Xinjiang

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History of Xinjiang
Ancient period Tocharians Yuezhi Xiongnu Western Regions (Han Protectorate; Chief Officials) Kingdom of Khotan Former Liang Former Qin Later Liang Western Liang Gaochang Rouran First Turkic Khaganate Western Turkic Khaganate Eastern Turkic Khaganate Second Turkic Khaganate
Medieval and early modern period Tang Protectorates (West; Beiting) Tibetan Empire Uyghur Khaganate Kara-Khanid Khanate Kingdom of Qocho Western Liao Mongol Empire (Yuan; Chagatai Khanate) Moghulistan Ming ruled Kara Del Yarkent Khanate Dzungar Khanate Kumul Khanate Yettishar Qing rule
Modern period Xinjiang Province, Republic of China (Xinjiang clique 1st East Turkestan Republic 2nd East Turkestan Republic) Xinjiang Province, People's Republic of China Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Production and Construction Corps Xinjiang re-education camps Uyghur genocide)

Map of Han Dynasty in 2 CE. Light blue is the Tarim Basin protectorate.

According to J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair, the Chinese described "white people with long hair" (the Bai people) in the Shan Hai Jing who lived beyond their northwestern border. The well-preserved Tarim mummies, with Caucasian features (often with reddish or blond hair),[30] displayed in the Ürümqi Museum and dated to the 2nd millennium BC (4,000 years ago), have been found in the same area of the Tarim Basin.[31] Between 2009 and 2015, the remains of 92 individuals in the Xiaohe Cemetery were analyzed for Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA markers. Genetic analyses of the mummies showed that the maternal lineages of the Xiaohe people originated from East Asia and West Eurasia; the paternal lineages all originated in West Eurasia.[32]

Nomadic tribes such as the Yuezhi, Saka, and Wusun were probably part of the migration of Indo-European speakers who had settled in eastern Central Asia, possibly as far as Gansu; the Ordos culture in northern China, east of the Yuezhi, is another example. 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 peoples who included the Indo-European Tocharians in Turfan and Kucha and the Indo-Iranian Saka peoples centered in the Shule Kingdom and the Kingdom of Khotan.[33]

Yuezhi culture is documented in the region. The first known reference to the Yuezhi was in 645 BC by the Chinese chancellor Guan Zhong in his work, Guanzi (管子, Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). He described the Yúshì, 禺氏 (or Niúshì, 牛氏), as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains (also known as Yushi) in Gansu.[34] The longtime jade supply[35] 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, 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."[36]

Crossed by the Northern Silk Road,[37] the Tarim and Dzungaria regions were known as the Western Regions. It was inhabited by a number of peoples, including Indo-European Tocharians in Turfan and Kucha and Indo-Iranian Sakas centered around Kashgar and Hotan.[33] At the beginning of the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 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 dispatched Zhang Qian 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 and Gansu corridor to Lop Nor. They separated the Xiongnu from the Qiang people 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 (西域都護府) at Wulei (烏壘, near modern Luntai), to oversee the region as far west as the Pamir Mountains. The protectorate was seized during the civil war against Wang Mang (r. AD 9–23), returning to Han control in 91 due to the efforts of general Ban Chao.

The Tarim Basin in the 3rd century AD

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, Former Qin, Later Liang, 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 empire, its protectorate controlled what is now the southeastern region of Xinjiang. Local states such as Shule, Yutian, Guizi and Qiemo controlled the western region, 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.

A Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel. Sancai ceramic statuette, Tang dynasty

During the Tang dynasty, a series of expeditions were conducted against the Western Turkic Khaganate and their vassals: the oasis states of southern Xinjiang.[38] Campaigns against the oasis states began under Emperor Taizong with the annexation of Gaochang in 640.[39] The nearby kingdom of Karasahr was captured by the Tang in 644, and the kingdom of Kucha was conquered in 649.[40] The Tang Dynasty then established the Protectorate General to Pacify the West (安西都護府), or Anxi Protectorate, in 640 to control the region.

