Where is xinjiang

The population of minority nationalities increased from 4. The annual increase rate was 2. Provincial capital Geography Xinjiang is situated in the northeastern border area of China.

In China, it adjoins Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and other provinces. Xinjiang is far from the sea on all sides and has a typical continental climate. Natural resources Xinjiang is sparsely populated but is rich in resources. It is a region with the largest land area of all the provinces and autonomous regions in China.

It possesses Its total area of grassland ranks second in China. There are over big and small rivers. In the middle of the 10th century, the Islamic Karahan Kingdom waged a religious war against the Buddhist kingdom of Yutian, which lasted for more than 40 years. It conquered Yutian in the early 11th century, and introduced Islam to Hotan. In the middle of the 14th century, under the coercion of the Qagatay Khanate a vassal state created by Qagatay, the second son of Genghis Khan, in the Western Regions , Islam gradually became the main religion for the Mongolian, Uygur, Kazak, Kirgiz and Tajik peoples in that region.

In the early 16th century, Islam finally became the main religion in Xinjiang, replacing Buddhism. After that, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Nestorianism, the main religions of the Uygur and other ethnic groups, gradually went out of the picture in Xinjiang, but Buddhism and Taoism continued to make themselves felt there.

In the late 17th century, Apakhoja, chief of the Aktaglik Sect of Islam, wiped out the forces of his political foe Hoja of the Karataglik Sect, by dint of Tibetan Buddhist forces, and destroyed the Yarkant Khanate a regional regime established by Qagatay's descendants between and , with modern Shache as its center. This shows how powerful Tibetan Buddhism was at that time.

Around the 18th century, Protestantism and Catholicism spread to Xinjiang, at a time when Buddhism, Taoism and Shamanism were flourishing in the region, and temples and churches of these religious faiths could be found everywhere in Xinjiang. Some Moslems even changed their faith to Christianity or other religions.

Historically, the dominance of a particular religion has kept changing from time to time in Xinjiang, but the coexistence of multiple religions following the introduction of outside religious faiths has never changed. Shamanism still has considerable influence among some ethnic groups. The close ties between Xinjiang and the Central Plains have existed for a long time.

The title "envoy commander" was later changed to "envoy for protecting the region west of Shanshan Qarqan. In 60 B. At about the same time, an internal disturbance occurred among the Xiongnu ruling clique, and Xian Shan, Prince Rizhu of the Xiongnu stationed in the Western Regions, led a cavalry of several ten thousand strong to pledge allegiance to the Han imperial court.

The local chieftains and principal officials in all parts of the Western Regions all accepted official seals from the Western Han court. The establishment of the Western Regions Frontier Command indicated that the Western Han had begun to exercise state sovereignty over the Western Regions, and that Xinjiang had become a component part of the unitary multi-ethnic Chinese nation. The government of the Eastern Han Dynasty appointed first a Frontier Commander, and then a Governor, of the Western Regions to continue to exercise military and political administration over all parts of the western territory both north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

In , the kingdom of Wei of the Three Kingdoms Period , the other two kingdoms being Shu and Wu inherited the Han practice, stationing a garrison commander at Gaochang Turpan to rule the Western Regions. Later, it also appointed a governor to administer affairs concerning the ethnic groups in the Western Regions. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the central government strengthened its rule over Xinjiang. In the last years of the sixth century, the Sui Dynasty unified the Central Plains.

When Emperor Yangdi r. In the early seventh century, the Tang Dynasty replaced the Sui. In , Yiwu, together with the seven cities under its jurisdiction, changed its allegiance from the Western Turks to the Tang Dynasty, which established Western Yizhou Prefecture later Yizhou Prefecture. In , Tang troops crushed a rebellion staged by the Qu ruling house of the Gaochang Kingdom in collusion with the Turks, and established a Xizhou Prefecture in Gaochang and a Tingzhou Bexibalik Prefecture in Kaganbu modern Jimsar.

This was the first high-ranking military and administrative organ established by the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions. After defeating the Western Turks, the Tang Dynasty unified all parts of the Western Regions, and in established the Beiting Frontier Command in Tingzhou later upgraded to Grand Beiting Frontier Command to take charge of military and administrative affairs in the north of the Tianshan Mountains and the east of Xinjiang, while the Grand Anxi Frontier Command supervised military and administrative affairs in the vast areas south of the Tianshan Mountains and west of the Congling Mountain Range.

Emperor Xuanzong r. Qixi was one of the eight major military governorships at that time in the country. The Tang central government instituted a system of separate administrations for the Han and the people of the other ethnic groups in the Western Regions.

