Xinjiang politics
Xinjiang which was annexed by China in the mid-eighteenth century, is mostly populated by Turkic-speaking Muslims, the majority of whom are Uyghurs. A long custom of exchanges with China, these people are connected, primarily by relation of culture and religion, to the Central Asian world. Probably this is one reason why, though they are becoming increasingly unified with China, they have never very willingly accepted the idea of sharing a common destiny with the Chinese people.
Late in 1949, Xinjiang capitulated to the Chinese Communists without a battle, but there was a Uigur insurrection in Hotan in 1954. On the base of the 1953 census, which showed the Uigurs to comprise 74% of the population, Xinjiang was again an independent region. Independent districts were made as well for the Kazakhs, Mongols, Hui, and Kyrgyz. In the 1950s and 1960s, the central government sent massive numbers of Chinese to Xinjiang to help develop water-conservancy and mineral-exploitation plans. This has drastically changed the population balance, and the Chinese are approaching numerical parity with the Uigurs. National defense has been an attention in the strategic and susceptible region too. In 1969, frontier incidents led to fighting between Soviet and Chinese forces along the border.
In the 1990s, the Turkic peoples of Xinjiang grew increasingly not not satisfied with Chinese rule, in part because of the immigration of great numbers of Chinese to the area as a result of government resettlement programs, and rioting by pro-independence Muslims broke out in 1997. China subsequently increased the number of troops in the region, and has established a harsh crackdown on political dissent and Turkic separatists. Orthodox Islamic practices have been disappointed or suppressed by the government for fear that they will become a focus of Uigur nationalism. Occasional anti-Chinese protests and ethnic insurgency have occurred since 1997, most violently in 2009, and there also have been separatist attacks on government officials and buildings and other targets.
Xinjiang which was annexed by China in the mid-eighteenth century, is mostly populated by Turkic-speaking Muslims, the majority of whom are Uyghurs. A long custom of exchanges with China, these people are connected, primarily by relation of culture and religion, to the Central Asian world. Probably this is one reason why, though they are becoming increasingly unified with China, they have never very willingly accepted the idea of sharing a common destiny with the Chinese people.
Late in 1949, Xinjiang capitulated to the Chinese Communists without a battle, but there was a Uigur insurrection in Hotan in 1954. On the base of the 1953 census, which showed the Uigurs to comprise 74% of the population, Xinjiang was again an independent region. Independent districts were made as well for the Kazakhs, Mongols, Hui, and Kyrgyz. In the 1950s and 1960s, the central government sent massive numbers of Chinese to Xinjiang to help develop water-conservancy and mineral-exploitation plans. This has drastically changed the population balance, and the Chinese are approaching numerical parity with the Uigurs. National defense has been an attention in the strategic and susceptible region too. In 1969, frontier incidents led to fighting between Soviet and Chinese forces along the border.
In the 1990s, the Turkic peoples of Xinjiang grew increasingly not not satisfied with Chinese rule, in part because of the immigration of great numbers of Chinese to the area as a result of government resettlement programs, and rioting by pro-independence Muslims broke out in 1997. China subsequently increased the number of troops in the region, and has established a harsh crackdown on political dissent and Turkic separatists. Orthodox Islamic practices have been disappointed or suppressed by the government for fear that they will become a focus of Uigur nationalism. Occasional anti-Chinese protests and ethnic insurgency have occurred since 1997, most violently in 2009, and there also have been separatist attacks on government officials and buildings and other targets.
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