During the Anshi Rebellion, which nearly destroyed the Tang dynasty, Tibet invaded the Tang on a broad front from Xinjiang to Yunnan. 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 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 (a confederation of Turkic tribes including the Karluks, Chigils and Yaghmas)[41] 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 (near present-day Turfan and Urumchi). 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, later converted to Buddhism.

Remnants of the Liao dynasty from Manchuria entered Xinjiang in 1132, fleeing rebellion by the neighboring Jurchens. They established a new empire, the Qara Khitai, 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.[42]

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Present-day Xinjiang consisted of the Tarim Basin and Dzungaria, and was originally inhabited by Indo-European Tocharians and Iranian Sakas who practiced Buddhism. The Turfan and Tarim Basins were inhabited by speakers of Tocharian languages,[43] with Caucasian mummies found in the region.[44] The area became Islamified during the 10th century with the conversion of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, who occupied Kashgar. During the mid-10th century, the Saka Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan was attacked by the Turkic Muslim Karakhanid ruler Musa; the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered Khotan around 1006.[45]

Mongol states from the 14th to the 17th centuries: the Northern Yuan dynasty, Four Oirat, Moghulistan and Kara Del

After Genghis Khan 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 conquered the Qara Khitai in 1218. Xinjiang was a stronghold of Ögedei Khan and later came under the control of his descendant, Kaidu. This branch of the Mongol family kept the Yuan dynasty at bay until their rule ended.

During the Mongol Empire era the Yuan dynasty vied with the Chagatai Khanate for rule of the region, and the latter controlled most of it. After the Chagatai Khanate divided into smaller khanates during the mid-14th century, the politically-fractured region was ruled by a number of Persianized Mongol Khans, including those from Moghulistan (with the assistance of local Dughlat emirs), Uigurstan (later Turpan), and Kashgaria. These leaders warred with each other and the Timurids of Transoxiana to the west and the Oirats to the east: the successor Chagatai regime based in Mongolia and China. During the 17th century, the Dzungars 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 empires. The Dzungar Khanate covered Dzungaria, extending from the western Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia. 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 Dzungar–Qing Wars, between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate

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 Sufi Khojas, descendants of Muhammad, 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 invited the 5th Dalai Lama (the leader of the Tibetans) 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) built Buddhist monuments in their region.[46]

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1756, between the Manchu and Oirat armies

The Qing Empire ca. 1820

Scene from the 1828 Qing campaign against rebels in Altishahr

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 then conducted the Dzungar genocide, 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 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, the Qing attacked Ghulja 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 moved into the pacified areas.[47]

The native Dzungar Oirat Mongols suffered greatly from the brutal campaigns and a simultaneous smallpox epidemic. Writer Wei Yuan described the resulting desolation in present-day northern Xinjiang as "an empty plain for several thousand li, with no Oirat yurt except those surrendered."[48] It has been estimated that 80 percent of the 600,000 (or more) Dzungars died from a combination of disease and warfare,[49] and recovery took generations.[50]

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.[51] The Uyghur Muslim Sayyid and Naqshbandi Sufi rebel of the Afaqi suborder, Jahangir Khoja was sliced to death (Lingchi) in 1828 by the Manchus for leading a rebellion against the Qing. According to Robert Montgomery Martin, 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.[52]

The 1765 Ush rebellion by the Uyghurs against the Manchu began after Uyghur women were raped by the servants and son of Manchu official Su-cheng.[53] It was said that "Ush Muslims had long wanted to sleep on [Sucheng and son's] hides and eat their flesh" because of the months-long abuse.[54] The Manchu emperor ordered the massacre of the Uyghur rebel town; Qing forces enslaved the Uyghur children and women, and killed the Uyghur men.[55] Sexual abuse of Uyghur women by Manchu soldiers and officials triggered deep Uyghur hostility against Manchu rule.[56]

Yakub Beg, ruler of Yettishar

By the 1860s, Xinjiang had been under Qing rule for a century. The region was captured in 1759 from the Dzungar Khanate,[57] whose population (the Oirats) became the targets of genocide. Xinjiang was primarily semi-arid or desert and unattractive to non-trading Han settlers, and others (including the Uyghurs) settled there.