That is, it adopted the same administrative system of prefecture, sub-prefecture, county, township and li neighborhood or village as in the inland areas in Yizhou, Xizhou and Tingzhou, where most Han were concentrated.

In addition, the equal-field system the farmland system of the Tang Dynasty and taxation system of payment in kind and labor were adopted, as well as the system of prefectural military commands.

In the areas inhabited by other ethnic groups, the Tang rulers governed through the traditional chiefs and headmen, who were granted civil and military titles but allowed to manage local affairs according to their own customs. At the same time, the central government stationed garrisons in Qiuci, Yutian, Shule and Suiye or Suyab, formerly Yanqi , which were known as the "four garrison commands of Anxi.

Internal strife in the Central Plains during the Five Dynasties period, and the Song, Liao and Jin dynasties distracted the attention of rulers of the Central Plains from the Western Regions, resulting in several local regimes existing side by side in the Western Regions. The local governments of Gaochang, Karahan and Yutian exercised a great degree of autonomy, but they all maintained close ties with the ruling dynasties in the Central Plains.

The Gaochang and Karahan were local regimes established by the Uighurs, who had moved west to the Western Regions together with other Turki-speaking tribes after the Mobei Uighur Khanate collapsed in The Uighur local regimes had very close relations with the ruling dynasties in the Central Plains. In , after occupying Yutian, Karahan sent envoys with tribute to the emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty Yutian was the habitat of the Sai people.

In recognition of its maintaining close ties with the Central Plains, the Tang Dynasty conferred an official title on the ruling clan of Yutian, which then changed its surname from Yuchi to Li, the surname of the Tang ruling house. The founder of the Yuan Dynasty, Genghis Khan, completed the political unification of the regions north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

He first set up military and administrative organs like "Dargaq" a Mongolian official title, meaning "garrison officer" and "Bexibalik Secretariat" to take charge of the military and administrative affairs of the Western Regions. After the Yuan Dynasty was proclaimed, while giving attention to socio-economic development in the Western Regions, it appointed a judicial commissioner in the Turpan region. Later, a treasury and printing house for banknotes were established there, together with a Bexibalik Command to administer the Turpan area, which was garrisoned by soldiers of the vanquished Southern Song Dynasty army, who were also there to open up wasteland.

At the same time, the Yuan court sent soldiers to Hotan and Qiemo for garrison and reclamation duties, set up a foundry in Bexibalik to make farm tools, and instituted a land tax system in the Uighur areas. In , the Ming Dynasty set up a Hami Garrison Command, and appointed the heads of the leading families in Hami as officials to manage local military and administrative affairs, so as to keep the trade routes to the West open and bring the other areas of the Western Regions under its control.

The Qing government consolidated unified jurisdiction over the Western Regions. In , the Qing imperial court crushed the long-standing Junggar separatist regime in the Northwest. Two years later, it quelled a rebellion launched by the Islamic Aktaglik Sect leaders Burhanidin and Hojajahan, thus consolidating its military and administrative jurisdiction over all parts of the Western Regions.

The post of Ili General was established in to exercise unified military and administrative jurisdiction over the regions both south and north of the Tianshan Mountains, with the headquarters in Huiyuan in modern Huocheng County and staffed with officials like supervisors, consultants, superintendents and commissioners.

In accordance with the principle of "doing what is appropriate in the light of local conditions" and "exercising administration according to local customs," the Qing government adopted the system of prefectures and counties in the region north of the Tianshan Mountains inhabited by people of the Han and Hui ethnic groups, and maintained the local "Baeg system" a Turki term for local officials for the Uygurs in the Ili region and the region south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Even in the latter region, however, the central government reserved the power to make official appointments and removals with the strict separation of religion from politics. It adopted the system of "Jasak" a Mongolian term for governor by conferring the hereditary titles of princes and dukes on Mongolians and the Uygurs in the Hami and Turpan regions.

It also recruited officials from other ethnic groups besides the Manchus. In economic affairs, the Qing promoted the simultaneous development of farming and livestock breeding, with the emphasis on farming.

It also reduced taxes and fixed quotas for financial subsidies. Xinjiang witnessed steady social and economic development under the Qing Dynasty. Following the Opium War of , Xinjiang was subject to aggression from Tsarist Russia and other powers.

In , Zuo Zongtang, governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, was appointed imperial commissioner to supervise the affairs of Xinjiang. By the end of , Qing troops had recovered the areas north and south of the Tianshan Mountains which had been occupied by Yakubbae of Central Asia's Kokand Khanate Fergana. In February , the Qing government recovered Ili, which had been forcibly occupied by Tsarist Russia for 11 years.

