Xinjiang

For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County.

Xinjiang (Uyghur: شىنجاڭ, Shinjang; Chinese: 新疆; pinyin: Xīnjiāng; Wade–Giles: Hsin¹-chiang¹; Postal map spelling: Sinkiang; IPA: [-ɕɪn-tɕiaŋ]) is an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the People's Republic of China. It is a large, sparsely populated area, spanning over 1.6 million km² (larger than the combined area of all the European states from Germany to Spain), which takes up about one sixth of the country's territory. Xinjiang borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and India's Leh District to the south and Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the west. It administers most of Aksai Chin, a territory formally part of Kashmir's Ladakh region over which India claims sovereignty since 1962.

"Xinjiang" or "Ice Jecen" in Manchu, literally means "New Frontier", a name given during the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China. It is home to a number of different ethnic groups, many of them Turkic (Turkish: Sincan), the largest of which is the Uyghur people. Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, Sinkiang, East Turkestan, or Uyghuristan. More specifically, at times, the term East Turkestan only referred to Xinjiang area south of Tien Shan, North of Tien Shan was called Dzungaria (Zungaria).

The east-west Tien Shan Mountains separate Dzungaria in the north from the Tarim Basin in the south. Dzungaria is dry steppe. The Tarim Basin is desert surrounded by oases. In the east is the Turfan Depression. In the west, the Tien Shan split, forming the Ili River valley.

History

Main article: History of Xinjiang

Early history

According to J.P. Mallory, the Chinese sources describe the existence of "white people with long hair" or the Bai people in the Shan Hai Jing, who lived beyond their northwestern border.

The very well preserved Tarim mummies with Caucasoid features, often with reddish or blond hair, today displayed at the Ürümqi Museum and dated to the 3rd century BC, have been found in precisely the same area of the Tarim Basin. Various nomadic tribes, such as the Yuezhi were part of the large migration of Indo-European speaking peoples who were settled in eastern Central Asia (possibly as far as Gansu) at that time. The Ordos culture situated at northern China east of the Yuezhi, are another example.

Nomadic cultures such as the Yuezhi are documented in the area of Xinjiang where the first known reference to the Yuezhi was made in 645 BC by the Chinese Guan Zhong in his Guanzi 管子(Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). He described the Yuzhi 禺氏, or Niuzhi 牛氏, as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains of Yuzhi 禺氏 at Gansu. The supply of jade from the Tarim Basin from ancient times is indeed 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, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan 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.".

The nomadic tribes of the Yuezhi are also documented in detail in Chinese historical accounts, in particular the 2nd-1st century BC "Records of the Great Historian", or Shiji, by Sima Qian, which state that they "were flourishing" but regularly in conflict with the neighbouring tribe of the Xiongnu to the northeast. According to these accounts:

The Yuezhi originally lived in the area between the Qilian or Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan) and Dunhuang, but after they were defeated by the Xiongnu they moved far away to the west, beyond Dayuan, where they attacked and conquered the people of Daxia and set up the court of their king on the northern bank of the Gui [= Oxus] River. A small number of their people who were unable to make the journey west sought refuge among the Qiang barbarians in the Southern Mountains, where they are known as the Lesser Yuezhi.

Struggle between Xiongnu and Han China

Tarim Basin in the 3rd century

Traversed by the Northern Silk Road, Western Regions or Xinjiang is the Chinese name for the Tarim and Dzungaria regions of what is now northwest China. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), the region was subservient to the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people based in modern Mongolia. In the 2nd century BC, Han China sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the states in the region, beginning several decades of struggle between the Xiongnu and Han China over dominance of the region, eventually ending in Chinese success. In 60 BC Han China established the Protectorate of the Western Regions (西域都護府) at Wulei (烏壘; near modern Luntai) to oversee the entire region as far west as the Pamir.

During the usurpation of Wang Mang in China, the dependent states of the protectorate rebelled and returned to domination in AD 13. Over the next century, Han China conducted several expeditions into the region, re-establishing the protectorate from 74-76, 91-107, and from 123 onward. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the protectorate continued to be maintained by Cao Wei (until 265) and the Western Jin Dynasty (from 265 onwards).

