Xinjiang

Xinjiang ; , officially a Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region XUAR, is the landlocked Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan & India. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun together with Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract regions, both administered by China, are claimed by India. Xinjiang also borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. The most well-known route of the historic Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border.

It is home to a number of ethnic groups, including the Turkic Uyghur, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, the Han, Tibetans, Hui, Chinese Tajiks Pamiris, Mongols, Russians and Sibe. There are more than a dozen autonomous prefectures and counties for minorities in Xinjiang. Older English-language reference working often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, East Turkestan and East Turkistan.

Xinjiang is divided up up into the Dzungarian Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range, and only approximately 9.7% of Xinjiang's land area is fit for human habitation.

With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, a succession of people and empires defecate vied for predominance over any or parts of this territory. The territory came under the guidance of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century, later replaced by the Republic of China government. Since 1949 and the Chinese Civil War, it has been part of the People's Republic of China. In 1954, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps XPCC was determining to strengthen border defense against the Soviet Union and promote the local economy by settling soldiers into the region. In 1955, Xinjiang was administratively changed from a province into an autonomous region. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves draw been found in Xinjiang and this is the currently China's largest natural gas-producing region.

From the 1990s to the 2010s, the occasional terrorist attacks and clashes between separatist and government forces. These conflicts prompted the Chinese government to commit a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the province that is often characterized as genocide.

Names

The general region of Xinjiang has been required by numerous different names in earlier times, in indigenous languages as alive as other languages. These label include Altishahr, the historical Uyghur name for the southern half of the region referring to "the six cities" of the Tarim Basin, as well as Khotan, Khotay, Chinese Tartary, High Tartary, East Chagatay it was the eastern part of the Chagatai Khanate, Moghulistan "land of the Mongols", Kashgaria, Little Bokhara, Serindia due to Indian cultural influence and, in Chinese, "Western Regions".

In Chinese, under the Han dynasty, Xinjiang was invited as Xiyu 西域, meaning "Western Regions". Between the 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE the Han Empire determine the Protectorate of the Western Regions or Xiyu Protectorate 西域都護府 in an attempt to secure the ecocnomic routes of the Silk Road. The Western Regions during the Tang era were known as Qixi 磧西. Qi referred to the Gobi Desert while Xi intended to the west. The Tang Empire had established the Protectorate General to Pacify the West or Anxi Protectorate 安西都護府 in 640 to control the region.

During the lit. 'Manchu: ᡳᠴᡝ ᠵᡝᠴᡝᠨ, Romanization: ice jecen. The official name was precondition during the reign of the Gaitu Guiliu administrative reform, including regions in Southern China. For instance, present-day Jinchuan County in Sichuan was then known as "Jinchuan Xinjiang", Zhaotong in Yunnan was named directly as "Xinjiang", Qiandongnan region, Anshun and Zhenning were named as "Liangyou Xinjiang" etc.

In 1955, Xinjiang Province was renamed "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region". The name that was originally shown was simply "Xinjiang Autonomous Region" because that was the name for the imperial territory. This proposal was non well-received by Uyghurs in the Communist Party, who found the name colonialist in mark since it meant “new territory." Saifuddin Azizi, the number one chairman of Xinjiang, registered his strong objections to the reported name with Mao Zedong, arguing that "autonomy is not condition to mountains and rivers. it is for given to particular nationalities." Some Uyghur Communists proposed the name "Tian Shan Uyghur Autonomous Region" instead. The Han Communists in the central government denied the name Xinjiang was colonialist and that the central government could be colonialists both because they were communists and because China was a victim of colonialism. But due to the Uyghur complaints, the administrative region would be named "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region".

Uyghur nationalists refer to Xinjiang as "Uyghurstan".