In , it formally established a province in the Western Regions and renamed the area as Xinjiang meaning "old territory returned to the motherland". The establishment of Xinjiang as a province was a significant reform, on the part of the Qing government, of the administration of Xinjiang by the previous dynasties. From then on, the provincial governor oversaw all military and administrative affairs in Xinjiang, and the military and administrative center of Xinjiang was moved from Ili to Dihua modern Urumqi.

By , under the jurisdiction of Xinjiang Province were 4 dao circuit , under which were 6 prefectures, 10 ting sub-circuits , 3 sub-prefectures and 21 counties or sub-counties. The administrative organization in Xinjiang was exactly the same as in the inland areas. In the year following the Revolution of , insurrectionary revolutionaries in Xinjiang set up the New Ili Grand Military Government, marking the end of the political rule of the Qing Dynasty in the Ili region.

After the Republic of China was founded, it constantly strengthened the defense of Xinjiang. Xinjiang was peacefully liberated on September 25, The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang greeted the founding of the People's Republic of China together with the rest of the Chinese people on October 1, The jurisdiction of the central governments over the Xinjiang region was at times strong and at other times weak, depending on the stability of the period.

The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang actively safeguarded their relations with the central governments, thus making their own contributions to the formation and consolidation of the great family of the Chinese nation. The term "Turkistan" appeared in Arabic geographical works in the Middle Ages. It meant "the region of the Turks" and referred to the areas north of the Sir River in Central Asia and the adjoining areas to the east of the river.

With the evolution of history, the modern ethnic groups in Central Asia were established one after another. By the 18th century, the geographical concept of "Turkistan" was already very vague, and almost nobody used it again in the historical records of the time. In the early 19th century, with the growing colonial expansion of the imperialist powers into Central Asia, the geographical term "Turkistan" was revived.

In , Timkovsky, a Russian, used the term "Turkistan" again in a diplomatic mission's report to describe the geographical position of Central Asia and the Tarim Basin in China's southern Xinjiang. In view of the different histories, languages, customs and political affiliations of the two areas, he called the Tarim Basin in China's Xinjiang situated to the east of "Turkistan" as "East Turkistan" or "Chinese Turkistan.

In the early 20th century and later, a small number of separatists and religious extremists in Xinjiang, influenced by the international trend of religious extremism and national chauvinism, politicized the unstandardized geographical term "East Turkistan," and fabricated an "ideological and theoretical system" on the so-called "independence of East Turkistan" on the basis of the allegation cooked up by the old colonialists.

They claimed that "East Turkistan" had been an independent state since ancient times, its people with its history of almost 10, years being "the finest nation in human history.

They denied the history of the great motherland jointly built by all the ethnic groups of China. They clamored for "opposition to all ethnic groups other than Turks" and for the "annihilation of pagans," asserting that China had been "the enemy of the 'East Turkistan' nation for 3, years.

From the early 20th century to the late s, the "East Turkistan" forces created many disturbances with the connivance and support of hostile foreign forces. In November , Sabit Damolla and others founded the so-called "East Turkistan Islamic Republic" in Kashi, but it collapsed in less than three months thanks to the opposition of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. In , the "Revolution of the Three Regions," which was part of Chinese people's democratic revolutionary movement, broke out against the Kuomintang rule the three regions referred to Ili, Tacheng and Altay , but separatist Elihan Torae an Uzbek from the former Soviet Union usurped the leadership of the revolution in its early days, and founded the so-called "Republic of East Turkistan" in Yining, with himself as its "chairman.

Since the peaceful liberation of Xinjiang, the "East Turkistan" forces have never resigned themselves to their defeat. The tiny group of separatists who had fled abroad from Xinjiang collaborated with those at home, and looked for opportunities to carry out splittist and sabotage activities with the support of international anti-China forces. Especially in the s, influenced by religious extremism, separatism and international terrorism, part of the "East Turkistan" forces both inside and outside China turned to splittist and sabotage activities with terrorist violence as their chief means.

Some "East Turkistan" organizations openly stated that they would use terrorist and violent means to achieve their purpose of separation. The "East Turkistan" forces in China's Xinjiang and relevant countries plotted and organized a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence, including explosions, assassinations, arsons, poisonings and assaults, seriously jeopardizing the lives, property and security of the Chinese people of various ethnic groups, and social stability in Xinjiang, and posing a threat to the security and stability of the countries and regions concerned.

