Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an
autonomous region
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy ...
of 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 ...
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
,
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
,
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The rugged
Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
,
Kunlun
The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
and
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of the ...
and
Trans-Karakoram Tract
The Trans-Karakoram Tract (), also known as the Shaksgam Tract ( ur, , translit=Shaksgām), is an area of approximately north of the Karakoram watershed, including the Shaksgam valley. The tract is administered by China as part of its Taxkorgan ...
regions, both administered by China, are claimed by India. Xinjiang also borders the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
and the provinces of
Gansu
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 Tibet ...
and
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
. The most well-known route of the historic
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border.
Xinjiang is divided into the
Dzungarian Basin
The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Tian Sh ...
in the north and the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
in the south by a mountain range and only about 9.7% of Xinjiang's land area is fit for human habitation. It is home to a number of ethnic groups, including the TurkicUyghur,
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
and
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan
*Kyrgyz people
*Kyrgyz national games
*Kyrgyz language
*Kyrgyz culture
*Kyrgyz cuisine
*Yenisei Kirghiz
*The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China
...
, the
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
,
Tibetans
The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live ...
,
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
,
Chinese Tajiks
The Tajiks of Xinjiang ( Sarikoli: , , ), also known as Chinese Tajiks () or Mountain Tajiks, are Pamiris that live in the Pamir mountains of Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, in Xinjiang, China. They are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially ...
(
Pamiris
The Pamiris, russian: Пами́рцы, Pamírtsy, zh, s=帕米尔人, p=Pàmǐ'ěrrén, ur, are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group, native to the Badakhshan region of Central Asia, which includes the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Taj ...
),
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
,
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
and Sibe. There are more than a dozen autonomous prefectures and counties for minorities in Xinjiang. Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, East Turkestan and East Turkistan.
With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, a succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of this territory. The territory came under the rule of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
in the 18th century, which was later replaced by 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 ...
. Since 1949 and 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 ...
, it has been part of the People's Republic of China. In 1954,
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...
(XPCC) was established to strengthen border defense against the Soviet Union and promote the local economy by settling soldiers into the region. In 1955, Xinjiang was administratively changed from a
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
into an
autonomous region
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy ...
. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang and it is currently China's largest natural gas-producing region.
From the 1990s to the 2010s, the
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 ...
radical Islam
Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic und ...
have resulted in unrest in the region with occasional terrorist attacks and clashes between separatist and government forces. These conflicts prompted the
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...
to commit a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the province including, according to some,
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
.
Names
{{Infobox Chinese
, pic = Xinjiang (Chinese characters).svg
, piccap = "Xīnjiāng" in Chinese characters
, picupright = 0.5
, c = {{linktext, lang=zh, 新疆
, l = "New Frontier"
, p = Xīnjiāng
, w = Hsin1-chiang1
, mi = {{IPAc-cmn, x, in, 1, ., j, iang, 1
, bpmf = ㄒㄧㄣ ㄐㄧㄤ
, gr = Shinjiang
, mps = Shinjihang
, tp = Sinjiang
, myr = Syīnjyāng
, showflag = p
, xej = سٍكِيْا
, zh-dungan = Щинҗён
, psp = Sinkiang
, j = San1goeng1
, y = Sān'gēung
, ci = {{IPAc-yue, s, an, 1, ., g, oeng, 1
, poj = Sin-kiong
, buc = Sĭng-giŏng
, teo = Sing-kiang
, h = Sîn-kiông
, altname = Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
, psp2 = Sinkiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
, s2 = {{nowrap, {{linktext, 新疆维吾尔自治区
, t2 = {{nowrap, {{linktext, 新疆維吾爾自治區
, p2 = {{nowrap, Xīnjiāng Wéiwú'ěr Zìzhìqū
, bpmf2 = ㄒㄧㄣ ㄐㄧㄤ ㄨㄟˊ ㄨˊ ㄦˇ ㄗˋ ㄓˋ ㄑㄩ
, w2 = Hsin1-chiang1 Wei2-wu2-êrh3 Tzŭ4-chih4-chʻü1
, mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn, x, in, 1, ., j, iang, 1, -, wei, 2, ., wu, 2, ., er, 3, -, zi, 4, ., zhi, 4, ., qu, 1
, gr2 = Shinjiang Weiwueel Tzyhjyhchiu
, mps2 = Shinjiang Wheihuel Tzyhgukhickhu
, myr2 = Syīnjyāng Wéiwúěr Dz̀jr̀chyū
, tp2 = Sinjiang Wéiwú'ěr Zìhjhìhcyu
, wuu2 = {{nowrap, sin cian vi ng el zy zy chiu
, poj2 = Sin-kiong Ûi-ngô͘-ní Chū-tī-khu
, teo2 = Sing-kiang Jûi-û-jéu Tsĕu-tī-khu
, buc2 = Sĭng-giŏng Mì-ngù-ī Cê̤ṳ-dê-kṳ̆
, h2 = Sîn-kiông Vì-ngâ-ngì Tshṳ-tshṳ-khî
, xej2 = سٍكِيْا وِءُعَر ذِجِٿُوُ
, zh-dungan2 = Щинҗён Уйгур Зыҗычү
, mon = Шиньжян Уйгурын өөртөө засах орон
, mong = {{MongolUnicode, ᠰᠢᠨᠵᠢᠶᠠᠩ ᠤᠶᠢᠭᠤᠷ ᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ
, monr = Sinjiyaŋ Uyiɣur-un öbertegen jasaqu orun (Classical) {{longitem, Shin'jyan Uiguryn öörtöö zasakh oron (Khalkha)
, uig = {{big, شىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى
, uly = {{nowrap, Shinjang Uyghur Aptonom Rayoni
, uyy = {{nowrap, Xinjang Uyƣur Aptonom Rayoni
, sgs = {{nowrap, Xinjang Uyĝur Aptonom Rayoni
, usy = Шинҗаң Уйғур Аптоном Райони
, lang1 = Kazakh
, lang1_content = {{nowrap, {{lang, kk-Arab, شينجياڭ ۇيعۇر اۆتونوميالى رايونى {{longitem, {{lang, kk-Latn, Shyńjań Uıǵyr aýtonomııalyq aýdany
, lang2 = Kyrgyz
, lang2_content = {{nowrap, {{lang, ky-Arab, شئنجاڭ ۇيعۇر اپتونوم رايونۇ {{longitem, {{lang, ky, Шинжаң-Уйгур автоном району {{longitem, {{lang, ky-Latn, Şincañ-Uyğur avtonom rayonu
, lang3 = Oirat
, lang3_content = {{MongolUnicode, ᠱᡅᠨᡓᡅᡕᠠᡊ ᡇᡕᡅᡎᡇᠷ ᡅᠨ ᡄᡋᡄᠷᡄᡃᠨ ᠴᠠᠰᠠᡍᡇ ᡆᠷᡇᠨ, style=max-height:5em; word-wrap:normal Šinǰiyang Uyiγur-in ebereen zasaqu orun
, order = st
, s =
, t =
, mnc = {{ManchuSibeUnicode, ᡳᠴᡝ ᠵᡝᠴᡝᠨ ᡠᡳᡤᡠᡵ ᠪᡝᠶᡝ ᡩᠠᠰᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡤᠣᠯᠣ
, mnc_v = Ice Jecen Uigur beye dasangga golo
, lang4 = Xibe
, lang4_content = {{MongolUnicode, ᠰᡞᠨᡪᠶᠠᡢ ᡠᡞᡤᡠᠷ ᠪᡝᠶᡝ ᡩᠠᠰᠠᡢᡤᠠ ᡤᠣᠯᠣ, style=max-height:4em; word-wrap:normal Sinjyang Uigur beye dasangga golo
The general region of Xinjiang has been known by many different names in earlier times, in indigenous languages as well as other languages. These names include
Altishahr
Altishahr (, , ; romanized: ''Altä-şähär'' or ''Alti-şähär''), also known as Kashgaria, is a historical name for the Tarim Basin region used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term means 'Six Cities' in Turkic languages, referring to oasis ...
, the historical Uyghur name for the southern half of the region referring to "the six cities" of the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
, as well as Khotan, Khotay,
Chinese Tartary
Chinese Tartary (see also Tartary) is an archaic geographical term used especially during the time of the Qing dynasty. The term "Tartar" was used by Europeans to refer to ethnicities living around China's north, northeast, and west, including ...
, High Tartary, East Chagatay (it was the eastern part of the
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kha ...
),
Moghulistan
Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Teng ...
("land of the Mongols"), Kashgaria, Little Bokhara,
Serindia The term Serindia combines '' Seres'' (China) and India to refer to the part of Asia also known as Sinkiang, Chinese Turkestan or High Asia. See main entry under Xinjiang.
The art of this region is known as '' Serindian''.
See also
*Chindia
Refe ...
(due to Indian cultural influence){{sfnp, Tyler, 2004, 3 } and, in Chinese, "
Western Regions
The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more spe ...
".{{sfnp, Hill, 2009, pp=xviii, 60
In Chinese, under the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, Xinjiang was known as ''Xiyu'' ({{lang, zh, 西域), meaning "Western Regions". Between the 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE the Han Empire established the
Protectorate of the Western Regions
The Protectorate of the Western Regions () was an imperial administration (a protectorate) of Han China in the Western Regions.
The "Western Regions" referred to areas west of Yumen Pass, especially the Tarim Basin. These areas would later be ...
or Xiyu Protectorate ({{lang, zh-hant, 西域都護府) in an effort to secure the profitable routes of the
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
. The Western Regions during the
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
era were known as ''Qixi'' ({{lang, zh-hant, 磧西). Qi refers to the
Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world.
Geography
The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...
while Xi refers to the west. The Tang Empire had established the ''
Protectorate General to Pacify the West
The Protectorate General to Pacify the West (Anxi Grand Protectorate), initially the Protectorate to Pacify the West (Anxi Protectorate), was a protectorate (640 – ) established by the Chinese Tang dynasty in 640 to control the Tarim Basin. Th ...
'' or ''Anxi Protectorate'' ({{lang, zh-hant, 安西都護府) in 640 to control the region.
During the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, the northern part of Xinjiang,
Dzungaria
Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian language, Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang" ...
was known as Zhunbu ({{lang, zh-hant, 準部, "
Dzungar
Dzungar may refer to:
*Dzungar people, Oirat tribes in the Dzungar Khanate
*Dzungar Khanate, a historical empire
* Jungar Banner, an administrative division of China
*Junggar Basin
The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in ...
region") and the Southern Tarim Basin was known as ''Huijiang'' ({{lang, zh, 回疆, "Muslim Frontier"). Both regions merged after Qing dynasty suppressed the
Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas
The Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas () was an uprising against the Qing dynasty of China, which broke out in 1757 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The rebels were led by (also known as Hojijan, Huojizhan; nickname: "Younger Khoja" 小 ...
in 1759 and became the region of "Xiyu Xinjiang" ({{zh, t = 西域新疆, l =
Western Regions
The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more spe ...
' New Frontier), later simplified as "Xinjiang" / "Sinkiang" ({{zh, t = 新疆,
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
: ᡳᠴᡝ
ᠵᡝᠴᡝᠨ, Romanization: ''ice jecen''). The official name was given during the reign of the
Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, wi ...
in 1878. According to Chinese statesman
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing ( also spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang; ; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty.
Born in Xiangyin County ...
's report to the Guangxu Emperor, Xinjiang means an "old land newly returned" ({{lang, zh-Hant, 故土新歸) or the "new old land".{{refn, group=n, The imperial-era Chinese word gui {{linktext, lang=zh-Hant, 歸 is not descriptive, but normative: It is a term which seeks to justify new conquests by presenting them as a naturally appropriate "return." It does not indicate that the territory already had been conquered earlier.{{sfnp, Weinstein, 2013, p=4, ps=.{{full citation needed, date=May 2020 It can also be translated as “new frontier” or “new territory.” In fact, the term "Xinjiang" was used in many other places conquered, but never were ruled by Chinese empires directly until the gradual '' Gaitu Guiliu'' administrative reform, including regions in Southern China. For instance, present-day
Jinchuan County
Jinchuan County (; ) is a county in the northwest of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The seat of county is Jinchuan Town (Rabden).
The county spans an area of 5,524 s ...
in Sichuan was then known as "Jinchuan Xinjiang",
Zhaotong
Zhaotong () is a prefecture-level city located in the northeast corner of Yunnan province, China, bordering the provinces of Guizhou to the south and southeast and Sichuan to the northeast, north, and west.
History
Zhaotong has historic and ...
in Yunnan was named directly as "Xinjiang",
Qiandongnan
Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture (; Hmu language: ''Qeef Dongb Naif Dol Hmub Dol Gud Zid Zid Zeb''; Kam language: ''Qeens Donc Nanc Nyenc Miiul Nyenc Gaeml Zil Zl Zous''), also known as Southeast Qian Autonomous Prefecture of Miao ...
region,
Anshun
Anshun () is a prefecture-level city located in southwestern Guizhou province, southwest China, near the Huangguoshu Waterfall, the tallest in China. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 2,297,339. The city proper had a population of 7 ...
and
Zhenning
Zhenning Buyei and Miao Autonomous County (; usually referred to as "Zhenning County", commonly abbreviated as Zhenning (); Buyei: Zenqninf Buxqyaix Buxyeeuz Ziqziqxianq) is an autonomous county under the administration of the prefecture-level cit ...
were named as "Liangyou Xinjiang" etc.
In 1955, Xinjiang Province was renamed "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region". The name that was originally proposed was simply "Xinjiang Autonomous Region" because that was the name for the imperial territory. This proposal was not well-received by Uyghurs in the Communist Party, who found the name colonialist in nature since it meant “new territory."
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 ...
, the first chairman of Xinjiang, registered his strong objections to the proposed name with
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) ...
, arguing that "autonomy is not given to mountains and rivers. It is given to particular nationalities." Some Uyghur Communists proposed the name "
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
Uyghur Autonomous Region" instead. The Han Communists in the central government denied the name Xinjiang was colonialist and that the central government could be colonialists both because they were communists and because China was a victim of colonialism. But due to the Uyghur complaints, the administrative region would be named "Xinjiang ''Uygur'' Autonomous Region".{{sfnp, Bovingdon, 2010, p=199{{cite podcast , url= https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-39-ethnicity-tibet-and-xinjiang-in-the-prc/id1337064684?i=1000446900247, title= Episode 39: Ethnicity, Tibet, and Xinjiang in the PRC, website=podcasts.apple.com, publisher=Beyond Huaxia: A College History of China and Japan, host=Justin M. Jacobs, date=14 August 2019, time=60:00–62:18, access-date=19 March 2022Uyghur nationalists refer to Xinjiang as "Uyghurstan".
Description
Xinjiang consists 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, before Qing China unified them into one political entity called Xinjiang Province in 1884. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe dwelling, nomadic
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
Dzungar people, while the Tarim Basin was inhabited by sedentary, oasis dwelling, Turkic-speaking Muslim farmers, now known as the
Uyghur people
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia, Central and East As ...
. They were governed separately until 1884. The native Uyghur name for the Tarim Basin is
Altishahr
Altishahr (, , ; romanized: ''Altä-şähär'' or ''Alti-şähär''), also known as Kashgaria, is a historical name for the Tarim Basin region used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term means 'Six Cities' in Turkic languages, referring to oasis ...
.
The Qing dynasty was well aware of the differences between the former Buddhist Mongol area to the north of the Tian Shan and the Turkic Muslim area south of the Tian Shan and ruled them in separate administrative units at first.{{sfnp, Liu, Faure, 1996, 69 } However, Qing people began to think of both areas as part of one distinct region called Xinjiang.{{sfnp, Liu, Faure, 1996, 70 } The very concept of Xinjiang as one distinct geographic identity was created by the Qing. It was originally not the native inhabitants who viewed it that way, but rather the Chinese who held that point of view.{{sfnp, Liu, Faure, 1996, 67 } During the Qing rule, no sense of "regional identity" was held by ordinary Xinjiang people; rather, Xinjiang's distinct identity was given to the region by the Qing, since it had distinct geography, history and culture, while at the same time it was created by the Chinese, multicultural, settled by Han and Hui and separated from Central Asia for over a century and a half.{{sfnp, Liu, Faure, 1996, 77 }
In the late 19th century, it was still being proposed by some people that two separate regions be created out of Xinjiang, the area north of the Tianshan and the area south of the Tianshan, while it was being argued over whether to turn Xinjiang into a province.{{sfnp, Liu, Faure, 1996, 78 }
Xinjiang is a large, sparsely populated area, spanning over 1.6 million km2 (comparable in size to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
), which takes up about one sixth of the country's territory. Xinjiang borders the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
's
Leh district
Leh district is a district in the union territory of Ladakh, India. With an area of 45,110 ''km'2'', it is the second largest district in the country smaller only to Kutch. It is bounded on the north by Gilgit-Baltistan's Kharmang and Gha ...
in
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
to the south,
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
and
Gansu
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 Tibet ...
provinces to the east,
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
Govi-Altai
Govi-Altai ( mn, Говь-Алтай / , ) is an aimag (province) in western Mongolia.
