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Xinjiang, provincial-level administrative region of China, in the
extreme northwestern part of the country, between the Republic of
Mongolia and Afghanistan. Its area is about 1,600,000 sq km (about
618,000 sq mi); its population is 15,550,000 (1991 estimate). The
capital and chief city is Urumqi.
The central part of the region has mountains interspersed with
fertile valleys and plains. In the north lies the semiarid
Dzungarian Basin. In the south the vast Tarim Basin is dominated by
the Takla Makan Desert. East of the desert are marshlands and lakes.
Agriculture in Xinjiang depends on irrigation. The region is rich in
mineral resources, but manufacturing remains relatively undeveloped.
The Uygur, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking people, form the area's largest
ethnic group.
Kashi (also Kashgar or Kaxgar), city, northwestern China, in
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, situated in a fertile oasis at the
foot of the mountains of the Pamirs near the Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan borders. Located on the Kaxgar River, Kashi is the
commercial center of the arid western end of the Tarim Pendi (Tarim
Basin) and is a natural focus of overland routes linking China with
the countries of Turkistan, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Water
from wells and from the Kaxgar River supports crops of cotton,
grain, beans, and fruit; hides and wool are produced in nearby
semiarid grazing lands. Traditional handcrafted cotton and silk
textiles, rugs, leather goods, and jewelry, produced for centuries
for the overland caravan routes, remain the basis of the economy.
Uygurs constitute a majority of the largely Muslim
population.
Formerly called Shu-fu by the Chinese, Kashi was part
of the Chinese empire during the reign of the Han (206BC-AD220) and
again under the Tang (T'ang) (618-907). After about AD750, when the
Tang withdrew, it was ruled for long periods by Turkic, Uygur,
Mongol, and other Central Asian empires before returning once more
to Chinese control in 1760. From 1865 to 1877 Kashi was the capital
of an independent Muslim state established in the Tarim Pendi by
Yakub Beg. Population (1990) 174,570.
History. Xinjiang first came under the loose control of
imperial China during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). About 100 BC
the Han extended the Great Wall from Gansu into Xinjiang and
established several military garrisons along what became the Silk
Road. The indigenous Uygur inhabitants were nomadic herders and
oasis cultivators who were organized into tribal alliances and small
kingdoms. Chinese influence waned after the Han dynasty and the
Uygurs regained control. Periods of more effective Chinese control
came during the Tang (T'ang) dynasty (AD 618-907) and the Mongol
Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). Xinjiang was made a province in 1884
during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
In the 20th century a Han Chinese warlord, Yang
Zengxin, gained control of the province and was later appointed
governor. Yang was assassinated in 1928 and the province was only
loosely controlled until the Communists gained control of China in
1949. In 1955 Xinjiang was established as an autonomous region. The
Uygurs have resisted Han cultural assimilation and have periodically
clashed with official authorities.
For more information about
Xinjiang please find the article about this
area
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