A summary of Classical sources on the Seres (Greek and Roman name of China) (essentially Pliny and Ptolemy) gives the following account:

The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touching on the east the Ocean and the limits of the habitable world, and extending west nearly to Imaus and the confines of Bactria. The people are civilised men, of mild, just, and frugal temper, eschewing collisions with their neighbours, and even shy of close intercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of which raw silk is the staple, but which include also silk stuffs, furs, and iron of remarkable quality.

— Henry Yule, "Cathey and the way thither"

A succession of peoples

A Buddha statue from Tumshuq, Xinjiang. 5th century. This is an example of Serindian art.

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 non-Han Chinese kingdoms that ruled northwestern China one after the other, including Former Liang, Former Qin, Later Liang, and Western Liáng, all attempted to maintain the protectorate, with varying extents and degrees of success. After the final reunification of northern China under the Northern Wei empire, its protectorate controlled what is now the southeastern third of Xinjiang. Local states such as Shule, Yutian, Guizi and Qiemo controlled the western half, while the central region around Turpan was controlled by Gaochang, remnants of a state (Northern Liang) that once ruled part of what is now Gansu province in northwestern China.

Tang Dynasty and the Khanates

The Tang Dynasty was established in 618, and would prove to be one of the most expansionist dynasties in Chinese history. Starting from the 620's and 630's, Tang China conducted a series of expeditions against the Turks, eventually forcing the surrender of the western Turks in 657. Xinjiang was placed under the Anxi Protectorate (安西都護府; "Protectorate Pacifying the West"). The protectorate did not outlast the decline of Tang China in the 8th century. During the devastating Anshi Rebellion, Tibet invaded Tang China on a wide front from Xinjiang to Yunnan, occupied the Tang capital Chang'an in 763 for 16 days, and taking control of southern Xinjiang by the end of the century. At the same time, the Uyghur Khaganate took control of northern Xinjiang, as well as much of the rest of Central Asia, including Mongolia.

Both Tibet and the Uyghur Khaganate declined in the mid-9th century. The Kara-Khanid Khanate, which arose from a confederation of Turkic tribes scattered after the destruction of the Uyghur empire, took control of western Xinjiang in the 10th century and the 11th century. Meanwhile, after the Uyghur khanate in Mongolia had been smashed by the Kirghiz, branches of the Uyghurs established themselves in the area around today's Turfan and Urumchi in 840. This Uyghur state would remain in eastern Xinjiang until the 13th century, though it would be subject to various overlords during that time. Some scholars have argued, that the Kara-Khanids were likewise "Uyghurs," as some of the components in the Kara-Khanid federation were likewise from the ruling clans of the Uyghur empire. The Kara-Khanids converted to Islam, whereas the Uyghur state in eastern Xinjiang remained Manicheaean, while tolerating Buddhism and Christianity.

In 1132, remnants of the Khitan Empire from Manchuria entered Xinjiang, fleeing the onslaught of the Jurchens into north China. They established an exile regime, the Kara-Khitan Khanate, which became overlord over both Kara-Khanid-held and Uyghur-held parts of the Tarim Basin for the next century.

Arrival of the Mongols

After Genghis Khan had unified Mongolia and began his advance west, the Uyghur state in the Turfan-Urumchi area sensibly 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. By contrast, Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire conquered the Kara-Khitan in 1218. Because the Kara-Khitan had persecuted Islam, the Mongols were met as liberators in the Kashgar area. After the break-up of the Mongol Empire into smaller khanates the region fractured and was ruled by various different Persianized Mongol Khans simultaneously, including the ones of Mogholistan (with the assistance of the local Dughlat Emirs), Uigurstan (later Turfan) and Kashgaria. These leaders engaged in numerous wars with each other and both the Timurids of Transoxania to the West and the Chinese Yuan Dynasty to the East, the successor Chagatai regime based in Mongolia and in China. Although there were high points in Persian culture reached (e.g. the Dughlat historian Hamid-mirza), succession crises and internal divisions (Kashgaria split in two for centuries) meant that this region almost completely fades from the history books during the 16th and 17th centuries. . In the 17th century, the Dzungars established an empire over much of the region.