Transportation
The Altai Airport (LTI/ZMAT) has one paved runway and is served by regular flights to Arvaikheer, Bayankhongor and Ulaanbaatar. The new arriva ...
and
Khovd Province
Khovd ( mn, Ховд, Howd, ) is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, located in the west of the country. Its capital is also named Khovd.
The Khovd province is approximately 1,580 km from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital. It take ...
s) to the east,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
's
Altai Republic
The Altai Republic (; russian: Респу́блика Алта́й, Respublika Altay, ; Altai: , ''Altay Respublika''), also known as Gorno-Altai Republic, and colloquially, and primarily referred to in Russian to distinguish from the neighbour ...
to the north and
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
(
Almaty
Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...
and
East Kazakhstan Region
East Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Шығыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Şyğys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Восточно-Казахстанская область, Vostochno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. It occupi ...
s),
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
(
Issyk-Kul
Issyk-Kul (also Ysyk-Köl, ky, Ысык-Көл, lit=warm lake, translit=Ysyk-Köl, , zh, 伊塞克湖) is an endorheic lake (i.e., without outflow) in the Northern Tian Shan mountains in Eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the seventh-deepest lake in th ...
,
Naryn
Naryn ( ky, Нарын, translit=Naryn, Mongolian : Нарийн, Nariin, Traditional Mongolian ᠨᠠᠷᠢᠨ) is the regional administrative center of Naryn Region in central Kyrgyzstan. Its area is , and its estimated population was 41,17 ...
and
Osh Region
Osh Region ( ky, Ош облусу, translit=Osh oblusu; russian: Ошская область, Oshskaya oblast) is a region (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Osh, which is not part of the region. It is bounded by (clockwise) Jalal-Abad Re ...
s),
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
's
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region
Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region,, abbr. / is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area, but only two perce ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
's
Badakhshan Province
Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
's
Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...
to the west.
The east-west chain of the Tian Shan separate Dzungaria in the north from the Tarim Basin in the south. Dzungaria is a dry steppe and the Tarim Basin contains the massive
Taklamakan Desert
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...
, surrounded by oases. In the east is the
Turpan Depression
The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression, is a fault (geology), fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far Western China, about southeast of the regional capit ...
. In the west, the Tian Shan split, forming the
Ili River
The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
valley.
{{clear left
History
Early history
{{History of Xinjiang
{{Main, History of Xinjiang
{{Further, Western Regions, Kingdom of Khotan, Shule Kingdom, Shanshan, Saka, Tocharians, Sogdia
The earliest inhabitants of the region encompassing modern day Xinjiang were genetically of
Ancient North Eurasian
In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient North Eurasian (generally abbreviated as ANE) is the name given to an ancestral component that represents a lineage ancestral to the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture and populations closely related to the ...
and Northeast Asian origin, with later geneflow from during the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
linked to the expansion of early Indo-Europeans. These population dynamics gave rise to a heterogeneous demographic makeup.
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
samples from Xinjiang show intensified levels of admixture between Steppe pastoralists and northeast Asians, with northern and eastern Xinjiang showing more affinities with northeast Asians, and southern Xinjiang showing more affinity with central Asians.
Between 2009 and 2015, the remains of 92 individuals in the
Xiaohe Cemetery
The Xiaohe Cemetery (), literally "Little River Cemetery" and also known as Ördek’s Necropolis, is a Bronze Age site located in the west of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang, Western China. It contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which were looted by gr ...
were analyzed for
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or abse ...
and
mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
markers. Genetic analyses of the mummies showed that the paternal lineages of the Xiaohe people were of European{{cite book , last1=Betts , first1=Allison , title=The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads , date=2019 , publisher=Archaeopress , location=Summertown, Oxford , isbn=978-1789694079 , page=50 , url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cultures_of_Ancient_Xinjiang_Western/rxUSEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=&pg=PA50 "The first settlers had European paternal lineages, and maternal lineages of European and Siberian origin." .."a pattern that continued in to Xiaohe Phase II, in layers 3, 2 and 1, where the genes show greater mixing still (Li, et al. 2015). The origin of the mitochondrial lineages is more widespread, with the presence of west Eurasian, east Eurasian and Indian lineages." .."This may account for the marked genetic change over time in the Xiaohe population (Li 2010, Li, et al. 2010, Li et al. 2015)." The later Xiaohe people carried diverse east Eurasian maternal lineages, including a dominance of C4 and C5, generally linked to southern Siberia." origin, while the maternal lineages of the early population were diverse, featuring both East Eurasian and
West Eurasian
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...
lineages, as well as a small number of
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
lineages. Over time, the west Eurasian maternal lineages were gradually replaced by east Eurasian maternal lineages. This implies a pattern of outmarriage to women from Siberian communities, which, over many hundreds of years, led to the loss of the original diversity of
mtDNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...
lineages observed in the earlier Xiaohe population.{{cite book , last1=Schurr , first1=Theodore , title=Globalization , date=2015 , publisher=University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology , location=Philadelphia , isbn=978-1934536780 , url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Globalization/DD94BgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA91&printsec=frontcover "In this regard, genetic data have recently been discovered from individuals interred in the Xiaohe cemetery from the Tarim Basin. Interestingly, they were shown to have both East Eurasian and West Eurasian mtDNA lineages, but only West Eurasian NRY lineages (Li et al 2010)."{{cite journal , author1=Chunxiang Li , author2=Hongjie Li , author3=Yinqiu Cui , author4=Chengzhi Xie , author5=Dawei Cai , author6=Wenying Li , author7=Victor H Mair , author8=Zhi Xu , author9=Quanchao Zhang , author10=Idelis Abuduresule , author11=Li Jin , author12=Hong Zhu , author13=Hui Zhou , title=Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age , journal=BMC Biology , volume=8 , issue=15 , pages=15, year=2010, pmid=20163704 , pmc=2838831 , doi=10.1186/1741-7007-8-15
The Tarim population was therefore always notably diverse, reflecting a complex history of admixture between people of
Ancient North Eurasian
In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient North Eurasian (generally abbreviated as ANE) is the name given to an ancestral component that represents a lineage ancestral to the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture and populations closely related to the ...
,
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
Tarim mummies
The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BC to the first centuries BC, with a new group of individuals recently dated to between c. 2100 and 1700 BC.School of Li ...
have been found in various locations in the Western Tarim Basin such as
Loulan
Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <
Xiaohe Tomb complex
The Xiaohe Cemetery (), literally "Little River Cemetery" and also known as Ördek’s Necropolis, is a Bronze Age site located in the west of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang, Western China. It contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which were looted by ...
and Qäwrighul. These mummies have been previously suggested to have been Tocharian or Indo-European speakers, but recent evidence suggest that the earliest mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to Indo-European pastoralists and spoke an unknown language, probably a
language isolate
Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...
.
Although many of the
Tarim mummies
The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BC to the first centuries BC, with a new group of individuals recently dated to between c. 2100 and 1700 BC.School of Li ...
were classified as
Caucasoid
The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid or Europid, Europoid) is an obsolete racial classification of human beings based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The ''Caucasian race'' was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, de ...
by anthropologists, Tarim Basin sites also contain both "Caucasoid" and "Mongoloid" remains, indicating contact between newly arrived western nomads and agricultural communities in the east. Mummies have been found in various locations in the Western Tarim Basin such as
Loulan
Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <
Xiaohe Tomb complex
The Xiaohe Cemetery (), literally "Little River Cemetery" and also known as Ördek’s Necropolis, is a Bronze Age site located in the west of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang, Western China. It contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which were looted by ...
and Qäwrighul. The earliest of the mummies have been previously suggested to have been Tocharian or Indo-European speakers, but recent evidence suggest that the earliest mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to Indo-European pastoralists and spoke an unknown language, probably a
language isolate
Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...
.
Nomadic tribes such as the
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi (;) were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat ...
,
Saka
The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...
and
Wusun
The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <
(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi- were probably part of the migration of
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
speakers who had settled in Western Central Asia long before the
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...
and Han Chinese. By the time the Han dynasty under Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) wrested the western Tarim Basin away from its previous overlords (the Xiongnu), it was inhabited by various peoples who included the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
-speaking
Tocharians
The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
in
Turfan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
and
Kucha
Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t=庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road ...
, the Saka peoples centered in the
Shule Kingdom
The Shule Kingdom (Chinese: 疏勒) was an ancient Iranian oasis kingdom of the Taklamakan Desert that was on the Northern Silk Road, in the historical Western Regions of what is now Xinjiang in Northwest China. Its capital was Kashgar, the s ...
and the
Kingdom of Khotan
The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was originally sited to ...
, the various Tibeto-Burmese groups (especially people related to the Qiang) as well as the Han Chinese people.{{cite book, first=Xavier, last=Tremblay, year=2007, chapter=The Spread of Buddhism in Serindia: Buddhism Among Iranians, Tocharians and Turks before the 13th Century, editor1=Ann Heirman, name-list-style=amp, editor2=Stephan Peter Bumbacker, title=The Spread of Buddhism, location=Leiden & Boston, publisher=Koninklijke Brill, page=77, isbn=978-90-04-15830-6 Some linguists posit that the Tocharian language had high amounts of influence from
Paleosiberian languages
Paleosiberian (or Paleo-Siberian) languages or Paleoasian (Paleo-Asiatic) (from , "ancient") are several linguistic isolates and small families of languages spoken in parts of northeastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. They are not known ...
, such as
Uralic
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
and
Yeniseian languages
The Yeniseian languages (sometimes known as Yeniseic or Yenisei-Ostyak;"Ostyak" is a concept of areal rather than genetic linguistics. In addition to the Yeniseian languages it also includes the Uralic languages Khanty and Selkup. occasionally ...
.
Yuezhi culture is documented in the region. The first known reference to the Yuezhi was in 645 BC by the Chinese chancellor
Guan Zhong
Guan Zhong (; c. 720–645 BC) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He served as chancellor and was a reformer of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. His given name was Yiwu (). ''Zhong'' was his court ...
in his work, '' Guanzi'' ({{lang, zh-hant, 管子, Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). He described the ''Yúshì'', {{lang, zh-hant, 禺氏 (or ''Niúshì'', {{lang, zh, 牛氏), as a people from the north-west who supplied
jade
Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...
to the Chinese from the nearby mountains (also known as Yushi) in Gansu. The longtime jade supply from the Tarim Basin is well-documented archaeologically: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao of the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
, more than 750 pieces, were from
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BC, the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China."
Crossed by the
Northern Silk Road
The Northern Silk Road is an ancient trackway in northern China originating in the early capital of Xi'an and extending north of the Taklamakan Desert to reach the ancient kingdoms of Parthia, Bactria and eventually Persia and Rome. It is the nort ...
, the Tarim and Dzungaria regions were known as the Western Regions. At the beginning of the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
(206 BC{{snd220 AD) the region was ruled by the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people based in present-day Mongolia. During the 2nd century BC, the Han dynasty prepared for war against Xiongnu when
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...
dispatched
Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian (; died c. 114) was a Chinese official and diplomat who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable inf ...
to explore the mysterious kingdoms to the west and form an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. As a result of the war, the Chinese controlled the strategic region from the
Ordos Ordos may refer to:
Inner Mongolia
*Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China
** Ordos Ejin Horo Airport
* Ordos Loop of the Yellow River, a region of China
**Ordos Plateau or "the Ordos", land enclosed by Ordos Loop
*Ordos Desert, in Inner Mongolia
*Ordos ...
and
Gansu
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 Tibet ...
corridor
Corridor or The Corridor may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''The Corridor'' (1968 film), a 1968 Swedish drama film
* ''The Corridor'' (1995 film), a 1995 Lithuanian drama film
* ''The Corridor'' (2010 film), a 2010 Canadia ...
to
Lop Nor
Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts ...
. They separated the Xiongnu from the
Qiang people
The Qiang people ( Qiangic: ''Rrmea''; ) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the People's Republic of China, with a population of approximately 310,000 in 2000. They live mainly in a ...
on the south and gained direct access to the Western Regions. Han China sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the states of the region, beginning several decades of struggle between the Xiongnu and Han China in which China eventually prevailed. In 60 BC, Han China established the
Protectorate of the Western Regions
The Protectorate of the Western Regions () was an imperial administration (a protectorate) of Han China in the Western Regions.
The "Western Regions" referred to areas west of Yumen Pass, especially the Tarim Basin. These areas would later be ...
({{lang, zh-hant, 西域都護府) at Wulei ({{lang, zh-hant, 烏壘, near modern
Luntai
Bügür County ( transliterated from Mongolian), also known from Mandarin Chinese as Luntai County, is a county in central Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. It cont ...
), to oversee the region as far west as the
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...
. The protectorate was seized during the civil war against
Wang Mang
Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only Emperor of China, emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later ...
(r. AD 9–23), returning to Han control in 91 due to the efforts of general
Ban Chao
Ban Chao (; 32–102 CE), courtesy name Zhongsheng, was a Chinese diplomat, explorer, and military general of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was born in Fufeng, now Xianyang, Shaanxi. Three of his family members—father Ban Biao, elder brother ...
.
The Western Jin dynasty succumbed to successive waves of invasions by nomads from the north at the beginning of the 4th century. The short-lived kingdoms that ruled northwestern China one after the other, including
Former Liang
The Former Liang (; 320–376) was a dynastic state, one of the Sixteen Kingdoms, in Chinese history. It was founded by the Zhang family of the Han ethnicity. Its territories included present-day Gansu and parts of Ningxia, Shaanxi, Qinghai and X ...
,
Former Qin
The Former Qin, also called Fu Qin (苻秦), (351–394) was a dynastic state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history ruled by the Di ethnicity. Founded by Fu Jian (posthumously Emperor Jingming) who originally served under the Later ...
,
Later Liang Later Liang may refer to the following states in Chinese history:
* Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) (後涼; 386–403), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms
* Western Liang (555–587), also known as Later Liang (後梁), a state during the Southern and Nor ...
and Western Liáng, all attempted to maintain the protectorate, with varying degrees of success. After the final reunification of Northern China under the
Northern Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties ...
empire, its protectorate controlled what is now the southeastern region of Xinjiang. Local states such as Shule, Yutian,
Guizi
''Guizi'' () is a pejorative Chinese slang term for foreigners. It has had a history of containing xenophobic connotations.
History
Starting with the arrival of European sailors in the sixteenth century, foreigners were often perceived in Chin ...
and
Qiemo
Qiemo County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Qarqan County ( Uyghur: ; ), is a county under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of th ...
controlled the western region, while the central region around Turpan was controlled by
Gaochang
Gaochang (; Old Uyghur: ''Qocho''), also called Khocho, Karakhoja, Qara-hoja, Kara-Khoja or Karahoja (قاراغوجا in Uyghur), was a ruined, ancient oasis city on the northern rim of the inhospitable Taklamakan Desert in present-day Xinj ...
, remnants of a state (
Northern Liang
The Northern Liang (; 397–439) was a dynastic state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. It was ruled by the Juqu family of Lushuihu origin (a branch of the Xiongnu). Although Duan Ye of Han ethnicity was initially enthroned as the Northern Liang ...
) that once ruled part of what is now Gansu province in northwestern China.
During the Tang dynasty, a series of expeditions were conducted against the
Western Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate ( otk, 𐰆𐰣:𐰸:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, On oq budun, Ten arrow people) was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after t ...
and their vassals: the oasis states of southern Xinjiang. Campaigns against the oasis states began under Emperor Taizong with the annexation of Gaochang in 640.{{cite book , first2=Howard J. , last2=Wechsler , first1=Denis , last1=Twitchett , chapter=Kao-tsung (reign 649-83) and the Empress Wu: The Inheritor and the Usurper , editor1 = Denis Twitchett , editor2=John Fairbank , title = The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China Part I , year=1979 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-0-521-21446-9 , page=228 The nearby kingdom of
Karasahr
Karasahr or Karashar ( ug, قاراشەھەر, Qarasheher, 6=Қарашәһәр), which was originally known, in the Tocharian languages as ''Ārśi'' (or Arshi) and Agni or the Chinese derivative Yanqi ( zh, s=焉耆, p=Yānqí, w=Yen-ch'i), is an ...
was captured by the Tang in 644 and the kingdom of Kucha was conquered in 649.{{cite book , first=Jonathan Karem , last=Skaff , editor=Nicola Di Cosmo , title=Military Culture in Imperial China , year=2009 , publisher=Harvard University Press , isbn=978-0-674-03109-8 , pages=183–185 The Tang Dynasty then established the
Protectorate General to Pacify the West
The Protectorate General to Pacify the West (Anxi Grand Protectorate), initially the Protectorate to Pacify the West (Anxi Protectorate), was a protectorate (640 – ) established by the Chinese Tang dynasty in 640 to control the Tarim Basin. Th ...
