1884 and 1955.
Periods during which various boundaries of Xinjiang Province have been defined include:
* Xinjiang Province (Qing) (1884–1912).
* Xinjiang Provin ...
and the
Second East Turkestan Republic
The East Turkestan Republic (ETR) was a short-lived satellite state of the Soviet Union in northwest Xinjiang (East Turkestan), between November 12, 1944, and December 22, 1949. To differentiate it from the First East Turkestan Republic (1933 ...
by the
Chinese Communists and the
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
, largely through political means, in the waning days of the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
.
In the late summer of 1949, the People's Liberation Army drove into the
Hexi Corridor
The Hexi Corridor (, Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ, IPA: ), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and relativ ...
in
Gansu Province
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...
and pressed toward Xinjiang. At the time, much of Xinjiang was ruled by a government based in Dihua (now
Urumqi), which comprised
Chinese Nationalists (KMT) while the northwest corner was administrated as the
Second East Turkestan Republic (ETR), a regime founded with the support of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in the
Three Districts in northwestern Xinjiang during the
Ili Rebellion
The Ili Rebellion () (Üch Wiläyt inqilawi) was a Uyghur separatist movement backed by the Soviet Union against the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1944. After the start of the rebellion, the rebels established the Provision ...
in 1944. In the fall of 1949, the Chinese Communists reached separate agreements with the political leadership of the KMT and the
Second East Turkestan Republic
The East Turkestan Republic (ETR) was a short-lived satellite state of the Soviet Union in northwest Xinjiang (East Turkestan), between November 12, 1944, and December 22, 1949. To differentiate it from the First East Turkestan Republic (1933 ...
.
The Chinese Communists persuaded the KMT provincial and military leadership to surrender. The Soviet Union induced the leaders of the former ETR to accede to the Chinese Communists. In August 1949, four of top ETR leaders,
Ehmetjan Qasim's delegation, died in a plane crash en route to Beijing to attend the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...
, the Chinese Communists' united front conference. In December, China's new government incorporated the ETR military into the PLA, which marked the end of the independence of Xinjiang's second East Turkestan Republic. Most of the remaining former ETR leadership, i.e.
Burhan Shahidi and others, accepted the absorption of the autonomous Three Districts into the newly founded People's Republic of China. They along with the surrendered KMT officials took senior positions in the PRC government.
Thus, the Chinese Communists' takeover of Xinjiang was largely achieved through political means. The PLA entered Xinjiang in October 1949 and controlled most of the vast region by the spring of 1950. Among the major military actors in Xinjiang, only
Yulbars Khan, a KMT loyalist, and
Osman Batur, a former ETR commander turned KMT supporter, fought against the Chinese Communists. They were both defeated by the PLA.
[ Starr 2004: 86]
Accession of the Three Districts (ETR)
The Second ETR, initially led by
Elihan Tore
Elihan Tore ( Uyghur: ئەلىخان تۆرە; ; 21 March 1884 – 28 February 1976) was the 1st president of the Second East Turkestan Republic. He was born in Tokmok, formerly known as Balasagun, Kyrgyzstan and in 1920 he escaped from the So ...
, was founded in November 1944 during the
Ili Rebellion
The Ili Rebellion () (Üch Wiläyt inqilawi) was a Uyghur separatist movement backed by the Soviet Union against the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1944. After the start of the rebellion, the rebels established the Provision ...
with Soviet support and was based in three northwest districts of Xinjiang.
[Mark Dickens, "The Soviets in Xinjiang 1911-1949"Last Accessed 2010-11-14]
/ref> Tore disappeared in the Soviet Union in 1946, and another ETR leader, Ehmetjan Qasimi
Ehmetjan Qasim ( ug, ئەخمەتجان قاسىمى; April 15, 1914 – August 27, 1949) was the president of the Second East Turkestan Republic.劉學銚,新疆史論,知書房,2013年2月,,第192頁杜榮坤、紀大椿、任一飛 ...
, head of the pro-Soviet Sinkiang Turkic People's National Liberation Committee (STPNLC), reached a political agreement with the Nationalist Chinese leader Zhang Zhizhong
Zhang Zhizhong or Chang Chih-chung (27 October 1890 – 6 April 1969) was a Chinese military commander and politician, general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and later a pro-Communist politician in the People's Rep ...
to form a coalition provincial government in Dihua (present day Urumqi). The Second ETR was disbanded in name but the Three Districts retained autonomy.[ Qasimi became the vice-chairman of the coalition government. In June 1947, the Nationalist Chinese forces clashed with Mongolian and Soviet forces at Beitashan in northeastern Xinjiang. In that conflict, Kazakh leader Osman Batur of the ETR repudiated the ETR and defected to join Nationalist Chinese forces in fighting against Soviet-backed Mongolian forces.
On 19 August 1949, ]Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
, the leader of the Chinese Communists telegraphed the leaders of the Three Districts, inviting them to attend the Inaugural Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...
to be held in Beijing.[(Chinese]
"历史资料:新疆和平解放"
Accessed 8 November 2010 On 22 August, five leaders of the Three Districts, Ehmetjan Qasimi, Abdulkerim Abbas, Ishaq Beg Munonov
Ishaq Beg Munonov, also Isḥāq Beg, (; Kyrgyz: ىساقبەك مونونوۋ/Isakbek Mononov; ug, ئىسھاق بەگ مۇنونوپ/Ishaq Beg Munonop; russian: Ысакбек Монуев) (1902 or 1903-1949) was an ethnic Kyrgyz leader in Xin ...