The Dungan Revolt by the Muslim Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups was fought in China's Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu provinces 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.[58] 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 (an Uzbek or Tajik commander of the Kokand Khanate) fled from the khanate in 1865 after losing Tashkent to the Russians. 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 rapidly approached Kashgaria, reconquering it on 16 May 1877.[59]

19th-century Khotan Uyghurs in Yettishar

After reconquering Xinjiang in the late 1870s from Yaqub Beg,[60] the Qing dynasty established Xinjiang ("new frontier") as a province in 1884[61] – maiking it part of China, and dropping the old names of Zhunbu (準部, Dzungar Region) and Huijiang (Muslimland).[62][63]

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.[64]

Kuomintang in Xinjiang, 1942

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, 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 of the Kuomintang.[65]

Governor Sheng Shicai ruled from 1933 to 1944.

The Kumul Rebellion and others broke out throughout Xinjiang during the early 1930s against Jin Shuren, Yang's successor, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. Jin enlisted White Russians to crush the revolts. In the Kashgar region on 12 November 1933, the short-lived First East Turkestan Republic was self-proclaimed after debate about whether it should be called "East Turkestan" or "Uyghuristan".[66][67] The region claimed by the ETR encompassed the Kashgar, Khotan and Aksu Prefectures in southwestern Xinjiang.[68] The Chinese Muslim Kuomintang 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) 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 and Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra. The Soviet Union invaded the province; it was brought under the control of northeast Han warlord Sheng Shicai after the 1937 Xinjiang War. Sheng ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with support from the Soviet Union, 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 to Xinjiang (including Mao Zedong's brother, Mao Zemin), but executed them all in 1943 in fear of a conspiracy. In 1944, President and Premier of China Chiang Kai-shek, informed by the Soviet Union of Shicai's intention to join it, transferred him to Chongqing as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry the following year.[69] A Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic was established that year, which lasted until 1949 in present-day Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay Districts) in northern Xinjiang.

The Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic encompassed Xinjiang's Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay districts.

During the Ili Rebellion, the Soviet Union backed Uyghur separatists to form the Second East Turkestan Republic (2nd ETR) in the Ili region while most of Xinjiang remained under Kuomintang control.[66] The People's Liberation Army entered Xinjiang in 1949, when Kuomintang commander Tao Zhiyue and government chairman Burhan Shahidi surrendered the province to them.[67] 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.[70]

The PRC autonomous region was established on 1 October 1955, replacing the province;[67] 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.[24] 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.[71] Modern Uyghurs developed ethnogenesis in 1955, when the PRC recognized formerly separately self-identified oasis peoples.[72]

Southern Xinjiang is home to most of the Uyghur population (about nine million people); ninety percent of the Han population, mainly urban, live in northern Xinjiang.[73][74] This created an economic imbalance, since the northern Junghar basin (Dzungaria) is more developed than the south.[75]

Since Chinese economic reform 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. Deng Xiaoping made a nine-day visit to Xinjiang in 1981 and described the region as "unsteady".[76] Increased ethnic contact and labor competition coincided with Uyghur terrorism since the 1990s, such as the 1997 Ürümqi bus bombings.[77]

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, heavy and petrochemical industries.[78] 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.[79] Han and Uyghurs are equally represented in Ürümqi's floating population, which works primarily in commerce. Auto-segregation in the city is widespread in residential concentration, employment relationships and endogamy.[80] In 2010, Uyghurs were a majority in the Tarim Basin and a plurality in Xinjiang as a whole.[81]