({{lang, zh-Hant, 安西都護府) or Anxi Protectorate, in 640 to control the region.
During the
Anshi Rebellion
The An Lushan Rebellion was an uprising against the Tang dynasty of China towards the mid-point of the dynasty (from 755 to 763), with an attempt to replace it with the Yan dynasty. The rebellion was originally led by An Lushan, a general offi ...
, which nearly destroyed the Tang dynasty,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
invaded the Tang on a broad front from Xinjiang to
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
. It occupied the Tang capital of Chang'an in 763 for 16 days, and controlled southern Xinjiang by the end of the century. The
Uyghur Khaganate
The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, 𐱃𐰆𐰴𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Toquz Oγuz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that e ...
took control of Northern Xinjiang, much of Central Asia and Mongolia at the same time.
As Tibet and the Uyghur Khaganate declined in the mid-9th century, the
Kara-Khanid Khanate
The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek ...
Chigils
The Chigil (Chihil, and also (D)Jigil, Cihil, Chiyal) were a Turkic tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul lake area. They were considered to be descended from the tribe Chuyue, who were of mixed Yueban- Western Turkic or ...
and Yaghmas){{cite book , title = A history of Inner Asia , first = Svatopluk , last = Soucek , chapter = Chapter 5 – The Qarakhanids , publisher = Cambridge University Press , year = 2000 , isbn = 978-0-521-65704-4 , chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/historyofinneras00souc controlled Western Xinjiang during the 10th and 11th centuries. After the Uyghur Khaganate in Mongolia was destroyed by the Kirghiz in 840, branches of the Uyghurs established themselves in Qocha (Karakhoja) and
Beshbalik
Beshbalik () is an ancient archaeological site, now located in Jimsar County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The ancient city was initially called Beiting () or Ting Prefecture (), and was the headquarters of the Beiting Protec ...
(near present-day Turfan and Ürümqi). The Uyghur state remained in eastern Xinjiang until the 13th century, although it was ruled by foreign overlords. The Kara-Khanids converted to Islam. The Uyghur state in Eastern Xinjiang, initially
Manichean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
, later converted to
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
.
Remnants of the
Liao dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...
from
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
entered Xinjiang in 1132, fleeing rebellion by the neighboring
Jurchens
Jurchen (Manchu language, Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian people, East Asian Tungusic languages, Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They ...
. They established a new empire, the
Qara Khitai
The Qara Khitai, or Kara Khitai (), also known as the Western Liao (), officially the Great Liao (), was a Sinicized dynastic regime based in Central Asia ruled by the Khitan Yelü clan. The Qara Khitai is considered by historians to be an ...
, which ruled the Kara-Khanid and Uyghur-held parts of the Tarim Basin for the next century. Although Khitan and Chinese were the primary administrative languages, Persian and Uyghur were also used.
{{anchor, Islamification of XinjiangIslamization
{{Islam and China, places
Present-day Xinjiang consisted of the Tarim Basin and Dzungaria and was originally inhabited by Indo-European Tocharians and Iranian Sakas who practiced Buddhism and
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
. The Turfan and Tarim Basins were inhabited by speakers of Tocharian languages,{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , 15 } with Caucasian mummies found in the region.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , 16 } The area became Islamified during the 10th century with the conversion of the
Kara-Khanid Khanate
The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek ...
, who occupied Kashgar. During the mid-10th century, the Saka Buddhist
Kingdom of Khotan
The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was originally sited to ...
was attacked by the Turkic Muslim Karakhanid ruler Musa; the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
unified Mongolia and began his advance west the Uyghur state in the Turpan-Urumchi region offered its allegiance to the Mongols in 1209, contributing taxes and troops to the Mongol imperial effort. In return, the Uyghur rulers retained control of their kingdom; Genghis Khan's
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
conquered the
Qara Khitai
The Qara Khitai, or Kara Khitai (), also known as the Western Liao (), officially the Great Liao (), was a Sinicized dynastic regime based in Central Asia ruled by the Khitan Yelü clan. The Qara Khitai is considered by historians to be an ...
in 1218. Xinjiang was a stronghold of
Ögedei Khan
Ögedei Khagan (also Ogodei;, Mongolian: ''Ögedei'', ''Ögüdei''; – 11 December 1241) was second khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun.
...
and later came under the control of his descendant,
Kaidu
Kaidu (Middle Mongol: , Modern Mongol: / , ; ; c. 1230 – 1301) was a grandson of the Mongol khagan Ögedei (1185–1241) and thus leader of the House of Ögedei and the ''de facto'' khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a division of the Mongol Em ...
. This branch of the Mongol family kept the Yuan dynasty at bay until their rule ended.
During the Mongol Empire era the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
vied with the
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kha ...
for rule of the region and the latter controlled most of it. After the Chagatai Khanate divided into smaller
khanate
A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire.
Mong ...
s during the mid-14th century, the politically-fractured region was ruled by a number of Persianized Mongol Khans, including those from
Moghulistan
Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Teng ...
(with the assistance of local
Dughlat The Dughlat clan ( kk, Дулат, Dulat, lit=ruthless or fierce warrior; Mongolian: '' Dolood/sevens, Doloo/seven; Middle Mongolian: Doluga, Dolugad''; Dulğat; ) was a Mongol (later Turko-Mongol) clan that served the Chagatai khans as hereditary ...
emirs), Uigurstan (later
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
) and Kashgaria. These leaders warred with each other and the
Timurid Timurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror:
* Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent
** Timurid Empire of C ...
s of
Transoxiana
Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
to the west and the
Oirats
Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.
Histor ...
to the east: the successor Chagatai regime based in Mongolia and China. During the 17th century, the
Dzungars
The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...
established an empire over much of the region.
The Mongolian Dzungars were the collective identity of several Oirat tribes which formed and maintained, one of the last
nomadic empire
Nomadic empires, sometimes also called steppe empires, Central or Inner Asian empires, were the empires erected by the bow and arrow, bow-wielding, horse-riding, Eurasian nomads, nomadic people in the Eurasian Steppe, from classical antiquity (Scy ...
s. The
Dzungar Khanate
The Dzungar Khanate, also written as the Zunghar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from t ...
covered Dzungaria, extending from the western
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic grou ...
to present-day Eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day Northern
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
to Southern
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
. Most of the region was renamed "Xinjiang" by the Chinese after the fall of the Dzungar Empire, which existed from the early 17th to the mid-18th century.
The sedentary Turkic Muslims of the Tarim Basin were originally ruled by the Chagatai Khanate and the nomadic Buddhist Oirat Mongols in Dzungaria ruled the Dzungar Khanate. The
Naqshbandi
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
Sufi
Khoja
The Khojas ( sd}; gu, ખોજા, hi, ख़ोजा) are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people originating in Gujarat, India.
Derived from the Persian Khwaja, a term of honor, the word Khoja is used to refer to Lohana Rajput ...
s, descendants of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, had replaced the Chagatayid Khans as rulers of the Tarim Basin during the early 17th century. There was a struggle between two Khoja factions: the Afaqi (White Mountain) and the Ishaqi (Black Mountain). The Ishaqi defeated the Afaqi and the
Afaq Khoja
Afaq Khoja ( ug, ئاپاق خوجا), born Hidayat Allah ( ug, هدایتالله; ), also known as Apaq Xoja or more properly Āfāq Khwāja ( fa, آفاق خواجه), was a Naqshbandi īshān and political leader with the title of Khwaja i ...
invited the
5th Dalai Lama
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...
(the leader of the
Tibetans
The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live ...
) to intervene on his behalf in 1677. The Dalai Lama then called on his Dzungar Buddhist followers in the Dzungar Khanate to act on the invitation. The Dzungar Khanate conquered the Tarim Basin in 1680, setting up the Afaqi Khoja as their puppet ruler. After converting to Islam, the descendants of the previously- Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan believed that the "infidel Kalmuks" (
Dzungars
The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...
) built Buddhist monuments in their region.{{cite book, author1=Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, author2=Bernard Lewis, author3=Johannes Hendrik Kramers, author4=Charles Pellat, author5=Joseph Schacht, title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJPrAAAAMAAJ, year=1998, publisher=Brill, page=677, access-date=10 July 2015, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=PJPrAAAAMAAJ, archive-date=1 January 2016, url-status=live
Qing dynasty
{{Main, Xinjiang under Qing rule
The Turkic Muslims of the Turfan and Kumul oases then submitted to the Qing dynasty and asked China to free them from the Dzungars; the Qing accepted their rulers as vassals. They warred against the Dzungars for decades before defeating them; Qing Manchu
Bannermen
Bannerman is a name of Scottish origin (see Clan Bannerman) and may refer to
Places
;Canada
* Bannerman, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Canada
;United States
* Bannerman, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
* Bannerman's Castle, an aba ...
then conducted the
Dzungar genocide
The Dzungar genocide () was the mass extermination of the Mongol Dzungar people by the Qing dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide due to the rebellion in 1755 by Dzungar leader Amursana against Qing rule, after the dynasty first co ...
, nearly eradicating them and depopulating Dzungaria. The Qing freed the Afaqi Khoja leader Burhan-ud-din and his brother, Khoja Jihan, from Dzungar imprisonment and appointed them to rule the Tarim Basin as Qing vassals. The Khoja brothers reneged on the agreement, declaring themselves independent leaders of the Tarim Basin. The Qing and the Turfan leader Emin Khoja crushed their revolt, and by 1759 China controlled Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin.
The
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
Qing dynasty gained control of eastern Xinjiang as a result of a long struggle with the Dzungars which began during the 17th century. In 1755, with the help of the Oirat noble
Amursana
Amursana ( Mongolian ; ; 172321September 1757) was an 18th-century ''taishi'' () or prince of the Khoit- Oirat tribe that ruled over parts of Dzungaria and Altishahr in present-day northwest China. Known as the last great Oirat hero, Amursana wa ...
, the Qing attacked
Ghulja
YiningThe official spelling according to (), also known as Ghulja ( ug, غۇلجا) or Qulja ( kk, قۇلجا) and formerly Ningyuan (), is a county-level city in Northwestern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China and the seat of the Ili Kazakh A ...
and captured the Dzungar khan. After Amursana's request to be declared Dzungar khan went unanswered, he led a revolt against the Qing. Qing armies destroyed the remnants of the Dzungar Khanate over the next two years, and many Han Chinese and
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
moved into the pacified areas.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , p=98
The native Dzungar Oirat Mongols suffered greatly from the brutal campaigns and a simultaneous
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic. Writer
Wei Yuan
Wei Yuan (; April23, 1794March26, 1857), born Wei Yuanda (), courtesy names Moshen () and Hanshi (), was a Chinese scholar from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to Yangzhou, Jiangsu in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the ...
described the resulting desolation in present-day northern Xinjiang as "an empty plain for several thousand '' li'', with no Oirat
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...
except those surrendered." It has been estimated that 80 percent of the 600,000 (or more) Dzungars died from a combination of disease and warfare, and recovery took generations.{{sfnp, Tyler, 2004 , 55 }
Han and Hui merchants were initially only allowed to trade in the Tarim Basin; their settlement in the Tarim Basin was banned until the 1830 Muhammad Yusuf Khoja invasion, when the Qing rewarded merchants for fighting off Khoja by allowing them to settle in the basin.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , 113 } The Uyghur Muslim
Sayyid
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...
and
Naqshbandi
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
Jahangir Khoja
Jahanghir Khoja, Jāhangīr Khwāja or Jihangir Khoja (, جهانگير خوجة; ; 1788 – 1828), was a member of the influential East Turkestan Afaqi Khoja (Turkestan), khoja clan, who managed to wrest Kashgaria from the Qing dynasty, Qin ...
Robert Montgomery Martin
Robert Montgomery Martin (c. 1801 – 6 September 1868), commonly referred to as "Montgomery Martin", was an Anglo-Irish author and civil servant. He served as Colonial Treasurer of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1845. He was a founding member of the St ...
, many Chinese with a variety of occupations were settled in Dzungaria in 1870; in Turkestan (the Tarim Basin), however, only a few Chinese merchants and garrison soldiers were interspersed with the Muslim population.{{sfnp, Martin, 1847 , 21 }
The 1765
Ush
Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...
rebellion by the Uyghurs against the Manchu began after Uyghur women were raped by the servants and son of Manchu official Su-cheng.{{sfnp, Millward , 1998 , 124 } It was said that "Ush Muslims had long wanted to sleep on ucheng and son'shides and eat their flesh" because of the months-long abuse.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , 108 } The Manchu emperor ordered the massacre of the Uyghur rebel town; Qing forces enslaved the Uyghur children and women, and killed the Uyghur men.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , 109 } Sexual abuse of Uyghur women by Manchu soldiers and officials triggered deep Uyghur hostility against Manchu rule.{{sfnp, Millward , 1998 , p 206–207 }
Yettishar
{{Main, Yettishar
By the 1860s, Xinjiang had been under Qing rule for a century. The region was captured in 1759 from the
Dzungar Khanate
The Dzungar Khanate, also written as the Zunghar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from t ...
, whose population (the
Oirats
Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.
Histor ...
) became the targets of genocide. Xinjiang was primarily semi-arid or desert and unattractive to non-trading
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
settlers, and others (including the Uyghurs) settled there.
The Dungan Revolt by the Muslim Hui and other
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
ethnic groups was fought in China's
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
,
Ningxia
Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...
and Gansu
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
and in Xinjiang from 1862 to 1877. The conflict led to a reported 20.77 million deaths due to migration and war, with many refugees dying of starvation.{{failed verification, date=January 2021 Thousands of Muslim refugees from Shaanxi fled to Gansu; some formed battalions in eastern Gansu, intending to reconquer their lands in Shaanxi. While the Hui rebels were preparing to attack Gansu and Shaanxi,
Yaqub Beg
Muhammad Yaqub Bek (محمد یعقوب بیگ; uz, Яъқуб-бек, ''Ya’qub-bek''; ; 182030 May 1877) was a Khanate of Kokand, Khoqandi ruler of Yettishar (Kashgaria) during his invasion of Xinjiang from 1865 to 1877. He held the title o ...
(an Uzbek or
Tajik
Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Tajikistan
* Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan
* Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan
* Tajik (surname)
* Tajik cu ...
commander of the
Kokand Khanate
The Khanate of Kokand ( fa, ; ''Khānneshin-e Khoqand'', chg, ''Khoqand Khānligi'') was a Central Asian polity in the Fergana Valley centred on the city of Kokand between 1709 and 1876. Its territory is today divided between Uzbekistan, Kyr ...
) fled from the khanate in 1865 after losing
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
to the
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
. Beg settled in Kashgar, and soon controlled Xinjiang. Although he encouraged trade, built caravansareis, canals and other irrigation systems, his regime was considered harsh. The Chinese took decisive action against Yettishar; an army under General
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing ( also spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang; ; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty.
Born in Xiangyin County ...
rapidly approached Kashgaria, reconquering it on 16 May 1877.
After reconquering Xinjiang in the late 1870s from Yaqub Beg, the Qing dynasty established Xinjiang ("new frontier") as a province in 1884{{sfnp, Mesny , 1905 , p=5{{sndmaking it part of China, and dropping the old names of Zhunbu ({{lang, zh-hant, 準部, Dzungar Region) and Huijiang (Muslimland).{{sfnp, Tyler, 2004 , 61 }
After Xinjiang became a Chinese province, the Qing government encouraged the Uyghurs to migrate from southern Xinjiang to other areas of the province (such as the region between Qitai and the capital, largely inhabited by Han Chinese, and Ürümqi, Tacheng (Tabarghatai), Yili, Jinghe, Kur Kara Usu, Ruoqiang, Lop Nor and the lower Tarim River.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , 151 }
Republic of China
{{see also, History of the Republic of China, Xinjiang Province, Republic of China, First East Turkestan Republic, Second East Turkestan Republic
In 1912, the Qing dynasty was replaced by 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 ...
. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor of Xinjiang, fled. One of his subordinates,
Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin (; March 6, 1864 – July 7, 1928) was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until his assassination in 1928.
Life
Yang Zengxin was born in Mengzi, Yunnan Province, in 1864. Though a Han Chinese, he had c ...
, took control of the province and acceded in name to the Republic of China in March of that year. Balancing mixed ethnic constituencies, Yang controlled Xinjiang until his 1928 assassination after the
Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...
of the
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 ...