After the September 11 incident, the voices calling for an international anti-terrorist struggle and cooperation have become louder and louder. In order to get out of their predicament, the "East Turkistan" forces once again have raised the banner of "human rights," "freedom of religion" and "interests of ethnic minorities," and fabricated claims that "the Chinese government is using every opportunity to oppress ethnic minorities," to mislead the public and deceive world opinion in order to escape blows dealt by the international struggle against terrorism.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the economy of Xinjiang was a natural economy, with farming and livestock breeding as the mainstay. Industry was underdeveloped, and there were no railways or up-to-the-mark factories or mines. Famines were frequent in some areas, and the people were impoverished.

On October 1, , the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established, opening a new page for historic development in Xinjiang. In the past half century, Xinjiang's economy and social undertakings have advanced by leaps and bounds.

Fast growth of the economy. The GDP of Xinjiang was Taking price rises into account, this was The per-capita GDP rose from yuan in to 7, yuan in The autonomous region's revenues amounted to Xinjiang's industrial structure has been constantly adjusted and optimized.

Primary, secondary and tertiary industries accounted for Compared with , the proportion of primary industry dropped by 35 percentage points, that of secondary industry rose by The overall production capacity of agriculture has risen notably.

After plus years of development and construction, and especially since the reform and opening policies were introduced, a complete farmland irrigation network in Xinjiang has been preliminarily formed, and the level of modern farm equipment has risen. By , the total power output of farm machinery came to 8,, kw, the net quantity of chemical fertilizers used for farming was , tons, and rural power consumption totaled 2.

Meanwhile, the total sown area was 3,, ha, double the figure. The total output of food grains, cotton and sugar beet was 7. Turpan grapes, Korla pears and Hami melons, which have long been famous Xinjiang products, sell well on both foreign and domestic markets.

Specialty horticulture and crop planting have leapfrogged in the past few years. Livestock breeding is being promoted with the use of the latest findings in agricultural science and technology.

At the end of , the region had In addition, Xinjiang has become the largest producer of commodity cotton, hops and tomato sauce, and one of the major livestock breeding and beet-sugar producing centers in China. Industrial strength rising rapidly. There were only industrial enterprises in Xinjiang, with an annual output value of 98 million yuan, when New China was founded.

In , there were 6, industrial enterprises at and above the township level, with an added value of 45 billion yuan, and the output of major industrial products has all increased by large margins. In , Xinjiang produced It also produced , tons of refined sugar, 1. The region's industrial strength has greatly increased and the technological level has notably risen.

A modern industrial system of considerable size complete with all necessary departments has taken shape, with the intensive processing of farm and sideline products as its leading industrial sector, backed up by the oil, petrochemicals, steel, coal, electric power, textile, building materials, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing and light industries.

Notable achievements made in water conservancy. On the basis of "oasis ecology and irrigated farmland," Xinjiang has carried out large-scale farm water conservancy construction.

The multi-purpose project to harness the Tarim River has, on four occasions, diverted 1. A number of modern, large-scale water conservancy projects represented by Kizil Reservoir and the Ulug Ata key water control project in Hotan and large numbers of trunk and branch canals, as well as seepage control projects have been built, thus rapidly increasing the amount of water diverted, the capacity of the reservoirs and the well-irrigated area in the whole region. By , there were reservoirs with a total holding capacity of well over 6.

The total area of irrigated fields has been expanded to 3. The flood control dykes and dams built in the period totaled 5, km - Swift expansion of communications and transportation. Draught animals were the chief means of transport in Xinjiang prior to the founding of New China. There was almost no modern transport. In the more than 50 years since then, Xinjiang has witnessed a drastic change in the communications and transport industry. The Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway reached Urumqi at the end of , bringing railway transport to the region for the first time.

The km-long western section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway, from Turpan to Korla, was opened to traffic in A stretch of km was added to the western section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway in , reaching the Alatav Pass from Urumqi, thus completing the second Eurasian continental bridge. In , the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway was double-tracked and opened to traffic.

In , the km section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway was completed, extending from Korla to Kashi, and opened to traffic. By , operating railway lines totaled 3, In , Xinjiang had only several crudely built highways, with a total length of a mere 3, km, but by , the region's highways had been extended to 80, km, including km of expressways, km of Grade 1 highways and 5, km of Grade 2 highways. The highway running through the Taklimakan Desert is a long-distance graded highway, the first one in the world built on shifting sands.

Now, a highway network covers the whole region, with Urumqi as the center and seven national highways as the backbone linking the region with Gansu and Qinghai provinces to the east, the adjoining countries in Central and West Asia to the west and Tibet to the south.