Xinjiang has 81 public libraries 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, clinics and hospital beds to the general population surpasses the national average; the immunization rate has reached 85 percent%.[82]

The ongoing Xinjiang conflict[83][84] includes the 2007 Xinjiang raid,[85] a thwarted 2008 suicide-bombing attempt on a China Southern Airlines flight,[86] the 2008 Kashgar attack which killed 16 police officers four days before the Beijing Olympics,[87][88] the August 2009 syringe attacks,[89] the 2011 Hotan attack,[90] the 2014 Kunming attack,[91] the April 2014 Ürümqi attack,[92] and the May 2014 Ürümqi attack.[93] Several of the attacks were orchestrated by the Turkistan Islamic Party (formerly the East Turkestan Islamic Movement), identified as a terrorist group by several entities (including Russia,[94] Turkey,[95][96] the United Kingdom,[97] the United States until October 2020,[98][99] and the United Nations).[100]

According to Human Rights Watch, Chinese authorities have operated Xinjiang re-education camps to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims as part of a "people's war on terror" since 2017.[101][102] The camps have been criticized by a number of countries and human-rights organizations for abuse and mistreatment, with some alleging Uyghur genocide.[103] In 2020, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping affirmed the party's policies in Xinjiang: "Practice has proven that the party's strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era is completely correct."[104]

Xinjiang is split by the Tian Shan mountain range (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, which flows into Kazakhstan's Lake Balkhash; an even smaller wedge farther north is the Emin Valley.

Pamir Mountains and Muztagh Ata.

Other major mountain ranges of Xinjiang include the Pamir Mountains and Karakoram in the southwest, the Kunlun Mountains in the south (along the border with Tibet) and the Altai Mountains in the northeast (shared with Mongolia). The region's highest point is the mountain K2, an eight-thousander located 8,611 meters (28,251 ft) above sea level in the Karakoram Mountains on the border with Pakistan.

Taklamakan Desert

Much of the Tarim Basin is dominated by the Taklamakan Desert. North of it is the Turpan Depression, which contains the lowest point in Xinjiang and in the entire PRC, at 155 meters (509 ft) 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 over the Khunjerab Pass.

From south to north, the mountain passes bordering Xinjiang are:

Mountain Pass bordering Xinjiang

山口 Mountain Pass Coordinate Elev. Appendix 喀喇昆仑山口 Karakoram Pass 35.513333°N 77.823056°E / 35.513333; 77.823056 5540m - 图尔吉斯坦拉山口 Turkistan La Pass 35.656667°N 76.860556°E / 35.656667; 76.860556 - Windy Gap Windy Gap 35.87318°N 76.57692°E / 35.87318; 76.57692 6111m - 东木斯塔山口 Mustagh Pass 35.840000°N 76.250000°E / 35.840000; 76.250000 5422m - Sarpo Laggo Pass Sarpo Laggo Pass 35.8234°N 76.16249°E / 35.8234; 76.16249 6013m - West Muztagh pass West Muztagh pass 35.8532°N 76.1424°E / 35.8532; 76.1424 - 红其拉甫口岸 Khunjerab Pass 36.850000°N 75.427778°E / 36.850000; 75.427778 4693m - Parpik Pass Parpik Pass 36.95°N 75.35°E / 36.95; 75.35 5467m - Mutsjliga Pass Mutsjliga Pass 36.97374°N 75.2973°E / 36.97374; 75.2973 5314m - 明铁盖达坂 Mintaka Pass 37.0039°N 74.8511°E / 37.0039; 74.8511 4709m - 克里克达坂 Kilik Pass 37.0792°N 74.6722°E / 37.0792; 74.6722 4827m - 瓦根基达坂 Wakhjir Pass 37.098°N 74.4848°E / 37.098; 74.4848 4837 m - Kara Jilga Pass Kara Jilga Pass 37.2545°N 74.6147°E / 37.2545; 74.6147 5386m - 麦曼约里达坂 Mihman Yoli Pass 37.28395°N 74.7328°E / 37.28395; 74.7328 4937m - 托克满苏山口 Tegermansu Pass 37.2236°N 74.8744°E / 37.2236; 74.8744 5427m - 克克敖吊克达坂 别伊克山口 排依克山口 Beyik Pass 37.3°N 75.0°E / 37.3; 75.0 4742m - 纳兹塔什山口 奈扎塔什山隘 Nezatash Pass 37.58944°N 74.93611°E / 37.58944; 74.93611 4476m - Agachak Pass Agachak Pass 37.82115°N 74.94492°E / 37.82115; 74.94492 5127m - 卡拉苏口岸 阔勒买口岸 Kulma Pass 38.1498°N 74.8038°E / 38.1498; 74.8038 4362m - Saritosh Pass Saritosh Pass 38.27694°N 74.80111°E / 38.27694; 74.80111 4538m - Qaratokhterak Pass Qaratokhterak Pass 38.42833°N 74.86722°E / 38.42833; 74.86722 4877m - Aromiti Pass Aromiti Pass 38.62833°N 74.48472°E / 38.62833; 74.48472 4703m - Budabel Pass Budabel Pass 38.57556°N 74.07222°E / 38.57556; 74.07222 4251m - Kiyaz-Ashu Kiyaz-Ashu 38.53333°N 74.0°E / 38.53333; 74.0 4479m - 乌孜别里山口 Uzbel-Pass 38.653806°N 73.8023917°E / 38.653806; 73.8023917 5540m - Qarazoq Pass Qarazoq Pass 38.85°N 73.71194°E / 38.85; 73.71194 5217m - Uch-Bel Pass Uch-Bel Pass 37.82115°N 74.94492°E / 37.82115; 74.94492 5127m - Togochar Pass Togochar Pass 39.56447°N 73.91435°E / 39.56447; 73.91435 4361m - Karachaychaty Pass Karachaychaty Pass 39.59439°N 73.92407°E / 39.59439; 73.92407 4284m - 斯姆哈纳 伊尔克什坦 Erkeshtam 39.7172°N 73.9735°E / 39.7172; 73.9735 3005m - Kashetek Pass Kashetek Pass 39.72847°N 73.91437°E / 39.72847; 73.91437 3120m - Bezymyannyy Pass Bezymyannyy Pass 39.74686°N 73.89173°E / 39.74686; 73.89173 3306m - Tupik Pass Tupik Pass 39.74583°N 73.88416°E / 39.74583; 73.88416 3299m - Vorota Pass Vorota Pass 39.75665°N 73.86167°E / 39.75665; 73.86167 3604m - Il'tyk Pass Il'tyk Pass 39.7647°N 73.8388°E / 39.7647; 73.8388 3836m - Kara-Bel' Pass Kara-Bel' Pass 39.8652°N 73.89535°E / 39.8652; 73.89535 3863m - Ityk Pass Ityk