.
The
Kumul Rebellion
The Kumul Rebellion (, "Hami Uprising") was a rebellion of Hami, Kumulik Uyghurs from 1931 to 1934 who conspired with Hui people, Hui Islam in China, Chinese Muslim Gen. Ma Zhongying to overthrow Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang. The Kumul Uygh ...
and others broke out throughout Xinjiang during the early 1930s against
Jin Shuren
Jin Shuren (; c. 1883–1941) was a Chinese Xinjiang clique warlord who served as Governor of Xinjiang between 1928 and 1933.
Biography
Jin Shuren was born in Yongjing, Hezhou, Gansu. He graduated at the Gansu provincial academy and th ...
, Yang's successor, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. Jin enlisted White Russians to crush the revolts. In the
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
region on 12 November 1933, the short-lived
First East Turkestan Republic
The Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET; ug, شەرقىي تۈركىستان تۈرك ئىسلام جۇمھۇرىيىتى, , Шәрқий Түркистан Түрк-Ислам Җумхурийити; ) was a short-lived breakaway ...
was self-proclaimed after debate about whether it should be called "East Turkestan" or "Uyghuristan".R. Michael Feener, "Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives", ABC-CLIO, 2004, {{ISBN, 1-57607-516-8{{cite news , title=Uighurs and China's Xinjiang Region , work=
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
, url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/uighurs-and-chinas-xinjiang-region , url-status=live , access-date=13 October 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913002530/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/uighurs-and-chinas-xinjiang-region , archive-date=13 September 2018 The region claimed by the ETR encompassed the
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
,
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
and
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of A ...
s in southwestern Xinjiang.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , p=24 The
Chinese Muslim
Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. Muslims are a minority group in China, representing 1.6-2 percent of the total population (21,667,000- 28,210,795) according to various estimates. Though Hui Muslims are the most numerou ...
Kuomintang
36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)
The New 36th Division was a cavalry division in the National Revolutionary Army. It was created in 1932 by the Kuomintang for General Ma Zhongying, who was also its first commander. It was made almost entirely out of Hui Muslim troops, all of ...
defeated the army of the First East Turkestan Republic in the 1934 Battle of Kashgar, ending the republic after Chinese Muslims executed its two emirs:
Abdullah Bughra
Abdullah Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) ئابدۇللا بۇغرا, عبد الله بغرا; zh, c=阿不都拉·布格拉, p=Ābùdūlā·Bùgélā; died 1934) was a Uighur Emir of the First East Turkestan Republic. He was the younger brother of ...
and
Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra
Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) نۇر ئەخمەتجان بۇغرا, نور احمد جان بغرا; zh, s=努尔·阿合买提江·布格拉, t=努爾·阿合買提江·布格拉, p=Nǔ'ěr·Āhémǎitíjiāng·Bùgélā; died April 1 ...
. The Soviet Union invaded the province; it was brought under the control of northeast Han warlord
Sheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai (; 3 December 189513 July 1970) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944. Sheng's rise to power started with a coup d'état in 1933 when he was appointed the ''duban'' or Military Governor of Xinjiang. His rule o ...
after the 1937 Xinjiang War. Sheng ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with support from 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 ...
, many of whose ethnic and security policies he instituted. The Soviet Union maintained a military base in the province and deployed several military and economic advisors. Sheng invited a group of
Chinese Communists
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
to Xinjiang (including Mao Zedong's brother,
Mao Zemin
Mao Zemin (; April 3, 1896 – September 27, 1943), also using Zhou Bin () as his alias, was born in Xiangtan, Hunan province. He was the head of the state bank of the Chinese Soviet Republic in Ruijin and also the Minister of National Econo ...
), but executed them all in 1943 in fear of a conspiracy. In 1944,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, informed by the Soviet Union of Shicai's intention to join it, transferred him to
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry the following year. 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 ...
, the Soviet Union backed Uyghur separatists to form 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 ...
(2nd ETR) in the Ili region while most of Xinjiang remained under Kuomintang control.
People's Republic of China
{{see also, Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China, Migration to Xinjiang
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, ...
Tao Zhiyue
Tao Zhiyue (; 1892 – 26 December 1988) was a Chinese military officer and politician, lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, and a full general of the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic o ...
surrendered the province to them. Five ETR leaders who were to negotiate with the Chinese about ETR sovereignty died in an air crash that year in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
The PRC autonomous region was established on 1 October 1955, replacing the province; that year (the first modern census in China was taken in 1953), Uyghurs were 73 percent of Xinjiang's total population of 5.11 million.{{sfnp, Bovingdon, 2010, p=199 Although Xinjiang was designated a "Uygur Autonomous Region" since 1954, more than 50 percent of its area is designated autonomous areas for 13 native non-Uyghur groups.{{sfnp, Bovingdon, 2010, pp=43–46 Modern Uyghurs developed
ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group".
This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introdu ...
in 1955, when the PRC recognized formerly separately self-identified oasis peoples.{{sfnp, Hopper, Webber, 2009, p=176 In the 1950s General Wang Zhen coerced thousands of Hunanese women into sexual servitude at PLA units in Xinjiang.
Southern Xinjiang is home to most of the Uyghur population, about nine million people, out of a total population of twenty million; fifty-five percent of the Han population, mainly urban, live in northern Xinjiang.{{sfnp, Guo , Guo , 2007 , 220 }{{sfnp, Guo , Hickey , 2009 , 164 } This created an economic imbalance, since the northern Junghar basin (Dzungaria) is more developed than the south.{{sfnp, Howell , 2009 , 37 }
Since
Chinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of C ...
since the late 1970s has exacerbated uneven regional development, more Uyghurs have migrated to Xinjiang's cities and some Han have migrated to Xinjiang for economic advancement. Chinese leader
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
made a nine-day visit to Xinjiang in 1981 and described the region as "unsteady".{{cite book, url=https://archive.org/details/forbiddendoor00terz, title=The Forbidden Door, date=1985, publisher=Asia 2000 Ltd, author=
Tiziano Terzani
Tiziano Terzani (; 14 September 1938 – 28 July 2004) was an Italian journalist and writer, best known for his extensive knowledge of 20th century East Asia and for being one of the very few western reporters to witness both the fall of Saigon ...
, via=
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
, pag 224225 isbn=9789627160014 Increased ethnic contact and labor competition coincided with Uyghur
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
since the 1990s, such as the 1997 Ürümqi bus bombings.{{sfnp, Hopper, Webber, 2009, pp=173–175
In 2000, Uyghurs were 45 percent of Xinjiang's population and 13 percent of Ürümqi's population. With nine percent of Xinjiang's population, Ürümqi accounts for 25 percent of the region's GDP; many rural Uyghurs have migrated to the city for work in its
light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...
,
heavy
Heavy may refer to:
Measures
* Heavy (aeronautics), a term used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft capable of 300,000 lbs or more takeoff weight
* Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight
* Heavy, ...
and
petrochemical
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...
industries.{{sfnp, Hopper, Webber, 2009, pp=178–179 Han in Xinjiang are older, better-educated and work in higher-paying professions than their Uyghur counterparts. Han are more likely to cite business reasons for moving to Ürümqi, while some Uyghurs cite legal trouble at home and family reasons for moving to the city.{{sfnp, Hopper, Webber, 2009, p=184 Han and Uyghurs are equally represented in Ürümqi's
floating population Floating population is a terminology used to describe a group of people who reside in a given population for a certain amount of time and for various reasons, but are not generally considered part of the official census count.
A population is usual ...
, which works primarily in commerce.
Auto-segregation Auto-segregation or self-segregation is the separation of a religious, ethnic or racial group from other groups in a country by the group itself naturally. This usually results in decreased social interactions between different ethnic, racial or re ...
in the city is widespread in residential concentration, employment relationships and
endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships.
Endogamy is common in many cultu ...
.{{sfnp, Hopper, Webber, 2009, pp=187–188 In 2010, Uyghurs were a majority in the Tarim Basin and a plurality in Xinjiang as a whole.{{sfnp, Bovingdon, 2010, p=11
Xinjiang has 81
public libraries
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.
There are five fundamenta ...
and 23 museums, compared to none in 1949. It has 98 newspapers in 44 languages, compared with four in 1952. According to official statistics, the ratio of doctors, medical workers,
clinic
A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...
s and hospital beds to the general population surpasses the national average; the
immunization
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen).
When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-sel ...
rate has reached 85 percent.
The ongoing
Xinjiang conflict
The Xinjiang conflict ( zh, c=新疆冲突), also known as the East Turkistan conflict, Uyghur–Chinese conflict or Sino-East Turkistan conflict (as argued by the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile), is an ongoing ethnic geopolitical confl ...
{{cite web , last=Rudelson , first=Justin Ben-Adam , date=16 February 2000 , title=Uyghur "separatism": China's policies in Xinjiang fuel dissent , url=http://www.cacianalyst.org/newsite/newsite/?q=node/364 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229150459/http://www.cacianalyst.org/newsite/newsite/?q=node%2F364 , archive-date=29 February 2012 , access-date=29 January 2010 , website= CACI Analyst{{cite journal, last1=Gunaratna , first1=Rohan , author-link=Rohan Gunaratna , page=59 , last2=Pereire , first2=Kenneth George , year=2006 , title=An al-Qaeda associate group operating in China? , volume=4 , issue=2 , journal=China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly , url=http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/CEF/Quarterly/May_2006/GunaratnaPereire.pdf , quote=Since the Ghulja Incident, numerous attacks including attacks on buses, clashes between ETIM militants and Chinese security forces, assassination attempts, attempts to attack Chinese key installations and government buildings have taken place, though many cases go unreported. , url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106144335/http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/CEF/Quarterly/May_2006/GunaratnaPereire.pdf , archive-date=6 January 2011 includes the 2007
Xinjiang raid
The January 2007 Xinjiang raid was carried out on January 5, 2007 by the Chinese police against a suspected East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) training camp in Akto County in the Pamir plateau.
A spokesperson for the Xinjiang Public Security ...
, a thwarted 2008 suicide-bombing attempt on a
China Southern Airlines
China Southern Airlines Company Limited is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and is the largest airline in China. Established on 1 July 1988 following the restructuring of ...
flight, the
2008 Kashgar attack
The 2008 Kashgar attack () occurred on the morning of 4 August 2008 in the city of Kashgar in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. According to Chinese government sources, it was a terrorist attack perpetrated by two men with suspected ties ...
2011 Hotan attack
The 2011 Hotan attack was a bomb-and-knife attack that occurred in Hotan, Xinjiang, China on July 18, 2011. According to witnesses, the assailants were a group of 18 young Uyghur men who opposed the local government's campaign against the burqa, ...
,{{Cite news, url=http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-07-19/news/29789314_1_police-station-hotan-muslim-uighurs, title=China: Deadly attack on police station in Xinjiang, author=Richburg, Keith B., date=19 July 2011, access-date=29 July 2011, work=
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
the
2014 Kunming attack
A group of eight knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, on 1 March 2014. The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random. The assailants ...
, the
April 2014 Ürümqi attack
On 30 April 2014, a bomb-and-knife attack occurred in the Chinese city of Ürümqi, Xinjiang. The terrorist attack killed 3 people, and injured 79 others. The attack coincided with the conclusion of a visit by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of ...
, and the
May 2014 Ürümqi attack
On the morning of 22 May 2014, two sport utility vehicles (SUVs) carrying five assailants were driven into a busy street market in Ürümqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Up to a dozen explosives were thrown at shopp ...
. Several of the attacks were orchestrated by the
Turkistan Islamic Party
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is a Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Western China. Its stated goals ar ...
(formerly the East Turkestan Islamic Movement), identified as a
terrorist group
A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...
by several entities (including Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States until October 2020, and the United Nations).
In 2014,
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP) leadership in Xinjiang commenced a
People's War
People's war (Chinese: 人民战争), also called protracted people's war, is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to mainta ...
against the "Three Evil Forces" of separatism, terrorism, and extremism. They deployed two hundred thousand party cadres to Xinjiang and the launched the
Civil Servant-Family Pair Up
Civil Servant-Family Pair Up (), also known as Pair Up and Become Family, is a Chinese government policy that forces designated Uyghur families to be matched with Han Chinese civil servants, with the families forced to host the civil servants in ...
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
was dissatisfied with the initial results of the People's War and replaced
Zhang Chunxian
Zhang Chunxian (; born 12 May 1953) is a Chinese politician best known for his term as the Communist Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps from 201 ...
with
Chen Quanguo
Chen Quanguo (; born November 1955) is a retiring Chinese politician and the current deputy head of the CCP Central Rural Work Leading Group. Between 2017 and 2022, he was a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and was pr ...
as
Party Committee Secretary
A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...
in 2016. Following his appointment Chen oversaw the recruitment of tens of thousands of additional police officers and the division of society into three categories: trusted, average, untrustworthy. He instructed his subordinated to "Take this crackdown as the top project," and "to preëmpt the enemy, to strike at the outset." Following a meeting with Xi in Beijing Chen Quanguo held a rally in Ürümqi with ten thousand troops, helicopters, and armored vehicles. As they paraded he announced a "smashing, obliterating offensive," and declared that they would "bury the corpses of terrorists and terror gangs in the vast sea of the People's War."
Chinese authorities have operated internment camps to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims as part of the People's War since at least 2017. The camps have been criticized by a number of countries and human-rights organizations for abuse and mistreatment, with some alleging
Uyghur genocide
The Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang that is often characterized as genocide. Since 2014, the Chinese government, under the a ...
. In 2020,
CCP General Secretary
The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the Party leader, head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secr ...
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
said: "Practice has proven that the party's strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era is completely correct."
In 2021, authorities sentenced
Sattar Sawut
Sattar Sawut ( ug, ساتتار ساۋۇت; ; born November 1948) is a former Uyghur politician in Xinjiang.
Sattar was the former director of the Xinjiang Education Department. He was arrested in 2017. Later, he was regarded by the Chinese Comm ...
- the former head of Xinjiang's education department and author of a Uyghur-language textbook used in Xinjiang since the mid 2000s - to death with a two-year reprieve. The textbook had been created and approved by relevant government officials, but the Associated Press reported in 2021 that Chinese government said that the "2003 and 2009 editions of the textbooks contained 84 passages preaching ethnic separatism, violence, terrorism and religious extremism and that several people were inspired by the books to participate in a bloody anti-government riot in the regional capital Urumqi in 2009."
Shirzat Bawudun
Shirzat Bawudun ( ug, شىرزات باۋۇدۇن; ; born June 1966) is a Uyghur People, Uyghur politician and the former head of the department of justice in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. In July 1988, Shirzat graduated from the North ...
, the former head of the Xinjiang department of justice, received the same sentence. Three other educators and two textbook editors were given lesser sentences.{{cite web , title=China condemns 2 ex-Xinjiang officials in separatism cases , url=https://apnews.com/article/world-news-race-and-ethnicity-beijing-china-national-security-e4d7a915a2e3ebb6c6f50778a2aec81a , access-date=10 April 2021 , website=
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
Chen was replaced as Community Party Secretary for Xinjiang by
Ma Xingrui
Ma Xingrui (; born October 1959) is a Chinese politician and aerospace engineer who is the Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang. Prior to that, he had served as the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Head of the Political an ...
in December 2021.
Administrative divisions
{{Main list, List of administrative divisions of Xinjiang, List of township-level divisions of Xinjiang
Xinjiang is divided into thirteen prefecture-level divisions: four
prefecture-level cities
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of China' ...
, six
prefectures
A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
and five
autonomous prefecture
Autonomous prefectures () are one type of autonomous administrative divisions of China, existing at the prefectural level, with either ethnic minorities forming over 50% of the population or being the historic home of significant minorities. A ...
s (including the sub-provincial autonomous prefecture of Ili, which in turn has two of the seven prefectures within its jurisdiction) for
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
, Kazakhs, Kazakh,
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan
*Kyrgyz people
*Kyrgyz national games
*Kyrgyz language
*Kyrgyz culture
*Kyrgyz cuisine
*Yenisei Kirghiz
*The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China
...
and Hui minorities. At the end of the year 2017, the total population of Xinjiang was 24.45 million.
These are then divided into 13 districts, 25 county-level cities, 62 counties and 6 autonomous counties. Ten of the county-level cities do not belong to any prefecture and are ''de facto'' administered by the
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...
