Xinjiang

pagoda near Tian Lake

Uygur Autonomous Region

Xinjiang, conventional Sinkiang, in full Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, officially Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu, Chinese (Pinyin) Xinjiang Weiwu’er Zizhiqu or (Wade-Giles romanization) Hsin-chiang Wei-wu-erh Tzu-chih-ch’ü, Uygur also spelled Uyghur or Uighur, autonomous region of China, occupying the northwestern corner of the country. It is bordered by the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu to the east, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south, Afghanistan and the disputed territory of Kashmir to the southwest, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the west, Kazakhstan to the northwest, Russia to the north, and Mongolia to the northeast. It is China’s largest political unit. Its capital is at Ürümqi (Wulumuqi).

Known to the Chinese as Xiyu (“Western Regions”) for centuries, the area became Xinjiang (“New Borders”) upon its annexation under the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in the 18th century. Westerners long called it Chinese Turkistan to distinguish it from Russian Turkistan. Xinjiang is an area of lonely, rugged mountains and vast desert basins. Its indigenous population of agriculturalists and pastoralists (principally Uyghurs) inhabit oases strung out along the mountain foothills or wander the arid plains in search of pasturage. Since the establishment of firm Chinese control in 1949, serious efforts have been made to integrate the regional economy into that of the country, and these efforts have been accompanied by a great increase in the Han (Chinese) population there. The policy of the Chinese government is to allow the ethnic groups to develop and maintain their own cultural identities, although it asserted an assimilative education policy in the 21st century. The extent to which that policy has been successful in Xinjiang has been interpreted variously; ethnic tensions exist, especially between Uyghurs and Han. Area 635,900 square miles (1,646,900 square km). Pop. (2020) 25,852,345.