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Empire, established by the Manchus in China, gained control over eastern Xinjiang as a result of a long struggle with the Zunghars (Dzungars) that began in the seventeenth century. In 1755, the Manchu Empire attacked Ghulja, and captured the Zunghar khan. Over the next two years, the Manchus and Mongol armies of the Qing destroyed the remnants of the Zunghar khanate, and attempted to divide the Xinjiang region into four sub-khanates under four chiefs. Similarly, the Qing made members of a clan of sufi shaykhs known as the Khojas, rulers in the western Tarim Basin, south of the Tianshan Mts. In 1758-59, however, rebellions against this arrangement broke out both north and south of the Tian Shan mountains. The Qing was thus forced, contrary to its initial intent, to establish a form of direct military rule over both Zungharia (northern Xinjiang) and the Tarim Basin (southern Xinjiang). The Manchus put the whole region under the rule of a General of Ili (Chinese: 伊犁将军, Yili Jiangjün), headquartered at the fort of Huiyuan (the so-called "Manchu Kuldja", or Yili), 30 km west of Ghulja (Yining).

By the mid-19th century, the Russian Empire was encroaching upon Qing China along its entire northern frontier. The Opium Wars and Taiping and other rebellion's in China proper had severely restricted the dynasty's ability to maintain its garrisons in distant Xinjiang. In 1864 both Chinese Muslims (Hui) and Uyghurs rebelled in Xinjiang cities, following an on-going Chinese Muslim Rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces further east. Qing control of the region was swept away. In 1865, Yaqub Beg, a warlord from the neighbouring Khanate of Kokand, entered Xinjiang via Kashgar, and conquered nearly all of Xinjiang over the next six years. In 1871, Russia took advantage of the chaotic situation and seized the rich Ili River valley, including Gulja. By then, Qing China held onto only a few strongholds, including Tacheng.

Yaqub Beg's rule lasted until General Zuo Zongtang (also known as General Tso) reconquered the region between 1875 and 1877 for Qing China. In 1881, Qing China recovered the Gulja region through diplomatic negotiations (Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)). In 1884, Qing China established Xinjiang ("new frontier") as a province, formally applying onto it the political system of China proper.

After the Qing Dynasty

In 1912, the Qing Dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor of Xinjiang, fled. One of his subordinates Yang Zengxin (杨增新), took control of the province and acceded in name to the Republic of China in March of the same year. Through Machiavellian politics and clever balancing of mixed ethnic constituencies, Yang maintained control over Xinjiang until his assassination in 1928. Multiple insurgencies arose against his successor Jin Shuren (金树仁) in the early 1930s throughout Xinjiang, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups, Russians and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. In the Kashgar region on November 12, 1933, the short-lived self-proclaimed East Turkistan Republic was declared, after some debate over whether the proposed independent state should be called "East Turkestan" or "Uyghuristan." The ETR claimed authority over territory stretching from Aksu along the northern rim of the Tarim Basin to Khotan in the south. Xinjiang was eventually brought in 1934 under the control of northeast Chinese warlord Sheng Shicai (盛世才), who ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with close support from the Soviet Union, many of whose ethnic and security policies Sheng instituted in Xinjiang. Sheng invited a group of Chinese Communists to Xinjiang, including Mao Zedong's brother Mao Zemin, but in 1943, fearing a conspiracy, Sheng executed them all, including Mao Zemin. A Second East Turkistan Republic (2nd ETR, also known as the Three Districts Revolution) existed from 1944-1949 with Soviet support in what is now Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang.

The Second East Turkistan Republic came to an end when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered Xinjiang in 1949. According to the PRC interpretation, the 2nd ETA was Xinjiang's revolution, a positive part of the communist revolution in China; the 2nd ETA acceded to and welcomed the PLA when it entered Xinjiang, a process known as the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang. However, independence advocates view the ETR as an effort to establish an independent state, and the subsequent PLA entry as an invasion. The autonomous region of the PRC was established on October 1, 1955, replacing the province. The PRC's first nuclear test was carried out at Lop Nur, Xinjiang, on October 16, 1964.

Continued tensions

Main article: East Turkestan independence movement

There continues to be concern over tensions in the region. Since 1996 the Chinese authorities have carried out a harsh crackdown of suspected Uyghur "separatists" and "religious extremists" throughout the XUAR, resulting in gross violations of human rights, including torture and executions of political prisoners. Amnesty International has documented these violations in two detailed reports, People's Republic of China Gross violations of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (AI Index: ASA 17/18/99), and China's Anti-terrorism Legislation and Repression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (AI Index: ASA 17/10/2002. Reported violations include; prolonged arbitrary and incommunicado detention, severe torture of political suspects, unfair political trials, and numerous arbitrary and summary executions of political prisoners. The XUAR is the only region of the People's Republic of China where significant numbers of political prisoners are known to have been executed in recent years. Torture is endemic and particularly cruel methods of torture have been used against political suspects in the region.