. Sub-level divisions of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is shown in the adjacent picture and described in the table below:
{, class="wikitable" style="margin: 0 auto 0 auto; font-size:90%; text-align: center;"
! colspan="9" , Administrative divisions of Xinjiang
, -
, colspan="9" style="font-size: larger;" ,
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and administered by China (see Sino-Indian border dispute)
, -
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Administrative division codes of the People's Republic of China, Division code
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Division
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Area in km2{{in lang, zh{{cite book , language=zh-hans , author=Shenzhen Bureau of Statistics , publisher=:zh:中国统计出版社, China Statistics Print , script-title=zh:深圳统计年鉴2014 , trans-title=Shenzhen Statistical Yearbook 2014 , url=http://www.sztj.gov.cn/nj2014/indexce.htm , access-date=29 May 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512184740/http://www.sztj.gov.cn/nj2014/indexce.htm , archive-date=12 May 2015 , url-status=dead
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Population 2010
!! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Seat
!! scope="col" colspan="4" , Divisions
, -
!! scope="col" width="45" , District (China), Districts
!! scope="col" width="45" , Counties of China, Counties
!! scope="col" width="45" , Autonomous county, Aut. counties
!! scope="col" width="45" , County-level city, CL cities
, - style="font-weight: bold;"
! 650000 !!Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
, 1664900.00 , , 21,813,334 , , Ürümqi city , , 13 , , 61 , , 6 , , 27
, -
! 650100 !! Ürümqi city
, 13787.90 , , 3,110,280 , , Tianshan District , , 7 , , 1 , , bgcolor="grey", , , bgcolor="grey",
, -
! 650200 !! Karamay city
, 8654.08 , , 391,008 , , Karamay District , , 4 , , bgcolor="grey", , , bgcolor="grey", , , bgcolor="grey",
, -
! 650400 !!
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of A ...
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...
cities , border = 1px solid #AAAAAA
* – Altay Prefecture or Tacheng Prefecture are subordinate to Ili Prefecture. / The population or area figures of Ili do not include Altay Prefecture or Tacheng Prefecture which are subordinate to Ili Prefecture.
{, class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="text-font:90%; width:auto; text-align:center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
! colspan="5" , Administrative divisions in Uyghur, Chinese and varieties of romanizations
, -
! English !! Uyghur !! SASM/GNC Uyghur Pinyin !! Chinese !! Pinyin
, -
, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region , , {{ug-textonly, شىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى , , Xinjang Uyĝur Aptonom Rayoni , , {{lang, zh, 新疆维吾尔自治区 , , Xīnjiāng Wéiwú'ěr Zìzhìqū
, -
, Ürümqi city , , {{ug-textonly, ئۈرۈمچى شەھىرى , , Ürümqi Xäĥiri , , {{lang, zh, 乌鲁木齐市 , , Wūlǔmùqí Shì
, -
, Karamay city , , {{ug-textonly, قاراماي شەھىرى , , K̂aramay Xäĥiri , , {{lang, zh, 克拉玛依市 , , Kèlāmǎyī Shì
, -
,
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of A ...
{, class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="font-size:90%;"
! colspan="6" , Population by urban areas of prefecture & county cities
, -
!#!!City!!style ="background-color: #aaaaff;", Urban area!!style ="background-color: #aaffaa;", District area!!style ="background-color: #ffaaaa;", City proper{{cite book , author1= 国务院人口普查办公室 [Department of Population Census of the State Council] , author2=国家统计局人口和社会科技统计司编 [Department of Population and Social Science and Statistics, National Bureau of Statistics] , date=2012 , script-title=zh:中国2010年人口普查分县资料 , location=Beijing , publisher=:zh:中国统计出版社, China Statistics Print , isbn=978-7-5037-6659-6 !!Census date
, -
, 1, , Ürümqi, , 2,853,398, , 3,029,372, , 3,112,559, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 2, , Korla, , 425,182, , 549,324, , {{small, ''part of Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Bayingolin Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, -
, 3, , Yining, , 368,813, , 515,082, , {{small, ''part of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Ili Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, -
, 4, , Karamay, , 353,299, , 391,008, , 391,008, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 5, , Shihezi, , 313,768, , 380,130, , 380,130, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 6, , Hami{{efn-lr, name=Hami, Hami Prefecture is currently known as Hami PLC after census; Hami CLC is currently known as Yizhou District, Hami, Yizhou after census., , 310,500, , 472,175, , 572,400, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 7, , Kashgar, Kashi, , 310,448, , 506,640, , {{small, ''part of Kashgar Prefecture, Kashi Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, -
, 8, , Changji, , 303,938, , 426,253, , {{small, ''part of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Changji Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, -
, 9, , Aksu City, Aksu, , 284,872, , 535,657, , {{small, ''part of
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of A ...
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
{{efn-lr, name=Turpan, Turpan Prefecture is currently known as Turpan PLC after census; Turpan CLC is currently known as Gaochang District, Gaochang after census., , 89,719, , 273,385, , 622,903, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 15, , Tacheng, , 75,122, , 161,037, , {{small, ''part of Tacheng Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, -
, 16, , Wujiaqu, , 75,088, , 96,436, , 96,436, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 17, , Fukang, , 67,598, , 165,006, , {{small, ''part of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Changji Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, -
, 18, , Aral, Xinjiang, Aral, , 65,175, , 158,593, , 158,593, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 19, , Artux, , 58,427, , 240,368, , {{small, ''part of Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, Kizilsu Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Beitun, Xinjiang, Beitun{{efn-lr, name=Beitun, Beitun CLC was established from parts of Altay City, Altay CLC after census., , 57,889, , 57,889, , 57,889, , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Kokdala{{efn-lr, name=Kokdala, Kokdala CLC was established from parts of Huocheng County after census., , 57,537, , 57,537, , 57,537, , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Shuanghe{{efn-lr, name=Shuanghe, Shuanghe CLC was established from parts of Bole, Xinjiang, Bole CLC after census., , 53,565, , 53,565, , 53,565, , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Khorgas, Korgas{{efn-lr, name=Korgas, Korgas CLC was established from parts of Huocheng County after census., , 51,462, , 51,462, , {{small, ''part of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Ili Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Kunyu, Xinjiang, Kunyu{{efn-lr, name=Kunyu, Kunyu CLC was established from parts of Hotan County, Pishan County, Karakax County, Moyu County, & Qira County after census., , 36,399, , 36,399, , 36,399, , 2010-11-01
, -
, 20, , Tumxuk, , 34,808, , 135,727, , 135,727, , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Tiemenguan City, Tiemenguan{{efn-lr, name=Tiemenguan, Tiemenguan CLC was established from parts of Korla, Korla CLC after census., , 30,244, , 30,244, , 30,244, , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, -
, 21, , Kuytun, , 20,805, , 166,261, , {{small, ''part of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Ili Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
, - bgcolor="lightyellow" class="sortbottom"
, (–), , Alashankou{{efn-lr, name=Alashankou, Alashankou CLC was established from parts of Bole, Xinjiang, Bole CLC & Jinghe County after census., , 15,492, , 15,492, , {{small, ''part of Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Bortala Prefecture'', , 2010-11-01
{{notelist-lr
Geography and geology
Xinjiang is the largest Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, political subdivision of China, accounting for more than one sixth of China's total territory and a quarter of its boundary length. Xinjiang is mostly covered with uninhabitable deserts and dry grasslands, with dotted oases conducive to habitation accounting for 9.7% of Xinjiang's total area by 2015 at the foot of Tian Shan, Kunlun Mountains and Altai Mountains, respectively.
Mountain systems and basins
{{Unreferenced section, date=July 2019
Xinjiang is split by the Tian Shan mountain range ({{ug-textonly, تەڭرى تاغ, Tengri Tagh, Тәңри Тағ), which divides it into two large basins: the Dzungarian Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south. A small V-shaped wedge between these two major basins, limited by the Tian Shan's main range in the south and the Borohoro Mountains in the north, is the basin of the
Ili River
The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
, which flows into Kazakhstan's Lake Balkhash; an even smaller wedge farther north is the Emin Valley.
Other major mountain ranges of Xinjiang include the
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...
and
Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
in the southwest, the Kunlun Mountains in the south (along the border with Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet) and the Altai Mountains in the northeast (shared with
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
). The region's highest point is the mountain K2, an eight-thousander located {{convert, 8611, m, ft, sp=us above sea level in the Karakoram Mountains on the border with
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
Much of the Tarim Basin is dominated by the
Taklamakan Desert
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...
. North of it is the
Turpan Depression
The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression, is a fault (geology), fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far Western China, about southeast of the regional capit ...
, which contains the lowest point in Xinjiang and in the entire PRC, at {{convert, 155, m, ft, sp=us below sea level.
The Dzungarian Basin is slightly cooler, and receives somewhat more precipitation, than the Tarim Basin. Nonetheless, it, too, has a large Gurbantünggüt Desert (also known as Dzoosotoyn Elisen) in its center.
The Tian Shan mountain range marks the Xinjiang-Kyrgyzstan border at the Torugart Pass (3752 m). The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
Xinjiang is geologically young. Collision of the Indian and the Eurasian plates formed the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, and Pamir mountain ranges; said tectonics render it a very active earthquake zone. Older geological formations are located in the far north, where the Junggar Block is geologically part of
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, and in the east, where is part of the North China Craton.{{citation needed, date=April 2020
Center of the continent
Xinjiang has within its borders, in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, the location in Eurasia that is furthest from the sea in any direction (a continental pole of inaccessibility): {{coord, 46, 16.8, N, 86, 40.2, E, type:landmark, name=Eurasian pole of inaccessibility. It is at least {{convert, 1645, mi, km, abbr=on, order=flip (straight-line distance) from any coastline.
In 1992, local geographers determined another point within Xinjiang{{spaced ndash{{coord, 43, 40, 52, N, 87, 19, 52, E in the southwestern suburbs of Ürümqi, Ürümqi County{{spaced ndashto be the "center point of Asia". A Geographical Center of Asian Continent, monument to this effect was then erected there and the site has become a local tourist attraction.
Rivers and lakes
Having hot summer and low precipitation, most of Xinjiang is endorheic. Its rivers either disappear in the desert, or terminate in salt lakes (within Xinjiang itself, or in neighboring Kazakhstan), instead of running towards an ocean. The northernmost part of the region, with the Irtysh River rising in the Altai Mountains, that flows (via Kazakhstan and Russia) toward the Arctic Ocean, is the only exception. But even so, a significant part of the Irtysh's waters were artificially diverted via the Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi Canal to the drier regions of southern Dzungarian Basin.
Elsewhere, most of Xinjiang's rivers are comparatively short streams fed by the snows of the several ranges of the Tian Shan. Once they enter the populated areas in the mountains' foothills, their waters are extensively used for irrigation, so that the river often disappears in the desert instead of reaching the lake to whose basin it nominally belongs. This is the case even with the main river of the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
, the Tarim River, Tarim, which has been dammed at a number of locations along its course, and whose waters have been completely diverted before they can reach the Lop Lake. In the Dzungarian basin, a similar situation occurs with most rivers that historically flowed into Lake Manas. Some of the salt lakes, having lost much of their fresh water inflow, are now extensively use for the production of mineral salts (used e.g., in the manufacturing of potassium fertilizers); this includes the Lop Lake and the Manas Lake.
Time
{{main, Xinjiang Time, Time in China#Xinjiang
Despite the province's easternmost point being more than {{Convert, 1600, km west of Beijing, Xinjiang, like the rest of China, is officially in the UTC+8 time zone, known by residents as Beijing Time. Despite this, some residents, local organizations and governments observe UTC+6 as the standard time and refer to this zone as Xinjiang Time. Han people tend to use Beijing Time, while Uyghurs tend to use Xinjiang Time as a form of resistance to Beijing.{{cite journal , last=Han , first=Enze , year=2010 , title=Boundaries, Discrimination, and Interethnic Conflict in Xinjiang, China , url=http://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/download/77/196 , url-status=live , journal=International Journal of Conflict and Violence , volume=4 , issue=2 , page=251 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019103838/http://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/download/77/196 , archive-date=19 October 2014 , access-date=14 December 2012 Time zones notwithstanding, most schools and businesses open and close two hours later than in the other regions of China.
Deserts
Deserts include:
* Gurbantünggüt Desert, also known as ''Dzoosotoyn Elisen''
*
Taklamakan Desert
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...
* Kumtag Desert, east of Taklamakan
Major cities
Due to water scarcity, most of Xinjiang's population lives within fairly narrow belts that are stretched along the foothills of the region's mountain ranges in areas conducive to irrigated agriculture. It is in these belts where most of the region's cities are found.
* Ürümqi
*
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
*
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
A semiarid or desert climate (Köppen climate classification, Köppen ''BSk'' or ''BWk'', respectively) prevails in Xinjiang. The entire region has great seasonal differences in temperature with cold winters. The
Turpan Depression
The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression, is a fault (geology), fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far Western China, about southeast of the regional capit ...
often records some of the hottest temperatures nationwide in summer, with air temperatures easily exceeding {{convert, 40, °C. Winter temperatures regularly fall below {{convert, −20, °C in the far north and highest mountain elevations.
Continuous permafrost is typically found in the Tian Shan starting at the elevation of about 3,500–3,700 m above sea level. Discontinuous alpine permafrost usually occurs down to 2,700–3,300 m, but in certain locations, due to the peculiarity of the Aspect (geography), aspect and the microclimate, it can be found at elevations as low as 2,000 m.
Politics
{{Further, List of current Chinese provincial leaders
; Secretaries of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP Xinjiang Committee
# 1949–1952: Wang Zhen ({{lang, zh-hans, 王震)
# 1952–1967: Wang Enmao ({{lang, zh-hans, 王恩茂)
# 1970–1972: Long Shujin ({{lang, zh-hans, 龙书金)
# 1972–1978:
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 ...
({{lang, zh-hans, 赛福鼎·艾则孜; {{lang, ug, سەيپىدىن ئەزىزى)
# 1978–1981: Wang Feng (politician), Wang Feng ({{lang, zh-hans, 汪锋)
# 1981–1985: Wang Enmao ({{lang, zh-hans, 王恩茂)
# 1985–1994: Song Hanliang ({{lang, zh-hans, 宋汉良)
# 1994–2010: Wang Lequan ({{lang, zh-hans, 王乐泉)
# 2010–2016:
Zhang Chunxian
Zhang Chunxian (; born 12 May 1953) is a Chinese politician best known for his term as the Communist Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps from 201 ...
({{lang, zh-hans, 张春贤)
# 2016–2021:
Chen Quanguo
Chen Quanguo (; born November 1955) is a retiring Chinese politician and the current deputy head of the CCP Central Rural Work Leading Group. Between 2017 and 2022, he was a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and was pr ...
({{lang, zh-hans, 陈全国)
# Since 2021:
Ma Xingrui
Ma Xingrui (; born October 1959) is a Chinese politician and aerospace engineer who is the Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang. Prior to that, he had served as the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Head of the Political an ...
({{lang, zh-hans, 马兴瑞)
; Chairmen of the Xinjiang Government
# 1949–1955:
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 ...
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 ...
{{Main, Human rights in China, Xinjiang internment camps, Uyghur genocide
{{See also, Law of the People's Republic of China
Human Rights Watch has documented ''the denial of due legal process and fair trials and failure to hold genuinely open trials as mandated by law'' e.g. to suspects arrested following ethnic violence in the city of Ürümqi's 2009 riots.
According to the Radio Free Asia and Human Rights Watch, at least 120,000 members of
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
's Islam in China, Muslim Uyghur minority have been detained in Xinjiang internment camps, internment camps, aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities and their religious beliefs.{{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/25/at-least-120000-muslim-uighurs-held-in-chinese-re-education-camps-report, title=China 'holding at least 120,000 Uighurs in re-education camps', date=25 January 2018, work=The Guardian, access-date=4 August 2018, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819010931/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/25/at-least-120000-muslim-uighurs-held-in-chinese-re-education-camps-report, archive-date=19 August 2018{{cite news, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/former-inmates-of-chinas-muslim-re-education-camps-tell-of-brainwashing-torture/2018/05/16/32b330e8-5850-11e8-8b92-45fdd7aaef3c_story.html, title=Former inmates of China's Muslim 'reeducation' camps tell of brainwashing, torture, date=16 May 2018, newspaper=The Washington Post, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921174130/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/former-inmates-of-chinas-muslim-re-education-camps-tell-of-brainwashing-torture/2018/05/16/32b330e8-5850-11e8-8b92-45fdd7aaef3c_story.html, archive-date=21 September 2018, access-date=4 August 2018{{cite web, url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/10/china-free-xinjiang-political-education-detainees, title=China: Free Xinjiang 'Political Education' Detainees, date=10 September 2017, publisher=Human Rights Watch, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025174023/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/10/china-free-xinjiang-political-education-detainees, archive-date=25 October 2018, access-date=5 August 2018 Reports from the World Uyghur Congress submitted to the United Nations in July 2018 suggest that at least 1 million Uyghurs are currently being held in internment camps. The camps were established under CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping Administration, Xi Jinping's administration.{{Cite news, url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html, title='Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims, last1=Ramzy, first1=Austin, date=16 November 2019, work=The New York Times, access-date=16 November 2019, last2=Buckley, first2=Chris, language=en-US, issn=0362-4331, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222022035/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html, archive-date=22 December 2019, url-status=live
An October 2018 Investigative journalism, exposé by BBC News claimed based on analysis of satellite imagery collected over time that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs must be interned in the camps, and they are rapidly being expanded. In 2019, ''The Art Newspaper'' reported that "hundreds" of writers, artists, and academics had been imprisoned, in what the magazine qualified as an attempt to "punish any form of religious or cultural expression" among Uyghurs.