The network is also connected with the region's 68 provincial highways. Buses now run to all cities, prefectures, counties and townships in the region.

Xinjiang has 11 airports, both newly built and enlarged, with international air routes connecting Urumqi with Alma-Ata, Tashkent, Moscow and Islamabad, as well as chartered flights to Hong Kong. In all, there are 92 air lines radiating from Urumqi to 65 cities in other parts of the country and abroad and to 12 prefectures and cities within the autonomous region.

The total length of the air routes is , km. The development of telecommunications facilities in Xinjiang has kept pace with the national network. Digital microwave communications link the southern and northern parts of the region, and optical cable trunk lines link Urumqi with Xi'an, Lanzhou, Yining, Korgas checkpoint, Turpan, Korla, Ruoqiang and Mangya.

A DDD telephone network now links all the cities and counties in Xinjiang with all other parts of China, and the region's telephone subscribers have reached the grand total of 2. The local data communications network and multi-media communications network have developed rapidly, and an ATM wide-band network covers all prefectures and cities.

A mobile phone network with a capacity of 2. Rapid growth of foreign trade. Xinjiang's foreign trade is conducted in multiple flexible ways, including spot trade, border trade, processing with materials supplied by customers, compensation trade, and tourism. By , Xinjiang had trade relations with countries and regions. Nearly 1, commodity items in 22 categories were on the export list. The export product mix has been constantly improved, from primary bulk products with low added value to electromechanical and precision instruments with high added value.

As one of the important autonomous regions provinces carrying out the government strategy of opening China's border areas to the outside world, Xinjiang has gradually formed an omnidirectional, multi-level and wide-range opening pattern by expanding the links with foreign countries and China's various provinces along the borders, bridges Eurasian continental bridges and trunk communication lines to become China's frontline in opening to the West.

Boom in tourism. With wonderful and rare natural scenery and colorful ethnic customs, Xinjiang has greatly expanded its tourism sector. It also hosted 8. The region's capacity for accommodating tourists has greatly expanded in recent years.

In , there were hotels for foreign tourists, including star-rated hotels. The tourist trade has become a new economic growth point for economic development in Xinjiang.

Progress in Education, Science and Technology,. During the half century or more since the founding of New China, all social undertakings in Xinjiang have undergone historic changes. Education developing steadily.

Compared with that of , in the year of , the number of primary schools in the region increased from 1, to 6,, middle schools from 9 to 1,, polytechnic schools from 11 to 99, and regular institutions of higher learning from 1 to The number of students currently registered at local institutions of higher learning has increased from to ,, and , students have graduated from regular institutions of higher learning.

The number of students currently registered at polytechnic schools has increased from 2, to 97, Elementary education has been continuously improved, and nine-year compulsory education has been realized in 65 counties cities, districts. Adult education of various types has made steady progress. A multi-level, multi-form occupational training system has by and large been in place. The ratio of the educated population of the region has grown remarkably.

Progress in science and technology. The overall strength of science and technology has increased tremendously. The region has established a research and development system, a technology popularization system, and a sci-tech administration and service system with relatively complete and supplementary disciplines, relatively rational distribution and distinctive local characteristics; trained a crop of sci-tech specialists with high academic achievements; created a sci-tech contingent made up of people of various ethnic groups and highly capable of research, development, experimentation, popularization and management; and built a number of laboratory centers and experimental bases characteristic of the sci-tech advantages of Xinjiang.

But in recent years a massive security crackdown has crushed dissent. Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces. According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor people's behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door. Since , when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns.

Campaigners say China is trying to eradicate Uyghur culture. China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. It said it that it had released everyone from its "re-education" camp system, though testimony from the region suggests many are still detained and many were transferred from camps to formal prisons.

China says the crackdown in Xinjiang is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism. It insists that Uyghur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest, but it is accused of exaggerating the threat in order to justify repression of the Uyghurs. China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uyghur population through mass sterilisations as "baseless", and says allegations of forced labour are "completely fabricated".

China 'has created dystopian hellscape' in Xinjiang. Uyghur imams targeted in China's Xinjiang crackdown. The cost of speaking up against China. Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape. Image source, Getty Images. The Uyghurs are the largest minority ethnic group in China's north-western province of Xinjiang. Image source, Google. Satellite images show rapid construction of camps in Xinjiang, like this one near Dabancheng. Who are the Uyghurs? Imams targeted in China's Xinjiang crackdown The cost of speaking up against China China 'has created dystopian hellscape in Xinjiang' China's 'tainted' cotton.

Where is Xinjiang? Uyghur women pick cotton in Xinjiang.