File:Flag of Xinjiang Uyghur (East-Turkestan).svg

This flag is used by Uyghurs as a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement. The Government of the People's Republic of China prohibits using the flag in the country.

Conversely, many Han Chinese perceive PRC policies of ethnic autonomy as discriminatory against them (see autonomous entities of China). Independence advocates view Chinese rule in Xinjiang, and policies like the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as Chinese imperialism. The US and the UN have labeled the East Turkestan Islamic Movement a terrorist group.

The tensions have occasionally resulted in major incidents and violent clashes during the PRC period. For example, in 1962, 60,000 Uyghur and Kazak refugees fled northern Xinjiang into the Soviet Union to escape the famine and political purges of the Great Leap Forward era; in the 1980s there was a smattering of student demonstrations and riots against police action that took on an ethnic aspect; and the Baren Township riot in April, 1990, an abortive uprising, resulted in more than 50 deaths.

A police roundup of suspected separatists during Ramadan resulted in large demonstrations that turned violent in February 1997 in an episode known as the Ghulja / Yining Incident that led to at least 9 deaths. The Urumqi bus bombs of February 25, 1997, perhaps a response to the crackdown that followed the Ghulja Incident, killed 9 and injured 68. Despite much talk of separatism and terrorism in Xinjiang, especially after the 9-11 attacks in the United States and the US invasion of Afghanistan, the situation in Xinjiang was quiet from the late nineties through mid-2006.

Then, on January 5, 2007 the Chinese Public Security Bureau raided a suspected terrorist training camp in the mountains near the Pamir Plateau in southern Xinjiang. According to the reports, 18 terrorists were killed and another 17 captured in a gun battle between the East Turkestan Independence Movement and PRC forces. One police officer was killed and "over 1,500 hand grenades... were seized."

In the runup to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, during which world attention was drawn by pro-Tibet protests along the Olympic torch relay, Uyghur separatist groups staged protests in several countries. According to the Chinese government, a suicide bombing attempt on a China Southern Airlines flight in Xinjiang was thwarted in March 2008.

On August 4, 2008, 4 days before the Beijing Olympics, 16 Chinese police officers were killed and 16 were injured by suspected ETIM members. Chinese police injured and damaged the equipment of two Japanese journalists sent to cover the story.