In July 2019, 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK—sent a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council, UN Human Rights Council, criticizing China for its mass arbitrary detentions and other violations against Muslims in China's Xinjiang region. However, on 12 July, a group of 37 countries submitted a similar letter in defense of China's policies: Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Gabon, Kuwait, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. However, in August 2019, Qatar withdrew its signature for 12 July letter, with Qatari Ambassador to the UN Ali Al-Mansouri quoted as: "co-authorizing the aforementioned letter would compromise our foreign policy key priorities".
On 28 June 2020, the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
published a report which stated the Chinese government was taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, even as it encouraged some of the country's Han majority to have more children.{{Cite news , last=AP's global investigative team , date=28 June 2020 , title=China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization , work=The Associated Press , url=https://apnews.com/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c , access-date=1 August 2020 While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice was far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in Xinjiang has been labeled by some experts as a form of "demographic genocide." Pundits from ''Pakistan Observer'', Antara (news agency), Antara,{{Cite web , last1=M. Irfan Ilmie , last2=Tia Mutiasari , date=2021-01-11 , title=Populasi Uighur naik 25 persen, pemerintah Xinjiang bantu cek keluarga , trans-title=Uighur population up 25 percent, Xinjiang government helps check families , url=https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1940188/populasi-uighur-naik-25-persen-pemerintah-xinjiang-bantu-cek-keluarga , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614144118/https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1940188/populasi-uighur-naik-25-persen-pemerintah-xinjiang-bantu-cek-keluarga , archive-date=2021-06-14 , website=Antara News , language=id and Detik.com challenged the allegations of decreasing Uyghur births, contending that their birth rate was higher than in earlier years and higher than the Han birth rate.
On 28 July 2020, a coalition of over 180 organizations called out dozens of clothing brands and retailers to re-examine and cut any ties they might have to Xinjiang region, where allegations of human rights violations have run rampant for years. The coalition cited "credible investigations and reports" by media outlets, nonprofit groups, government agencies and think tanks to support its claims.
In September 2020, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Xi Jinping's position as the following: "practice has proved that the party's strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era is completely correct and must be adhered to for a long time."
In February 2021, the Dutch government passed a motion stating that the treatment of the Uyghur minority in China amounts to genocide.
East Turkestan independence movement
{{Main, Xinjiang conflict, East Turkestan independence movement
Some factions in Xinjiang province advocate establishing an independent country, which has led to tension and ethnic strife in the region. Autonomous regions in China putatively have a legal right to separate from the nation, however in practice this right can not be exercised.{{cite web , last1=Vassallo , first1=Christopher , title=The Soviet Origins of Xi's Xinjiang Policy , url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/the-soviet-origins-of-xis-xinjiang-policy/ , access-date=13 June 2021 , website=The Diplomat The
Xinjiang conflict
The Xinjiang conflict ( zh, c=新疆冲突), also known as the East Turkistan conflict, Uyghur–Chinese conflict or Sino-East Turkistan conflict (as argued by the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile), is an ongoing ethnic geopolitical confl ...
is an ongoing separatist conflict in the northwestern part of China. The separatist movement claims that the region, which they view as their homeland and refer to as East Turkestan, is not part of China, but was invaded by the CCP in 1949 and has been under occupation since then. Chinese government asserts that the region has been part of China since ancient times. The separatist movement is led by ethnically Uyghur
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
underground organizations, most notably the
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 ...
and the Salafi movement, Salafist
Turkistan Islamic Party
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is a Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Western China. Its stated goals ar ...
, against the Chinese government. According to the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, the two main sources for separatism in the Xinjiang Province are religion and ethnicity. Religiously, the Uyghur peoples of Xinjiang follow Islam; in the large cities of Han China many are Buddhism, Buddhist, Taoism, Taoist and Confucianism, Confucian, although many follow Islam as well, such as the
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
ethnic subgroup of the Han ethnicity, comprising some 10 million people. Thus, the major difference and source of friction with eastern China is ethnicity and religious doctrinal differences that differentiate them politically from other Muslim minorities elsewhere in the country. Because of turkification from the turkificated
Tocharians
The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
, the western Uyghurs became linguistically and culturally Turkic in the 10th century, a distinction from the Han that are the majority in the eastern and central regions of Xinjiang, although many other Turkic ethnicities live in Northwest China such as the Salar people, the Chinese Tatars and the Yugur. The capital of Xinjiang, Ürümqi, was originally a Han and Hui (Tungan) city with few Uyghur people before recent Uyghur migration to the city.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , pp=77–78, 133–134 Since 1996, China has engaged in "strike hard" campaigns targeted at separatists. On 5 June 2014, China sentenced nine people to death for terrorist attacks. They were alleged to be seeking to overthrow the government in Xinjiang and build an independent Uyghur state of East Turkestan.
Economy
{{Update, date=March 2019
{, class="wikitable" align="right"
, -bgcolor=eeeeee
! align=center colspan=2 , Development of GDP
, ----
, -bgcolor=eeeeee
, Year
, align="right" , GDP in billions of Yuan
, ----
, 1995
, align="right" , 82
, ----
, 2000
, align="right" , 136
, ----
, 2005
, align="right" , 260
, ----
, 2010
, align="right" , 544
, ----
, 2015
, align="right" , 932
, ----
, 2020
, align="right" , 1,380
, ----
, colspan=2 , Source:Historical GDP of Provinces {{cite press release , url=https://data.stats.gov.cn/english/easyquery.htm?cn=E0103, title=Home – Regional – Annual by Province, publisher=China NBS, date=31 January 2020, access-date=31 January 2020
Xinjiang has traditionally been an agricultural region, but is also rich in minerals and Petroleum, oil.
Nominal GDP was about 932.4 billion Renminbi, RMB (US$140 billion) as of 2015 with an average annual increase of 10.4% for the past four years,{{cite news , url=http://zsyz.sei.gov.cn/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=263642 , title=Bulletin for the economy and society development in 2015 , access-date=6 May 2010 {{Dead link, date=May 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes due to discovery of the abundant reserves of coal, oil, gas as well as the China Western Development policy introduced by the State Council to boost economic development in Western China.{{Cite web , url=http://thechinaperspective.com/topics/province/xinjiang-province/ , title=Xinjiang Province: Economic News and Statistics for Xinjiang's Economy , access-date=22 October 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008045314/http://thechinaperspective.com/topics/province/xinjiang-province/ , archive-date=8 October 2011 , url-status=live Its List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita, per capita GDP for 2009 was 19,798 RMB (US$2,898), with a growth rate of 1.7%. Southern Xinjiang, with 95% non-Han population, has an average per capita income half that of Xinjiang as a whole.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , p=305
In July 2010, state media outlet ''China Daily'' reported that:
Local governments in China's 19
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
and Direct-controlled municipality#People's Republic of China, municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Liaoning, are engaged in the commitment of "pairing assistance" support projects in Xinjiang to promote the development of agriculture, industry, technology, education and health services in the region.{{cite news , url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/05/content_10058467.htm , title=Efforts to boost 'leapfrog development' in Xinjiang , publisher=China Daily{{\Xinhua , date=5 July 2010 , access-date=14 July 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723193952/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/05/content_10058467.htm , archive-date=23 July 2010 , url-status=live
Xinjiang is a major producer of solar panel components due to its large production of the base material polysilicon. In 2020 45% of global production of solar-grade polysilicon occurred in Xinjiang. Concerns have been raised both within the solar industry and outside it that forced labor may occur in the Xinjiang part of the supply chain. The global solar panel industry are under pressure to move sourcing away from the region due to human rights and liability concerns. China's solar association claimed the allegations were baseless and unfairly stigmatized firms with operations there. A 2021 investigation in the United Kingdom (UK) found that 40% of solar farms in the UK had been built using panels from Chinese companies linked to forced labor in Xinjiang.
Agriculture and fishing
Main area is of irrigated agriculture. By 2015, the agricultural land area of the region is 631 thousand km2 or 63.1 million ha, of which 6.1 million ha is arable land. In 2016, the total cultivated land rose to 6.2 million ha, with the crop production reaching 15.1 million tons. Wheat was the main staple crop of the region, maize grown as well, millet found in the south, while only a few areas (in particular, Aksu, Xinjiang, Aksu) grew rice.{{sfnp, Bellér-Hann, 2008, pp=112–113
Cotton became an important crop in several oases, notably
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
, Yarkant County, Yarkand and
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
by the late 19th century.{{sfnp, Bellér-Hann, 2008, pp=112–113 Sericulture is also practiced.{{sfnp, Bellér-Hann, 2008, p=152 The Xinjiang cotton industry is the world's largest cotton exporter, producing 84% of Chinese cotton while the country provides 26% of global cotton export.{{Cite news , last1=Caster , first1=Michael , title=It's time to boycott any company doing business in Xinjiang , work=The Guardian , date=27 October 2019 , url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/its-time-to-boycott-any-company-doing-business-in-xinjiang , language=en-GB , issn=0261-3077 , access-date=27 November 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127183339/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/its-time-to-boycott-any-company-doing-business-in-xinjiang , archive-date=27 November 2019 , url-status=live Xinjiang also produces Capsicum, peppers and pepper pigments used in cosmetics such lipstick for export.
Xinjiang is famous for its grapes, melons, pears, walnuts, particularly Hami melons and
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
raisins.{{Citation needed, date=November 2019 The region is also a leading source for tomato paste, which it supplies for international brands.{{r, Guardian boycott
The main livestock of the region have traditionally been sheep. Much of the region's pasture land is in its northern part, where more precipitation is available,{{sfnp, Bellér-Hann, 2008, p=37 but there are mountain pastures throughout the region.{{Citation needed, date=October 2021
Due to the lack of access to the ocean and limited amount of inland water, Xinjiang's fish resources are somewhat limited. Nonetheless, there is a significant amount of fishing in Lake Ulungur and Lake Bosten and in the Irtysh River. A large number of fish ponds have been constructed since the 1970s, their total surface exceeding 10,000 hectares by the 1990s. In 2000, the total of 58,835 tons of fish was produced in Xinjiang, 85% of which came from aquaculture in China, aquaculture. The Sayram Lake is both the largest alpine lake and highest altitude lake in Xinjiang, and is the location of a major cold-water fishery.{{Citation needed, date=October 2021 Originally Sayram had no fish but in 1998, Peled (fish), northern whitefish (Coregonus peled) from Russia were introduced and investment in breeding infrastructure and technology has consequently made Sayram into the country's largest exporter of northern whitefish with an annual output of over 400 metric tons.{{Better source needed, date=October 2021
Mining and minerals
Xinjiang was known for producing salt, Sodium, soda, borax, gold, and
jade
Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...
in the 19th century.{{sfnp, Mesny , 1899 , p=386
The Lop Nur, Lop Lake was once a large brackish lake during the end of the Pleistocene but has slowly dried up in the Holocene where average annual precipitation in the area has declined to just 31.2 millimeters (1.2 inches), and experiences annual evaporation rate of 2,901 millimeters (114 inches). The area is rich in brine Potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer and is the second-largest source of potash in the country. Discovery of potash in the mid-1990s, has transformed Lop Nur into a major Potash mining industry.
The oil and natural gas, gas extraction industry in Aksu City, Aksu and Karamay is growing, with the West–East Gas Pipeline linking to Shanghai. The oil and petrochemical sector get up to 60 percent of Xinjiang's economy. The region contains over a fifth of China's hydrocarbon resources and has the highest concentration of fossil fuel reserves of any region in the country. The region is rich in coal and contains 40 percent of the country's coal reserves or around 2.2 trillion tonnes, which is enough to supply China's thermal coal demand for more than 100 years even if only 15 percent of the estimated coal reserve prove recoverable.
Tarim Basin, Tarim basin is the largest oil and gas bearing area in the country with about 16 billion tonnes of oil and gas reserves discovered. The area is still actively explored and in 2021, China National Petroleum Corporation found a new oil field reserve of 1 billion tons (about 907 million tonnes). That find is regarded as being the largest one in recent decades. As of 2021, the basin produces hydrocarbons at an annual rate of 2 million tons, up from 1.52 million tons from 2020.
Foreign trade
Xinjiang's exports amounted to US$19.3 billion, while imports turned out to be US$2.9 billion in 2008. Most of the overall import/export volume in Xinjiang was directed to and from
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
through Ala Pass. China's first border free trade zone (Horgos Free Trade Zone) was located at the Xinjiang-Kazakhstan border city of Horgos. Horgos is the largest "land port" in China's western region and it has easy access to the Central Asian market. Xinjiang also opened its second border trade market to Kazakhstan in March 2006, the Jeminay Border Trade Zone.
Economic and Technological Development Zones
{{see also, List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita
* Bole Border Economic Cooperation Area
* Shihezi Border Economic Cooperation Area
* Tacheng Border Economic Cooperation Area
* Ürümqi Economic & Technological Development Zone is northwest of Ürümqi. It was approved in 1994 by the State Council as a national level economic and technological development zones. It is {{cvt, 1.5, km from the Ürümqi International Airport, {{cvt, 2, km from the North Railway Station and {{cvt, 10, km from the city center. Wu Chang Expressway and 312 National Road passes through the zone. The development has unique resources and geographical advantages. Xinjiang's vast land, rich in resources, borders eight countries. As the leading economic zone, it brings together the resources of Xinjiang's industrial development, capital, technology, information, personnel and other factors of production.
* Ürümqi Export Processing Zone is in Urumuqi Economic and Technology Development Zone. It was established in 2007 as a state-level export processing zone.
* Ürümqi New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone was established in 1992 and it is the only high-tech development zone in Xinjiang, China. There are more than 3470 enterprises in the zone, of which 23 are Fortune 500 companies. It has a planned area of {{convert, 9.8, km2, abbr=on and it is divided into four zones. There are plans to expand the zone.
* Yining Border Economic Cooperation Area
Culture
{{Further, Uyghur cuisine, List of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Xinjiang
{{Expand section, date=December 2020
Media
The Xinjiang Networking Transmission Limited operates the Urumqi People's Broadcasting Station and the Xinjiang People's Broadcasting Station, Xinjiang People Broadcasting Station, broadcasting in Standard Chinese, Mandarin, Uyghur, Kazakh language, Kazakh and Mongolian language, Mongolian.
{{As of, 1995, alt=In 1995, there were 50 minority-language newspapers published in Xinjiang, including the ''Qapqal News'', the world's only Xibe language newspaper.{{Cite news, title=News Media for Ethnic Minorities in China, date=25 October 1995, access-date=13 April 2009, url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-17895275.html, periodical=Xinhua News, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025081732/http://www.highbeam.com/Search?searchTerm=News+Media+for+Ethnic+Minorities+in+China&searchType=Article¤tPage=0&orderBy=, archive-date=25 October 2012, url-status=dead The ''Xinjiang Economic Daily'' is considered one of China's most dynamic newspapers.
For a time after the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, July 2009 riots, authorities placed restrictions on the internet and text messaging, gradually permitting access to state-controlled websites like ''Xinhua News Agency, Xinhua'''s, until restoring Internet to the same level as the rest of China on 14 May 2010.
As reported by the BBC, "China strictly controls media access to Xinjiang so reports are difficult to verify."