, Luo Zhi and Dalelkhan Sugirbayev
Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, also Dālil Khan, Delilhan, Delilhan Sugurbayoglu or Talilhan Sukurbayeff Forbes 1986203/ref> ( zh, s=达列力汗·苏古尔巴也夫, t=達列力汗·蘇古爾巴也夫, p=Dálièlìhàn·Sūgŭěrbāyěfū; ug, دەلىل ...
boarded a Soviet plane in Almaty and were headed for Chita but perished in a plane accident near Lake Baikal. On 3 September, three other former ETR leaders including Saifuddin Azizi
Saifuddin Azizi ( ug, سەيپىدىن ئەزىزى; 12 March 1915 – 24 November 2003), also known as Seypidin Azizi, Saif al-Dīn ʿAzīz, Saifuding Aizezi and Saifuding, was the first chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the ...
arrived in Beijing by train. Azizi learned the news of the airplane crash from the Soviet Ambassador and informed the PRC negotiator Deng Liqun
Deng Liqun (November 27, 1915 – February 10, 2015) was a Chinese politician and theorist who was one of the leading figures of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the 1980s, most well known for his involvement with the party's propaganda ...
, but the deaths were not publicly announced.[ Azizi and the remaining representatives from the Three Districts agreed to join the People's Republic of China, which was founded on 1 October. The deaths of the other former ETR leaders were not announced until December after the PLA had control of northern Xinjiang and had reorganized the military forces of the Three Districts into the PLA.
]
Accession of the KMT in Xinjiang
On 25 September, Tao Zhiyue, the KMT general and Burhan Shahidi, the KMT's political leader in Dihua announced the formal surrender of the Nationalist forces in Xinjiang to the Chinese Communists. On 12 October, the PLA entered Xinjiang. Many other Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
generals in Xinjiang like the Salar Muslim General Han Youwen joined in the defection to the Communist People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
. They continued to serve in the PLA as officers in Xinjiang. Some KMT leaders who refused to submit fled to Taiwan or Turkey. Ma Chengxiang fled via India to Taiwan. Muhammad Amin Bughra
Muhammad Amin Bughra (also Muḥammad Amīn Bughra; ug, مۇھەممەد ئىمىن بۇغرا, محمد أمين بغرا, ; ), sometimes known by his Han name Mao Deming () and his Turkish name Mehmet Emin Buğra; 1901–1965), was a Turkic ...
and Isa Yusuf Alptekin
Isa Yusuf Alptekin or ʿĪsa Yūsuf Alptekin ( (عيسى يوسف الپتگین or عيسى يوسف الپتكین); Turkish: İsa Yusuf Alptekin; ; 1901 – 17 December 1995), known in China as Ai Sha (), was a Uyghur politician who served t ...
fled to Turkey. Masud Sabri
Masud Sabri, also known as Masʿūd Ṣabrī ( ug, مەسئۇت سابرى, مسعود صبري; zh, s=麦斯武德·沙比尔, t=麥斯武德·沙比爾, p=Màisīwǔdé·Shābì'ěr; 1886–1952), was an ethnic Uyghur politician of the Republi ...
was arrested by the Chinese Communists and died in prison in 1952.
The only organized resistance the PLA encountered was from Osman Batur's Kazak militia and from Yulbars Khan's White Russian and Hui troops who served the Republic of China. Batur pledged his allegiance to the KMT and was killed in 1951. Yulbars Khan battled PLA forces at the Battle of Yiwu
The Battle of Yiwu (伊吾) is also called the Battle to Defend Yiwu (伊吾保卫战) by the Chinese Communist Party and resulted in the communist victory. After the local nationalist commanders in Xinjiang defected to the communist side, many na ...
, but when he was deserted, he fled through Tibet, evading the Dalai Lama's forces which harassed him, and escaped to Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
via India to join the Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
regime. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
of the PRC was established on 1 October 1955, replacing the Xinjiang Province
Xinjiang Province is a historical administrative area of Northwest China, between 1884 and 1955.
Periods during which various boundaries of Xinjiang Province have been defined include:
* Xinjiang Province (Qing) (1884–1912).
* Xinjiang Provin ...
(1884–1955).
Legacy of the ETR in Xinjiang
In the People's Republic of China, the five ETR leaders who perished in the 1949 plane crash are remembered as heroes in the struggle against the Nationalist regime.[ Their remains were returned to China in April 1950 and later reburied in a heroes' memorial cemetery in Yining.][ The cemetery has a stele with calligraphy by Mao Zedong, praising the heroes for their contributions to the Chinese people's revolution.][(Chinese]
"三区革命烈士陵园(三区革命历史纪念馆):伊宁市” '' 人民网''
18 October 2008
Positions
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile ( also known as the Government in Exile of the Republic of East Turkistan; abbreviated ETGE) is a parliamentary-based government in exile, exile government established and headquartered in Washington, D.C ...
views Xinjiang's integration into the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
as an "illegal military occupation."
See also
* History of Xinjiang
Xinjiang historically consisted of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names: Dzungaria north of the Tianshan Mountains; and the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains, currently ...
* Xinjiang conflict
* East Turkestan Independence Movement
The East Turkestan independence movement ( ug, شەرقىي تۈركىستان مۇستەقىللىق ھەرىكىتى; zh, s=东突厥斯坦独立运动) is a political movement that seeks the independence of East Turkestan, a large and spa ...
* Xinjiang re-education camps
* Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
{{Xinjiang topics
History of Xinjiang
Wars involving the People's Republic of China
1949 in China