Subdivisions

Main article: List of administrative divisions of Xinjiang

Xinjiang is divided into two prefecture-level cities, seven prefectures, and five autonomous prefectures. (Two of the seven prefectures are in turn part of Ili, an autonomous prefecture.) These are then divided into eleven districts, twenty county-level cities, sixty-two counties, and six autonomous counties. Four of the county-level cities do not belong to any prefecture, and are de facto administered by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Map of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Sub-level divisions of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Map #	Conventional	Uyghur (kona yezik̡)	Uyghur Latin (yengi yezik̡)	Simplified Chinese character	Traditional Chinese character	Hanyu pinyin	Type	Remarks
1	Altay Prefecture	ئالتاي ۋىلايىتى	Altay Vilayiti	阿勒泰地区	阿勒泰地區	Ālètài Dìqū	Prefecture	subordinate to Ili (Kazakh)
2	Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	بۆرتالا موڭغۇل ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى	Bɵrtala Mongƣol Aptonom Oblasti	博尔塔拉蒙古自治州	博爾塔拉蒙古自治州	Bó'ěrtǎlā Měnggǔ Zìzhìzhōu	Autonomous prefectures
3	Tacheng Prefecture	تارباغاتاي ۋىلايىتى	Tarbaƣatay Vilayiti	塔城地区	塔城地區	Tǎchéng Dìqū	Prefecture	subordinate to Ili (Kazakh)
4	Karamay	قاراماي شەھرى	K̡aramay Xəh̡ri	克拉玛依市	克拉瑪依市	Kèlāmǎyī Shì	Prefecture-level city
5	Shihezi	شىخەنزە شەھرى	Xihənzə Xəh̡ri	石河子市	石河子市	Shíhézǐ Shì	Directly administered County-level city	Administered de facto by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
6	Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture	سانجى خۇيزۇ ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى	Sanji Huizu Aptonom Oblasti	昌吉回族自治州	昌吉回族自治州	Chāngjí Huízú Zìzhìzhōu	Autonomous prefectures
7	Wujiaqu	ئۇجاچۇ شەھرى	Wujiaqü Xəh̡ri	五家渠市	五家渠市	Wǔjiāqú Shì	Directly administered County-level city	Administered de facto by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
8	Ürümqi	ئۈرۈمچى شەھرى	Ürümqi Xəh̡ri	乌鲁木齐市	烏魯木齊市	Wūlǔmùqí Shì	Prefecture-level city
9	Turpan Prefecture	تۇرپان ۋىلايىتى	Turpan Vilayiti	吐鲁番地区	吐魯番地區	Tǔlǔfān Dìqū	Prefecture
10	Kumul Prefecture	قۇمۇل ۋىلايىتى	K̡umul Vilayiti	哈密地区	哈密地區	Hāmì Dìqū	Prefecture
11	Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture	ئىلى قازاق ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى	Ili K̡azak̡ Aptonom Oblasti	伊犁哈萨克自治州	伊犁哈薩克自治州	Yīlí Hāsàkè Zìzhìzhōu	Autonomous prefectures
12	Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture	قىزىلسۇ قىرغىز ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى	K̡izilsu K̡irƣiz Aptonom Oblasti	克孜勒苏柯尔克孜自治州	克孜勒蘇柯爾克孜自治州	Kèzīlèsū Kē'ěrkèzī Zìzhìzhōu	Autonomous prefectures
13	Kashgar Prefecture	قەشقەر ۋىلايىتى	K̡əxk̡ər Vilayiti	喀什地区	喀什地區	Kāshí Dìqū	Prefecture
14	Tumxuk	تۇمشۇق شەھرى	Tumxuk̡ Xəh̡ri	图木舒克市	圖木舒克市	Túmùshūkè Shì	Directly administered County-level city	Administered de facto by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
15	Aksu Prefecture	ئاقسۇ ۋىلايىتى	Ak̡su Vilayiti	阿克苏地区	阿克蘇地區	Ākèsū Dìqū	Prefecture
16	Aral	ئارال شەھرى	Aral Xəh̡ri	阿拉尔市	阿拉爾市	Ālā'ěr Shì	Directly administered County-level city	Administered de facto by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
17	Hotan Prefecturen	خوتەن ۋىلايىتى	Hotən Vilayiti	和田地区	和田地區	Hétián Dìqū	Prefecture
18	Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	بايىنغولىن موڭغۇل ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى	Bayinƣolin Mongƣol Aptonom Oblasti	巴音郭楞蒙古自治州	巴音郭楞蒙古自治州	Bāyīnguōlèng Měnggǔ Zìzhìzhōu	Autonomous prefectures

Geography and geology

Close to Karakoram Highway in Xinjiang

Tianchi lake

Xinjiang is the largest political subdivision of China — it accounts for more than one sixth of China's total territory and a quarter of its boundary length. It is divided into two basins by Mount Tianshan. Dzungarian Basin is in the north, and Tarim Basin is in the south. Xinjiang's lowest point is the Turfan Depression, 155 metres below sea level (lowest point in the PRC as well). Its highest peak, K2, is 8611 metres above sea level, on the border with Kashmir.

Most of Xinjiang is young geologically, having been formed from the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate, forming the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, and Pamir mountain ranges. Consequently, Xinjiang is a major earthquake zone. Older geological formations occur principally in the far north where the Junggar Block is geologically part of Kazakhstan, and in the east which is part of the North China Craton.

Xinjiang has within its borders the point of land remotest from the sea, the so-called Eurasian pole of inaccessibility (Lat. 46 degrees 16.8 minutes N, Long. 86 degrees 40.2 minutes E) in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, 1,645 miles (2648 km) from the nearest coastline (straight-line distance).

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 over the Khunjerab Pass.