Demographics
{{Further, Migration to Xinjiang, Turkic settlement of the Tarim Basin
{{Historical populations
, title = Historical population
, 1912 , 2,098,000
, 1928 , 2,552,000
, 1936–37 , 4,360,000
, 1947 , 4,047,000
, 1954{{cite web , url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16767.htm , script-title=zh:中华人民共和国国家统计局关于第一次全国人口调查登记结果的公报 , publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China , url-status=dead, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090805174810/http://www.stats.gov.cn/TJGB/RKPCGB/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16767.htm , archive-date=5 August 2009 , 4,873,608
, 1964{{cite web , url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16768.htm , script-title=zh:第二次全国人口普查结果的几项主要统计数字 , publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China , url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120914173158/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16768.htm , archive-date=14 September 2012 , 7,270,067
, 1982{{cite web , url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16769.htm , script-title=zh:中华人民共和国国家统计局关于一九八二年人口普查主要数字的公报 , publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China , url-status=dead, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120510075429/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16769.htm , archive-date=10 May 2012 , 13,081,681
, 1990{{cite web , url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16772.htm , script-title=zh:中华人民共和国国家统计局关于一九九〇年人口普查主要数据的公报 , publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China , url-status=dead, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120619002216/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16772.htm , archive-date=19 June 2012 , 15,155,778
, 2000{{cite web , url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020331_15435.htm , script-title=zh:现将2000年第五次全国人口普查快速汇总的人口地区分布数据公布如下 , publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China , url-status=dead, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120829052024/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020331_15435.htm , archive-date=29 August 2012 , 18,459,511
, 2010{{cite web , url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/newsandcomingevents/t20110429_402722516.htm , title=Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census , publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China , url-status=dead, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130727021210/http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/newsandcomingevents/t20110429_402722516.htm , archive-date=27 July 2013 , 21,813,334
, 2020 , 25,852,345
The earliest Tarim mummies, dated to 1800 BC, are of a Caucasian race, Caucasoid physical type. East Asian migrants arrived in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3000 years ago and the Uyghur peoples appeared after the collapse of the Orkon Uyghur Kingdom, based in modern-day Mongolia, around 842 AD.
The Islamization of Xinjiang started around 1000 AD by eliminating
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. Xinjiang Muslim Turkic peoples contain Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kazaks,
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan
*Kyrgyz people
*Kyrgyz national games
*Kyrgyz language
*Kyrgyz culture
*Kyrgyz cuisine
*Yenisei Kirghiz
*The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China
...
, Tatars, Uzbeks; Muslim Iranian peoples comprise Tajiks, Tajiks of Xinjiang, Sarikolis/Wakhi people, Wakhis (often conflated as Tajiks); Muslim Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan peoples are such as the
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
. Other list of ethnic groups in China, ethnic groups in the region are Han Chinese, Hans, Mongols (
Oirats
Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.
Histor ...
, Daur people, Daurs, Dongxiangs),
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
, Sibe people, Xibes, Manchu people, Manchus. Around 70,000 Russians in China, Russian immigrants were living in Xinjiang in 1945.
The Han Chinese of Xinjiang arrived at different times from different directions and social backgrounds. There are now descendants of criminals and officials who had been exiled from China during the second half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries; descendants of families of military and civil officers from Hunan, Yunnan,
Gansu
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 Tibet ...
and
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
; descendants of merchants from Shanxi, Tianjin, Hubei and Hunan; and descendants of peasants who started immigrating into the region in 1776.{{sfnp, Bellér-Hann, 2008, pp=51–52
Some Uyghur scholars claim descent from both the Turkic Uyghurs and the pre-Turkic
Tocharians
The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
(or Tokharians, whose language was
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
); also, Uyghurs often have relatively-fair skin, hair and eyes and other
Caucasoid
The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid or Europid, Europoid) is an obsolete racial classification of human beings based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The ''Caucasian race'' was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, de ...
physical traits.
In 2002, there were 9,632,600 males (growth rate of 1.0%) and 9,419,300 females (growth rate of 2.2%). The population overall growth rate was 1.09%, with 1.63% of birth rate and 0.54% mortality rate.
The Qing began a migration to Xinjiang, process of settling Han, Hui, and Uyghur settlers into Northern Xinjiang (Dzungaria) in the 18th century. At the start of the 19th century, 40 years after the Qing reconquest, there were around 155,000 Han and Hui Chinese in northern Xinjiang and somewhat more than twice that number of Uyghurs in Southern Xinjiang.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , p=306 A census of Xinjiang under Qing rule in the early 19th century tabulated ethnic shares of the population as 30%
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
and 60% Turkic and it dramatically shifted to 6% Han and 75% Uyghur in the 1953 census. However, a situation similar to the Qing era's demographics with a large number of Han had been restored by 2000, with 40.57% Han and 45.21% Uyghur.{{cite journal , first=Stanley , last=Toops , url=http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/EWCWwp001.pdf , title=Demographics and Development in Xinjiang after 1949 , date=May 2004 , page=1 , issue=1 , periodical=East-West Center Washington Working Papers , publisher=East–West Center , access-date=14 November 2010 , url-status=live , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070716193518/http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/EWCWwp001.pdf , archive-date=16 July 2007 Professor Stanley W. Toops noted that today's demographic situation is similar to that of the early Qing period in Xinjiang.{{sfnp, Starr, 2004, 243 } Before 1831, only a few hundred Chinese merchants lived in Southern Xinjiang oases (Tarim Basin), and only a few Uyghurs lived in Northern Xinjiang (
Dzungaria
Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian language, Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang" ...
).{{sfnp, Millward, 2007, p=104 After 1831, the Qing encouraged Han Chinese migration into the Tarim Basin, in southern Xinjiang, but with very little success, and permanent troops were stationed on the land there as well.{{sfnp, Millward , 2007 , p=105 Political killings and expulsions of non-Uyghur populations during the uprisings in the 1860s{{sfnp, Millward, 2007, p=105 and the 1930s saw them experience a sharp decline as a percentage of the total population{{sfnp, Bellér-Hann, 2008, p=52 though they rose once again in the periods of stability from 1880, which saw Xinjiang increase its population from 1.2 million,{{sfnp, Mesny, 1896, p=272{{sfnp, Mesny , 1899, p=485 to 1949. From a low of 7% in 1953, the Han began to return to Xinjiang between then and 1964, where they comprised 33% of the population (54% Uyghur), like in Qing times. A decade later, at the beginning of the
Chinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of C ...
in 1978, the demographic balance was 46% Uyghur and 40% Han, which did not change drastically until the 2000 Census, when the Uyghur population had reduced to 42%.{{cite web , title=China: Human Rights Concerns in Xinjiang , url=https://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/china-bck1017.htm , date=October 2001 , work=Human Rights Watch Backgrounder , publisher=Human Rights Watch , access-date=4 December 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112153554/http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/china-bck1017.htm , archive-date=12 November 2008 , url-status=live In 2010, the population of Xinjiang was 45.84% Uyghur and 40.48% Han. The 2020 Census showed the Uyghur population decline slightly to 44.96%, and the Han population rise to 42.24%
Military personnel are not counted and ethnic minorities in China, national minorities are undercounted in the Chinese census, as in some other censuses.{{sfnp, Starr, 2004, 242 } While some of the shift has been attributed to an increased Han presence, Uyghurs have also emigrated to other parts of China, where their numbers have increased steadily. Uyghur independence activists express concern over the Han population changing the Uyghur character of the region though the Han and Hui Chinese mostly live in Northern Xinjiang
Dzungaria
Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian language, Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang" ...
and are separated from areas of historic Uyghur dominance south of the
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
mountains (Southwestern Xinjiang), where Uyghurs account for about 90% of the population.{{cite book, editor1=Department of Population, Social, Science and Technology Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of China (国家统计局人口和社会科技统计司), editor2=Department of Economic Development of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China (国家民族事务委员会经济发展司), trans-title=Tabulation on Nationalities of 2000 Population Census of China, language=zh-Hans-CN, script-title=zh:2000年人口普查中国民族人口资料, series=2 vols, location=Beijing, publisher=Nationalities PublishingHouse, year=2003, isbn=978-7-105-05425-1, oclc=54494505
In general, Uyghurs are the majority in Southwestern Xinjiang, including the prefectures of
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
, Hotan Prefecture, Khotan, Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, Kizilsu and Aksu Prefecture, Aksu (about 80% of Xinjiang's Uyghurs live in those four prefectures) as well as Turpan, Turpan Prefecture, in Eastern Xinjiang. The
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
are the majority in Eastern and Northern Xinjiang (Dzungaria), including the cities of Ürümqi, Karamay, Shihezi and the prefectures of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Changjyi, Börtala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Bortala, Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Bayin'gholin, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Ili (especially the cities of Kuytun, Kuitun) and Kumul.
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
are mostly concentrated in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Ili Prefecture in Northern Xinjiang. Kazakhs are the majority in the northernmost part of Xinjiang.
{, class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align:right;"
! colspan="5" style="text-align:center;" , Ethnic groups in Xinjiang
, -
! colspan="3" , {{smaller, {{nobold, {{lang, zh-Hans, 根据2015年底人口抽查统计
! colspan="2" , {{Smaller, 2018 government data
, -
! List of ethnic groups in China, Nationality !! Population !! Percentage
!Population
!Percentage
, -
, style="text-align:left;" , Uyghur, , 11,303,300 , , 46.42%
, 11,678,646
, 51.145%
, -
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
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, ...
in active service. P = Prefecture; AP = Autonomous prefecture; PLC = Prefecture-level city; DACLC = Directly administered county-level city.{{Cite web, date=2020-06-10, title=, script-title=zh:3–7 各地、州、市、县(市)分民族人口数, trans-title=3–7 Prefectural, Municipal, and County-level Population by Ethnicity, url=http://tjj.xinjiang.gov.cn/tjj/rkjyu/202006/3b1eef1049114b0c9cf9e81bf18433ef.shtml, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101062133/http://tjj.xinjiang.gov.cn/tjj/rkjyu/202006/3b1eef1049114b0c9cf9e81bf18433ef.shtml, archive-date=2020-11-01, access-date=2021-10-11, publisher=Statistic Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, language=zh
, -
! !! Uyghurs {{nobold, (%) !!
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
{{nobold, (%) !!
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu PrefectureThe official spelling according to is located in mid-Western Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and 2.37 million inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 535,657 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made up of A ...
{{Pie chart
, caption = Religion in Xinjiang (around 2010)
, label1 = Islam
, value1 = 58
, color1 = Green
, label2 =
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, value2 = 32
, color2 = Yellow
, label3 = Taoism
, value3 = 9
, color3 = Red
, label4 = Christianity
, value4 = 1
, color4 = DodgerBlue
The major religions in Xinjiang are Islam in China, Islam, among the Uyghurs and the Hui Chinese minority, while many of the Han Chinese practice Chinese folk religions, Confucianism, Taoism and
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. According to a demographic analysis of the year 2010, Muslims form 58% of the province's population.Min Junqing. ''The Present Situation and Characteristics of Contemporary Islam in China''. JISMOR, 8 2010 Islam by province, page 29 {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427140204/https://doors.doshisha.ac.jp/duar/repository/ir/18185/r002000080004.pdf , date=27 April 2017 . Data from Yang Zongde, ''Study on Current Muslim Population in China'', Jinan Muslim, 2, 2010. In 1950, there were 29,000 mosques and 54,000 imams in Xinjiang, which fell to 14,000 mosques and 29,000 imams by 1966. Following the Cultural Revolution, there were only about 1,400 remaining mosques. By the mid-1980's, the number of mosques had returned to 1950 levels.{{cite book, url=https://archive.org/details/humanrightsdevel0000seym, title=China Rights Annals 1 Human Rights Developments in the People's Republic of China from October 1983 through September 1984, author=James D. Seymour, publisher=M. E. Sharpe, date=1985, pag 90 isbn=9780873323208, via=
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
According to a 2020 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, since 2017, Chinese authorities have destroyed or damaged 16,000 mosques in Xinjiang – 65% of the region's total. Christianity in Xinjiang is the religion of 1% of the population according to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2009.{{cite thesis , degree=PhD , title=Explaining Christianity in China: Why a Foreign Religion has Taken Root in Unfertile Ground , url=https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/baylor-ir/bitstream/handle/2104/9326/WANG-THESIS-2015.pdf?sequence=1 , first=Xiuhua , last=Wang , year=2015 , page=15 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925123928/https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/baylor-ir/bitstream/handle/2104/9326/WANG-THESIS-2015.pdf?sequence=1 , archive-date=25 September 2015 , publisher=Baylor University
A majority of the Uyghur Muslims adhere to Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence or madhab. A minority of Shia Islam, Shias, almost exclusively of the Nizari Isma'ilism, Nizari Ismaili (Seveners) rites are located in the higher mountains of Tajik and
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
. In the western mountains (the Tajiks), almost the entire population of Tajiks (Tajiks of Xinjiang, Sarikolis and Wakhi people, Wakhis), are Nizari Isma'ilism, Nizari Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia. In the north, in the
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
, the
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
and
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan
*Kyrgyz people
*Kyrgyz national games
*Kyrgyz language
*Kyrgyz culture
*Kyrgyz cuisine
*Yenisei Kirghiz
*The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China
...
are Sunni.
Afaq Khoja Mausoleum and Id Kah Mosque in
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
are most important Islamic Xinjiang sites. Emin Minaret in
Turfan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
is a key Islamic site. Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves is a noticeable Buddhist site.
File:SerindianGroup.jpg, "Heroic Gesture of Bodhisattvathe Bodhisattva", example of 6th-7th-century terracotta Greco-Buddhist art (local populations were Buddhist) from Tumxuk, Xinjiang
File:BezeklikSogdianMerchants.jpg, Sogdian people, Sogdian donors to the Buddha, 8th century fresco (with detail), Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin
File:Ulumuqi3.jpg, A mosque in Ürümqi
File:People sporting in snow by a statue of goddess Guanyin in Wujiaqu, Xinjiang.jpg, People engaging in snow sports by a statue of bodhisattva Guanyin in Wujiaqu
File:Christian Church Hami, Xinjiang - 2011 - panoramio.jpg, Christian Church in Hami
File:Catholic Church in Urumqi2.jpg, Catholic Church in Urumqi
File:Buddhist temple in Midong, Urumqi, Xinjiang (2).jpg, Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong District, Midong, Ürümqi
File:Fushou (Fortune and Longevity) Taoist Temple at Tianchi (Heavenly Lake) in Fukang, Changji, Xinjiang.jpg, Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture
File:Emin Minaret (40010270790).jpg, Emin Minaret
File:Kashgar-mezquita-id-kah-d01.jpg, Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China
{{clear
Sports
Xinjiang is home to the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers professional basketball team of the Chinese Basketball Association, and to Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard F.C., a football team that plays in China League One.
The capital, Ürümqi, is home to the Xinjiang University baseball team, an integrated Uyghur and Han group profiled in the documentary film ''Diamond in the Dunes''.
Transportation
Roads
In 2008, according to the Xinjiang Transportation Network Plan, the government has focused construction on State Road 314, Alar-Hotan Desert Highway, State Road 218, Qingshui River Line-Yining Highway and State Road 217, as well as other roads.
The construction of the first expressway in the mountainous area of Xinjiang began a new stage in its construction on 24 July 2007. The {{convert, 56, km, abbr=on highway linking Sayram Lake and Guozi Valley in Northern Xinjiang area had cost 2.39 billion yuan. The expressway is designed to improve the speed of national highway 312 in northern Xinjiang. The project started in August 2006 and several stages have been fully operational since March 2007. Over 3,000 construction workers have been involved. The 700 m-long Guozi Valley Cable Bridge over the expressway is now currently being constructed, with the 24 main pile foundations already completed. Highway 312 national highway Xinjiang section, connects Xinjiang with China's east coast, Central Asia, Central and West Asia, plus some parts of Europe. It is a key factor in Xinjiang's economic development. The population it covers is around 40% of the overall in Xinjiang, who contribute half of the GDP in the area.
The Zulfiya Abdiqadir, head of the Transport Department was quoted as saying that 24,800,000,000 Renminbi, RMB had been invested into Xinjiang's road network in 2010 alone and, by this time, the roads covered approximately {{convert, 152000, km, abbr=on.{{cite web , date=3 March 2011 , editor=Su Qingxia ({{lang, zh-hans, 苏清霞) , title=祖丽菲娅·阿不都卡德尔代表:见证新疆交通事业的日益腾飞 , trans-title=Representative Zulfiya Abdiqadir: evidence that Xinjiang's transport projects are developing more with each passing day , url=http://news.ts.cn/content/2011-03/03/content_5636418.htm , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224215419/http://news.ts.cn/content/2011-03/03/content_5636418.htm# , archive-date=24 February 2017 , access-date=24 February 2017 , website=Tianshannet , language=zh-hans
Rail
{{multiple image
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, footer_align = left/right/center
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, image2 = Kashgar station, Kashgar-city, Xinjiang, China.jpg
, width2 = 213
, caption2 = Kashgar railway station
, image3 = Lanxin Railway Train 01.jpg
, width3 = 266
, caption3 = Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway
, image4 = 徳文托盖橋.jpg
, width4 = 200
, caption4 = Southern Xinjiang Railway
Xinjiang's rail hub is Ürümqi. To the east, Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway, a conventional and Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed railway, a high-speed rail line runs through
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
and Hami to Lanzhou in Gansu, Gansu Province. A Ejin–Hami railway, third outlet to the east connects Hami and Inner Mongolia.