Pass 39.9114°N 73.91068°E / 39.9114; 73.91068 4133m - Dungurama Pass Dungurama Pass 40.01417°N 73.96673°E / 40.01417; 73.96673 4067m - Karachalsu Pass Karachalsu Pass 40.04483°N 73.97866°E / 40.04483; 73.97866 4201m - Muzbel' Pass Muzbel' Pass 40.08405°N 74.01892°E / 40.08405; 74.01892 4507m - Achiktash Pass Achiktash Pass 40.0807°N 74.0658°E / 40.0807; 74.0658 4191m - Kyz-Dar Pass Kyz-Dar Pass 40.10652°N 74.11892°E / 40.10652; 74.11892 4246m - Kurumdu Pass Kurumdu Pass 40.11038°N 74.1286°E / 40.11038; 74.1286 4369m - Tart-Kul' Pass Tart-Kul' Pass 40.1134°N 74.2698°E / 40.1134; 74.2698 3786m - Shuralu-Davan Pass Shuralu-Davan Pass 40.26928°N 74.58181°E / 40.26928; 74.58181 3875m - Tata Pass Tata Pass 40.1359°N 74.4161°E / 40.1359; 74.4161 4036m - Sulyuktur Pass Sulyuktur Pass 40.08974°N 74.09467°E / 40.08974; 74.09467 4086m - Talgyy Pass Talgyy Pass 40.21973°N 74.5368°E / 40.21973; 74.5368 3672m - Kalmak-Ashu Pass Kalmak-Ashu Pass 40.28128°N 74.61626°E / 40.28128; 74.61626 3581m - Tuz-Ashu Pass Tuz-Ashu Pass 40.27238°N 74.6524°E / 40.27238; 74.6524 3625m - Dzhetimashu Pass Dzhetimashu Pass 40.42097°N 74.81503°E / 40.42097; 74.81503 3838m - 苏约克山口 Borgun Pass 40.46778°N 74.81406°E / 40.46778; 74.81406 3945m - 吐尔尕特山口 Torugart Pass 40.5517°N 75.3939°E / 40.5517; 75.3939 3752m - Uselek Pass Uselek Pass 40.63374°N 75.5207°E / 40.63374; 75.5207 3638m - Chokolay Pass Chokolay Pass 40.59985°N 75.62223°E / 40.59985; 75.62223 3841m - Saryiymek Pass Saryiymek Pass 40.47055°N 75.72222°E / 40.47055; 75.72222 3820m - Ortosu Pass Ortosu Pass 40.3261°N 75.82059°E / 40.3261; 75.82059 3903m - Terekty Pass Terekty Pass 40.30978°N 75.85505°E / 40.30978; 75.85505 3908m - Kurpe-Bel' Pass Kurpe-Bel' Pass 40.37611°N 75.96578°E / 40.37611; 75.96578 3667m - Buzaygyr Pass Buzaygyr Pass 40.36648°N 76.00256°E / 40.36648; 76.00256 3783m - Khodzhent Pass Khodzhent Pass 40.41093°N 76.282°E / 40.41093; 76.282 3955m - Yerteke Pass Yerteke Pass 40.34612°N 76.33113°E / 40.34612; 76.33113 3780m - Tuyukkhodzhent Pass Tuyukkhodzhent Pass 40.38185°N 76.36949°E / 40.38185; 76.36949 3780m - Kurumduk Pass Kurumduk Pass 40.41196°N 76.45904°E / 40.41196; 76.45904 3822m - Karabel' Pervyy Pass Karabel' Pervyy Pass 40.42914°N 76.50312°E / 40.42914; 76.50312 4091m - Karabel' Vtoroy Pass Karabel' Vtoroy Pass 40.47805°N 76.53704°E / 40.47805; 76.53704 4083m - Aksaybel' Pass Aksaybel' Pass 40.56114°N 76.56965°E / 40.56114; 76.56965 4186m - Tuyukbel' Pass Tuyukbel' Pass 40.64156°N 76.6497°E / 40.64156; 76.6497 4091m - 别迭里山口 Bedel Pass 41.4114°N 78.4131°E / 41.4114; 78.4131 4284m - Chonteren Pass Chonteren Pass 42.04934°N 80.21078°E / 42.04934; 80.21078 5331m - Bysokiy Pass Bysokiy Pass 42.07022°N 80.21003°E / 42.07022; 80.21003 5435m - 阿拉山口市 Alashankou 45.2°N 82.6°E / 45.2; 82.6 291m - Border