Rivers

Rivers include:

• Tarim River

Deserts

Deserts include:

• Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert
• Kumtag Desert
• Taklamakan Desert

Major cities

• Urumqi
• Turpan
• Kashgar
• Karamay
• Yining
• Shihezi
• Qinggir

Politics

List of Secretaries of the CPC Xinjiang Committee

1. Wang Zhen (王震): 1949-1952
2. Wang Enmao (王恩茂): 1952-1967
3. Long Shujin (龙书金): 1970-1972
4. Seypidin Azizi (赛福鼎·艾则孜): 1972-1978
5. Wang Feng (汪锋): 1978-1981
6. Wang Enmao (王恩茂): 1981-1985
7. Song Hanliang (宋汉良): 1985-1994
8. Wang Lequan (王乐泉): 1994-incumbent

List of Chairmen of Xinjiang Government

1. Seypidin Azizi (赛福鼎·艾则孜): 1955-1967
2. Long Shujin (龙书金): 1968-1972
3. Seypidin Azizi: 1972-1978
4. Wang Feng (汪锋): 1978-1979
5. Ismail Amet (司马义·艾买提): 1979-1985
6. Tomur Dawamat (铁木尔·达瓦买提): 1985-1993
7. Abdul'ahat Abdulrixit (阿不来提·阿不都热西提): 1993-2003
8. Ismail Tiliwaldi (司马义·铁力瓦尔地): 2003-2007
9. Nur Bekri (努尔·白克力): 2007-incumbent

Economy

A panoramic view of Urumqi's city center taken from Hong Shan mountain.

Xinjiang is known for its fruits and produce, including grapes, melons, pears, cotton, wheat, silk, walnuts and sheep. Xinjiang also has large deposits of minerals and oil.

Xinjiang's nominal GDP was approximately 220 billion RMB (28 billion USD) in 2004, and increased to 420 billion RMB (60 billion USD) in 2008, due to the China Western Development policy introduced by the State Council to boost economic development in Western China. Its per capita GDP for 2008 was 19,893 RMB (2,864 USD).

Oil and gas extraction industry in Aksu and Karamay is booming, with the West–East Gas Pipeline connecting to Shanghai. The oil and petrochemical sector account for 60% of Xinjiang's local economy.

Xinjiang's exports amounted to 19.3 billion USD, while imports turned out to be 2.9 billion USD in 2008. Most of the overall import/export volume in Xinjiang was directed to and from Kazakhstan 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 will also open its second border trade market to Kazakhstan in March 2006, the Jeminay Border Trade Zone.

Economic and Technological Development Zones

• Bole Border Economic Cooperation Area
• Shi Hezi Border Economic Cooperation Area (Chinese Version)
• Tacheng Border Economic Cooperation Area
• Urumchi Economic & Technological Development Zone (Chinese Version)
• Urumchi Export Processing Zone
• Urumchi New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
• Yining Border Economic Cooperation Area

Demographics

The languages of Xinjang.

Xinjiang is home to several distinct ethnic groups of various religious traditions, however, the majority of the region's total population are adherents of Islam. Among ethnic groups who are of the Muslim faith, most notable are Muslim Turkic peoples including the Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tatars and the Kazakhs; there are also Muslim Iranian peoples including Pamiris and the Sarikolis/Wakhis (often conflated as Pamiris); and Muslim Sino-Tibetan peoples such as the Hui (i.e. Muslim Han Chinese). Other PRC ethnic groups in the region include Han Chinese, Mongols, Russians, Xibes, and Manchus.

The percentage of ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang has grown from 6 percent in 1949 to an official tally of over 40 percent at present. This figure does not include military personnel or their families, or the many unregistered migrant workers. Much of this transformation can be attributed to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a semi-military organization of settlers that has built farms, towns, and cities over scattered parts of Xinjiang. The demographic transformation is held by Uyghur independence advocates as a threat to Uyghurs and other non-Han ethnicities in maintaining their culture, similar to the case of Tibet. In 1953 about three-fourths of the population lived south of the mountains in the Tarim Basin and the Han influx was directed mainly to the Dzungaria (north of the mountains in the Tarim Basin ) because of its resource potential. The minorities of Xinjiang have been exempted from the one-child policy and many Uyghur people emigrated out of Xinjiang to other parts of China, and consequently the percentage of Uyghur people in the total population of China has increased steadily.