To the west, the Northern Xinjiang Railway, Northern Xinjiang runs along the northern footslopes of the Tian Shan range through Changji, Shihezi, Kuytun and Jinghe County, Jinghe to the Kazakhstan, Kazakh border at Alashankou, where it links up with the Turkestan–Siberia Railway. Together, the Northern Xinjiang and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang lines form part of the Eurasian Land Bridge, Trans-Eurasian Continental Railway, which extends from Rotterdam, on the North Sea, to Lianyungang, on the East China Sea. The Second Ürümqi-Jinghe Railway provides additional rail transport capacity to Jinghe, from which the Jinghe-Yining-Horgos Railway heads into the
Ili River
The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
Valley to Yining (city), Yining, Huocheng and Khorgos, a second rail border crossing with Kazakhstan. The Kuytun-Beitun Railway runs from Kuytun north into the Junggar Basin to Karamay and Beitun, near Altay City, Altay.
In the south, the Southern Xinjiang Railway, Southern Xinjiang Line from Turpan runs southwest along the southern footslopes of the
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
into the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
, with stops at Karasahr, Yanqi, Korla, Kuqa, Xinjiang, Kuqa, Aksu City, Aksu, Maralbexi County, Maralbexi (Bachu), Artux and
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
. From Kashgar, the Kashgar–Hotan railway, follows the southern rim of the Tarim to Hotan, with stops at Shule County, Shule, Akto, Yengisar, Shache, Shache (Yarkant), Kargilik Town, Yecheng (Karghilik), Moyu County, Moyu (Karakax).
The Ürümqi-Dzungaria Railway connects Ürümqi with coal fields in the eastern Junggar Basin. The Hami–Lop Nur Railway connects Hami with potash, potassium salt mines in and around Lop Nur. The Golmud-Korla Railway, opened in 2020, provides an outlet to
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
. Planning is underway on additional intercity railways.{{Cite web, last=, first=, date=, title=新疆将重点规划城际铁路 4小时经济圈已形成, trans-title=Xinjiang will focus on planning the formation of a four-hour economic circle for intercity railways, url=http://news.hebei.cm/newsshow-54187.html, access-date=2021-02-09, website=news.hebei.cm, language=zh Railways Khunjerab Railway, to Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have been proposed.{{citation needed, date=November 2020
See also
{{Portal, China
* East Turkestan
* Administrative divisions of China
Notes
{{Reflist, group=n
References
Citations
{{Reflist
Sources
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* {{cite book , title=Mongolian Music, Dance, & Oral Narrative: Performing Diverse Identities , volume=1 , first=Carole , last=Pegg , year=2001 , publisher=University of Washington Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxEGTwiCvd8C , isbn=978-0-295-98030-0
* {{cite book , title=China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia , first=Peter C. , last=Perdue , edition=reprint , year=2009 , publisher=Harvard University Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4L-_cjmSqoC , isbn=978-0-6740-4202-5
* {{citation , jstor=312949 , journal=Modern Asian Studies , title=Military Mobilization in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century China, Russia, and Mongolia , last=Perdue , first=Peter C. , volume=30 , number=4 Special Issue: War in Modern China , date=October 1996 , pages=757–793 , doi=10.1017/s0026749x00016796 , s2cid=146587527 , url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/ee50c2be23ad12669b9cae8c49a995925f12c859
* {{cite book , title=State Capitalism, Contentious Politics and Large-Scale Social Change , editor-first=Vincent , editor-last=Pollard , volume=29 , series=Studies in Critical Social Sciences , year=2011 , publisher=BRILL , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5p_rjMLgj_8C , isbn=978-90-04-19445-8
* {{cite book , title=Historical Dictionary of Tibet , first1=John , last1=Powers , first2=David , last2=Templemanb , year=2012 , publisher=Scarecrow Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LVlyX6iSDEQC , isbn=978-0-8108-7984-3
* {{cite book, title=The modern approach to history, first=Buddha, last=Prakash, year=1963, publisher=University Publishers, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-1HAAAAMAAJb
* {{cite book , title=March of Central Asia , first=Ram , last=Rahul , year=2000 , publisher=Indus Publishing , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tI77bC989PoC , isbn=978-81-7387-109-2
* {{cite book , title=The ETIM: China's Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat , first1=J. Todd , last1=Reed , first2=Diana , last2=Raschke , year=2010 , publisher=ABC-CLIO , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5I2b_hrJO8sC , isbn=978-0-313-36540-9
* {{cite book , title=A History of China , first=John A.G. , last=Roberts , edition=revised , year=2011 , publisher=Palgrave Macmillan , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZNiAQAAQBAJ , isbn=978-0-230-34411-2
* {{cite book , title=Bones in the Sand: The Struggle to Create Uighur Nationalist Ideologies in Xinjiang, China , first1=Justin Jon , last1=Rudelson , first2=Justin Ben-Adam , last2=Rudelson , edition=reprint , year=1992 , publisher=Harvard University , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=905wAAAAMAAJ
* {{cite book , title = Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism Along China's Silk Road , first = Justin Jon , last = Rudelson , year = 1997 , publisher = Columbia University Press , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MT2D_0_eBPQC , isbn = 978-0-231-10786-0 {{ISBN, 0-231-10787-0 (pbk.).
* {{cite news , last= Ryan , first= William L. , date= 2 January 1969 , title= Russians Back Revolution in Province Inside China , url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19690102&id=ylsgAAAAIBAJ&pg=4665,144363 , newspaper= The Lewiston Daily Sun , page= 3
* {{cite book , title=Historical Dictionary of Mongolia , volume=74 , series=Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East , first=Alan J. K. , last=Sanders , edition=3rd, illustrated , year=2010 , publisher=Scarecrow Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JN83EDDLl4C , isbn=978-0-8108-7452-7
* {{cite book , title=Encyclopedia of genocide and crimes against humanity , volume=3 , first=Dinah C. , last=Shelton , editor-first=Dinah , editor-last=Shelton , year=2005 , publisher=Macmillan Reference , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-8YAAAAIAAJ , isbn=978-0-02-865850-6
* {{cite book , title = Aspects of Altaic Civilization III: Proceedings of the Thirtieth Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, June 19-25, 1987 , volume=3 , series=Aspects of Altaic civilization , editor-first = Denis , editor-last = Sinor
* {{cite book , title=Aspects of Altaic Civilization III: Proceedings of the Thirtieth Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, June 19–25, 1987 , editor-first=Denis , editor-last=Sinor , year=1990 , publisher=Psychology Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWbAbwxMZXEC , isbn=978-0-7007-0380-7
* {{cite book , title = Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland , editor-first = S. Frederick , editor-last = Starr , year = 2004 , publisher = M.E. Sharpe , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GXj4a3gss8wC , isbn = 978-0-7656-1318-9
* {{cite book , title=New Ghosts, Old Ghosts: Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China , series=Socialism and Social Movements Series , first1=James D. , last1=Seymour , first2=Richard , last2=Anderson , year=1999 , publisher=M.E. Sharpe , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHwkn9pnjSwC , isbn=978-0-7656-0510-8
* {{cite book , title=The Horse that Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road, and the Rise of Modern China , first=Eric , last=Tamm , year=2013 , publisher=Counterpoint , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbpG8QEguXEC , isbn=978-1-58243-876-4
* {{cite book , title=War Finance and Logistics in Late Imperial China: A Study of the Second Jinchuan Campaign (1771–1776) , first=Ulrich , last=Theobald , year=2013 , publisher=BRILL , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUodAAAAQBAJ , isbn=978-90-04-25567-8
* {{cite news , last=Tinibai , first=Kenjali , date=28 May 2010 , title=China and Kazakhstan: A Two-Way Street , url=http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2010/gb20100528_168520.htm , newspaper=Bloomberg Businessweek , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705185320/http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2010/gb20100528_168520.htm , archive-date=5 July 2015
* {{cite news , last=Tinibai , first=Kenjali , date=27 May 2010 , title=Kazakhstan and China: A Two-Way Street , url=http://www.tol.org/client/article/21490-kazakhstan-and-china-a-two-way-street.html , newspaper=Transitions Online , url-access=subscription
* {{cite book , title=Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang , first=Christian , last=Tyler , year=2004 , publisher=Rutgers University Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEzNwgtiVQ0C , isbn=978-0-8135-3533-3
* {{cite book , title=Eurasian Corridors of Interconnection: From the South China to the Caspian Sea , editor1-first=Susan M. , editor1-last=Walcott , editor2-first=Corey , editor2-last=Johnson , year=2013 , publisher=Routledge , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkAVAgAAQBAJ , isbn=978-1-135-07875-1
* {{cite book , title=China and the New International Order , editor1-first=Gungwu , editor1-last=Wang , editor2-first=Yongnian , editor2-last=Zheng , year=2008 , publisher=Taylor & Francis , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXXnd81uoMoC , isbn=978-0-203-93226-1
* {{cite book, title=China's War on Terrorism: Counter-Insurgency, Politics and Internal Security, first=Martin I., last=Wayne, year=2007, publisher=Routledge, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ybmWJXjxUYC, isbn=978-1-134-10623-3
* {{cite book , title=China's Post-Jiang Leadership Succession: Problems and Perspectivesb , editor1-first=John , editor1-last=Wong , editor2-first=Yongnian , editor2-last=Zheng , year=2002 , publisher=World Scientific , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cEdQ1IuJFH4C , isbn=978-981-270-650-8
* {{cite book , title=Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 , first=Odd Arne , last=Westad , year=2012 , publisher=Basic Books , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uL8NoXZtyxMCb , isbn=978-0-465-02936-5
* {{cite book , title=China's Post-Jiang Leadership Succession: Problems and Perspectives , editor1-first=John , editor1-last=Wong , editor2-first=Yongnian , editor2-last=Zheng , year=2002 , publisher=World Scientific , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cEdQ1IuJFH4C , isbn=978-981-270-650-8
* {{cite journal , jstor = 20062627 , doi = 10.1177/0097700405282349 , title=Reinventing China Imperial Qing Ideology and the Rise of Modern Chinese National Identity in the Early Twentieth Century , journal= Modern China , last = Zhao , first=Gang , volume= 32 , pages = 3–30 , number=1 , year = 2006 , s2cid = 144587815
* {{cite book , title=Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia , first=Andrei , last=Znamenski , edition=illustrated , year=2011 , publisher=Quest Books , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J6T2uz1KSoC , isbn=978-0-8356-0891-6
{{refend
Further reading
{{Library resources box
* {{cite journal, last=Côté, first=Isabelle, title=Political mobilization of a regional minority: Han Chinese settlers in Xinjiang, journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies, date=2011, volume=34, issue=11, pages=1855–1873, doi= 10.1080/01419870.2010.543692, s2cid=144071415
* {{cite web , last=Croner, first=Don, year=2009, url= http://dambijantsan.doncroner.com/JaLama-Chapter1.pdf, title=False Lama – The Life and Death of Dambijantsan, website=dambijantsan.doncroner.com, location=Ulaan Baatar, publisher=Don Croner, url-status=dead, archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903091310/http://dambijantsan.doncroner.com/JaLama-Chapter1.pdf, archive-date=3 September 2014
* {{cite web , last1=Croner, first1=Don, year=2010, url= http://dambijantsan.doncroner.com/JaLama.1-5.pdf, title=Ja Lama – The Life and Death of Dambijantsan, website=dambijantsan.doncroner.com, location=Ulaan Baatar, publisher=Don Croner , url-status=dead, archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903091401/http://dambijantsan.doncroner.com/JaLama.1-5.pdf, archive-date=3 September 2014
* Hierman, Brent. "The Pacification of Xinjiang: Uighur Protest and the Chinese State, 1988–2002." Problems of Post-Communism, May/June 2007, Vol. 54 Issue 3, pp. 48–62.
* {{cite book , last=Kim, first=Hodong, title=Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864–1877, year=2004, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AtduqAtBzegC, publisher=Stanford University Press, isbn= 978-0-8047-6723-1
* {{cite book , last=Kim, first=Kwangmin, title=Saintly Brokers: Uyghur Muslims, Trade, and the Making of Qing Central Asia, 1696–1814, year=2008, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AywctwAACAAJ, publisher= University of California, isbn= 978-1-109-10126-3
* {{cite book , title=Peacemaking: From Practice to Theory, editor1-first=Susan Allen, editor1-last=Nan, editor2-first=Zachariah Cherian, editor2-last=Mampilly, editor3-first=Andrea, editor3-last=Bartoli, year=2011, publisher=ABC-CLIO, isbn=978-0-313-37576-7, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx0p4RCdD4wC, oclc=715288234 {{ISBN, 978-0-3133-7576-7 (set); {{ISBN, 978-0-3133-7578-1 (v. 1); {{ISBN, 978-0-3133-7580-4 (v. 2); {{ISBN, 978-0-3133-7577-4 (ebk.).
* Norins, Martin R. iarchive:gatewaytoasiasin00nori/, Gateway to Asia : Sinkiang, Frontier of the Chinese Far West (1944)
* Yap, Joseph P. (2009). ''Wars With The Xiongnu – A translation From Zizhi Tongjian''. AuthorHouse. {{ISBN, 978-1-4490-0604-4
* {{Cite magazine, last=Yellinek, first=Roie, url= https://jamestown.org/program/islamic-countries-engage-with-china-against-the-background-of-repression-in-xinjiang/, title=Islamic Countries Engage with China Against the Background of Repression in Xinjiang, magazine=China Brief, volume=19, issue=5, publisher=Jamestown Foundation, date=5 March 2019, access-date=2020-05-08
* {{cite conference, title=Asiatische Forschungen, Volumes 73–75, conference=Universität Bonn. Ostasiatische Seminar, year=1982, publisher=O. Harrassowitz, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qbILAAAAIAAJ, isbn=978-3-447-02237-8, lang=de
* {{cite book , title= Bulletin de la Section de géographie , volume=10 , others=Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques. Section de géographie , language=fr , year=1895 , location=Paris , publisher=IMPRIMERIE NATIONALE , url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6MysOTiETbsC
* {{cite book , title=Ethnological Information on China: A Collection; Articles from Various Issues of Sovetskai͡a Ėtnografii͡a (Moscow), year=1969, publisher=CCM Information Corporation, url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2RA5AAAAIAAJ
* {{cite book , title=Inner Asia, Volume 4, Issues 1–2, year=2002, publisher=The White Horse Press for the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge , isbn= 978-0-8047-2933-8 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1RuAAAAMAAJ
* {{cite news, agency=UPI, date=22 September 1981, title=Radio war aims at China Moslems, url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19810922&id=3oAxAAAAIBAJ&pg=5348,448513, newspaper=The Montreal Gazette, page=11, via=Google News
External links
* {{Commons category-inline
* {{Wiktionary-inline, Xinjiang, Sinkiang, Hsin-chiang, Chinese Turkestan, East Turkestan, East Turkistan
* {{Wikivoyage-inline
* {{Britannica, Xinjiang
{{-
{{Geographic location
, Northwest = East Kazakhstan Province, East Kazakhstan and Almaty Provinces, {{flag, Kazakhstan
, North = {{flag, Altai Republic, {{flag, Russia
, Northeast = {{flag, Bayan-Ölgii, {{flag, Khovd and {{flag, Govi-Altai Provinces, {{flag, Mongolia
, West = {{flagicon image, Issyk kul obl flag.svg Issyk Kul Region, Issyk Kul, {{flagicon image, Naryn obl flag.svg
Naryn
Naryn ( ky, Нарын, translit=Naryn, Mongolian : Нарийн, Nariin, Traditional Mongolian ᠨᠠᠷᠢᠨ) is the regional administrative center of Naryn Region in central Kyrgyzstan. Its area is , and its estimated population was 41,17 ...
and {{flagicon image, Flag of Osh.svg
Osh Region
Osh Region ( ky, Ош облусу, translit=Osh oblusu; russian: Ошская область, Oshskaya oblast) is a region (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Osh, which is not part of the region. It is bounded by (clockwise) Jalal-Abad Re ...
s, {{flag, Kyrgyzstan Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, {{flag, Tajikistan
Badakhshan Province
Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower ...
, {{flag, Afghanistan
, Centre = Xinjiang
, East =
Gansu
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 Tibet ...
, Southwest = {{flag, Gilgit-Baltistan, {{flag, Pakistan {{flag, Jammu and Kashmir, {{flag, India Aksai Chin, Disputed region of Aksai Chin
, South =
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
, Southeast =
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
{{Xinjiang topics
{{Xinjiang
{{Province-level divisions of the People's Republic of China
{{Inner Asia
{{Authority control
Xinjiang,
Autonomous regions of China
Western China
East Asia
Inner Asia
States and territories established in 1955
1955 establishments in China
Iranian languages regions
Articles containing video clips
Historical regions