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, and in the east, where is part of the North China Craton.

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): 46°16.8′N 86°40.2′E. It is at least 2,647 km (1,645 mi) (straight-line distance) from any coastline.

In 1992, local geographers determined another point within Xinjiang – 43°40′52″N 87°19′52″E in the southwestern suburbs of Ürümqi, Ürümqi County – to be the "center point of Asia". A monument to this effect was then erected there and the site has become a local tourist attraction.[111]

Tianchi Lake

Black Irtysh river in Burqin County is a famous spot for sightseeing.

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.

Kanas Lake

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, 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.

Xinjiang is in the same time zone as the rest of China, Beijing time, UTC+8. But while Xinjiang being about two time zones west of Beijing, some residents, local organizations and governments watch another time standard known as Xinjiang Time, UTC+6.[112] Han people tend to use Beijing Time, while Uyghurs tend to use Xinjiang Time as a form of resistance to Beijing.[113] But, regardless of the time standard preferences, most businesses, schools open and close two hours later than in the other regions of China.[114]

Deserts include:

• Gurbantünggüt Desert, also known as Dzoosotoyn Elisen
• Taklamakan Desert
• Kumtag Desert, east of Taklamakan

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.

Largest cities and towns of Xinjiang

• Ürümqi
• Turpan
• Kashgar
• Karamay
• Ghulja
• Shihezi
• Hotan
• Atush
• Aksu
• Korla

A semiarid or desert climate (Köppen BSk or BWk, respectively) prevails in Xinjiang. The entire region has great seasonal differences in temperature with cold winters. The Turpan Depression recorded the hottest temperatures nationwide in summer,[115] with air temperatures easily exceeding 40 °C (104 °F). Winter temperatures regularly fall below −20 °C (−4 °F) 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 and the microclimate, it can be found at elevations as low as 2,000 m.[116]

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.[117]

According to the Radio Free Asia and Human Rights Watch, at least 120,000 members of Kashgar's Muslim Uyghur minority have been detained in Xinjiang's re-education camps, aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities and their religious beliefs.[118][101][119] Reports from the World Uyghur Congress submitted to the United Nations in July 2018 suggest that 1 million Uyghurs are currently being held in the re-education camps. The camps were established under CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's administration.[120][121]

An October 2018 exposé by the 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.[122] 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 Uighurs.[123]

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 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.[124][125] 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".[126][127]

On 28 June 2020, The Associated Press published an investigative report which states that the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children.[128] While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is 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 the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of "demographic genocide."[128]

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.[129]

In September 2020, Xi Jinping said "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." Xi Jinping required the whole CPC to take the implementation of the party's strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era as a political task, and make efforts to implement it completely and accurately to ensure that Xinjiang work always maintains the correct political direction.[130]

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.[136] In 2016, the total cultivated land rose to 6.2 million ha, with the crop production reaching 15.1 million tons.[137] 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) grew rice.[138]

Cotton became an important crop in several oases, notably Khotan, Yarkand and Turpan by the late 19th century.[138] Sericulture is also practiced.[139] Xinjiang is the world's largest cotton exporter, producing 84% of Chinese cotton while the country provides 26% of global cotton export.[140]

Xinjiang is famous for its grapes, melons, pears, walnuts, particularly Hami melons and Turpan raisins. The region is also a leading source for tomato paste, which it supplies for international brands.[140]

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,[141] but there are mountain pastures throughout the region.

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.[142]

In the past, the Lop Lake was known for its fisheries and the area residents, for their fishing culture; now, due to the diversion of the waters of the Tarim River, the lake has dried out.

Xinjiang was known for producing salt, soda, borax, gold, jade in the 19th century.[143]

The oil and gas extraction industry in 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.[144] Containing over a fifth of China's coal, natural gas and oil resources, Xinjiang has the highest concentration of fossil fuel reserves of any region in the country.[145]

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 through Ala Pass. China's first border free trade zone (Horgos Free Trade Zone) was located at the Xinjiang-Kazakhstan border city of Horgos.[146] 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.[147]

• Bole Border Economic Cooperation Area[148]
• Shihezi Border Economic Cooperation Area[149]
• Tacheng Border Economic Cooperation Area[150]

Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport

• 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 1.5 km (0.93 mi) from the Ürümqi International Airport, 2 km (1.2 mi) from the North Railway Station and 10 km (6.2 mi) 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.[151]
• Ürümqi Export Processing Zone is in Urumuqi Economic and Technology Development Zone. It was established in 2007 as a state-level export processing zone.[152]
• 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 9.8 km² (3.8 sq mi) and it is divided into four zones. There are plans to expand the zone.[153]
• Yining Border Economic Cooperation Area[154]

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

In 1995, there were 50 minority-language newspapers published in Xinjiang, including the Qapqal News, the world's only Xibe language newspaper.[155] The Xinjiang Economic Daily is considered one of China's most dynamic newspapers.[156]

For a time after the July 2009 riots, authorities placed restrictions on the internet and text messaging, gradually permitting access to state-controlled websites like Xinhua's,[157] until restoring Internet to the same level as the rest of China on 14 May 2010.[158][159][160]

As reported by the BBC News, "China strictly controls media access to Xinjiang so reports are difficult to verify."[161]

The major religions in Xinjiang are Islam among the Uyghurs and the Hui Chinese minority and many of the Han Chinese practice Chinese folk religions, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. According to a demographic analysis of the year 2010, Muslims form 58% of the province's population.[192] 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.[194] 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.[195][196] Christianity in Xinjiang is the religion of 1% of the population according to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2009.[193]

A majority of the Uyghur Muslims adhere to Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence or madhab. A minority of Shias, almost exclusively of the Nizari Ismaili (Seveners) rites are located in the higher mountains of Tajik and Tian Shan. In the western mountains (the Tajiks), almost the entire population of Tajiks (Sarikolis and Wakhis), are Nizari Ismaili Shia.[11] In the north, in the Tian Shan, the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are Sunni.

Afaq Khoja Mausoleum and Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar are most important Islamic Xinjiang sites. Emin Minaret in Turfan is a key Islamic site. Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves is a noticeable Buddhist site.

• 
  "Heroic Gesture of Bodhisattvathe Bodhisattva", example of 6th-7th-century terracotta Greco-Buddhist art (local populations were Buddhist) from Tumxuk, Xinjiang
• 
  Sogdian donors to the Buddha, 8th century fresco (with detail), Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin
• 
  A mosque in Ürümqi
• 
  People sporting in snow by a statue of bodhisattva Guanyin in Wujiaqu

• 
  Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Ürümqi
• 
  Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture
• 
  Emin Minaret
• 
  Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China

Karakorum highway

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 56 km (35 mi) 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 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 head of the Transport Department was quoted as saying that 24,800,000,000 RMB had been invested into Xinjiang's road network in 2010 alone and, by this time, the roads covered approximately 152,000 km (94,000 mi).[197]

Ürümqi South railway station

Kashgar railway station

Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway

Southern Xinjiang Railway

Xinjiang's rail hub is Ürümqi. To the east, a conventional and a high-speed rail line runs through Turpan and Hami to Lanzhou in Gansu Province. A third outlet to the east connects Hami and Inner Mongolia.

To the west, the Northern Xinjiang runs along the northern footslopes of the Tian Shan range through Changji, Shihezi, Kuytun and Jinghe to the 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 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 Valley to 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.

In the south, the Southern Xinjiang Line from Turpan runs southwest along the southern footslopes of the Tian Shan into the Tarim Basin, with stops at Yanqi, Korla, Kuqa, Aksu, Maralbexi (Bachu), Artux and Kashgar. From Kashgar, the Kashgar–Hotan railway, follows the southern rim of the Tarim to Hotan, with stops at Shule, Akto, Yengisar, Shache (Yarkant), Yecheng (Karghilik), Moyu (Karakax).

The Ürümqi-Dzungaria Railway connects Ürümqi with coal fields in the eastern Junggar Basin. The Hami–Lop Nur Railway connects Hami with potassium salt mines in and around Lop Nur.

The Golmud-Korla Railway, under construction as of August 2016, would provide an outlet to Qinghai. Railways to Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have been proposed.