Major ethnic groups in Xinjiang by region, 2000 census.
	Uyghurs	Han Chinese	Kazakhs	others
Xinjiang	45.2%	40.6%	6.7%	7.5%
Ürümqi PLC	12.8%	75.3%	2.3%	9.6%
Karamay PLC	13.8%	78.1%	3.7%	4.5%
Turpan Prefecture	70.0%	23.3%	<0.1%	6.6%
Kumul Prefecture	18.4%	68.9%	8.8%	3.9%
Changji AP + Wujiaqu DACLC	3.9%	75.1%	8.0%	13.0%
Bortala AP	12.5%	67.2%	9.1%	11.1%
Bayin'gholin AP	32.7%	57.5%	<0.1%	9.7%
Aksu Prefecture + Alar DACLC	71.9%	26.6%	<0.1%	1.4%
Kizilsu AP	64.0%	6.4%	<0.1%	29.6%
Kashgar Prefecture + Tumushuke DACLC	89.3%	9.2%	<0.1%	1.5%
Khotan Prefecture	96.4%	3.3%	<0.1%	0.2%
Ili AP	16.1%	44.4%	25.6%	13.9%
- Kuitun DACLC	0.5%	94.6%	1.8%	3.1%
- former Ili Prefecture	27.2%	32.4%	22.6%	17.8%
- Tacheng Prefecture	4.1%	58.6%	24.2%	13.1%
- Altay Prefecture	1.8%	40.9%	51.4%	5.9%
Shihezi DACLC	1.2%	94.5%	0.6%	3.7%

In general, Uyghurs are the majority in western Xinjiang, including the prefectures of Kashgar, Khotan, Kizilsu, and Aksu, as well as Turpan prefecture in eastern Xinjiang. Han Chinese are the majority in eastern and northern Xinjiang, including the cities of Urumqi, Karamay, Shihezi and the prefectures of Changji, Bortala, Bayin'gholin, Ili (especially the city of Kuitun), and Kumul. Kazakhs are mostly concentrated in Ili prefecture in northern Xinjiang.

Ethnic groups in Xinjiang, 2000 census. Excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.
Nationality	Population	Percentage
Uyghur	8,345,622	45.21
Han	7,489,919	40.58
Kazakh	1,245,023	6.74
Hui	839,837	4.55
Kirghiz	158,775	0.86
Mongol	149,857	0.81
Dongxiang	55,841	0.30
Pamiris	39,493	0.21
Xibe	34,566	0.19
Manchu	19,493	0.11
Tujia	15,787	0.086
Uzbek	12,096	0.066
Russian	8935	0.048
Miao	7006	0.038
Tibetan	6153	0.033
Zhuang	5642	0.031
Daur	5541	0.030
Tatar	4501	0.024
Salar	3762	0.020

Some Uighur scholars claim descent from both the Turkic Uighurs and the pre-Turkic Tocharians (or Tokharians, whose language was Indo-European), and relatively fair-skin, hair and eyes, as well as other so-called 'Caucasoid' physical traits, are not uncommon among them. In general Uyghurs resemble those peoples who live around them in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. 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 10.9‰, with 16.3‰ of birth rate and 5.4‰ mortality rate.

HIV/AIDS

With a population of about 20 million and an officially estimated 60,000 infections, Xinjiang has one-tenth of China’s AIDS cases and the highest HIV infection rate in the country. Chinese authorities estimate that Kashgar Prefecture, with a population of about three million, has 780 cases, but public health experts here say the real figure is probably four times that and rising fast.

Until recently, addicts were largely left to the police, who regarded them as simple criminals whose drug use was to be combated mercilessly. Resistance to treating drug addiction as a public health concern has been high, mirroring what some international health experts say was, more generally, a slow response to HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China.

Media

The Xinjiang Networking Transmission Limited operates the Urumqi People Broadcasting Station and the Xinjiang People Broadcasting Station, broadcasting in Mandarin, Uyghur, Kazakh and Mongolian.

As of 1995, there were fifty minority-language newspapers published in Xinjiang, including the Qapqal News, the world's only Xibe-language newspaper.

Sports

Xinjiang is home to the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers professional basketball team of the Chinese Basketball Association.

The capital, Urumqi, is also home to the Xinjiang University baseball team, an integrated Uyghur and Han Chinese 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 July 24, 2007. The 56 km 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 and western Asia, plus some parts of Europe. It is a key factor in Xinjiang's economic development. The population it covers is around 40 percent of the overall in Xinjiang, who contribute half of the GDP in the area.

See also

• Battle of Jushi
• Jiaohe Ruins
• List of universities and colleges in Xinjiang
• Cotton industry in China

References

For a comprehensive general history of the Xinjiang region, see Millward, James. Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. (European and Asian edition, London: Hurst, Co., 2007)

External links

• Xinjiang Government website
• Economic profile for Xinjiang at HKTDC