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Xinjiang

This article is about the administrative division of the People's Republic of China. For the geographical region, see East Turkestan and Chinese Turkestan. For other uses, see Xinjiang (disambiguation).

Xinjiang
Autonomous region
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Name transcription(s)
 • Chinese新疆维吾尔自治区
(Xīnjiāng Wéiwú'ěr Zìzhìqū)
 • Uyghurشىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى
(Shinjang Uyghur Aptonom Rayoni)
 • AbbreviationXJ / 新 (Xīn)
Clockwise from top:
Location of Xinjiang within China
Location of Xinjiang within China
Coordinates: 41°N 85°E / 41°N 85°E / 41; 85
CountryChina
Capital
and largest city		Ürümqi
Divisions
 – Prefecture-level
 – County-level
 – Township-level
14 prefectures
95 counties
1142 towns and subdistricts
Government
 • TypeAutonomous region
 • BodyXinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional People's Congress
 • Party SecretaryMa Xingrui
 • Congress ChairwomanZumret Obul
 • Government ChairmanErkin Tuniyaz
 • Regional CPPCC ChairmanNurlan Abilmazhinuly
 • National People's Congress Representation60 deputies
Area
[1]
 • Total
1,664,897 km2 (642,820 sq mi)
 • Rank1st
Highest elevation
(Mount K2)
8,611 m (28,251 ft)
Lowest elevation
(Lake Ayding[2])
−154 m (−505 ft)
Population
 (2021)[3]
 • Total
25,890,000
 • Rank21st
 • Density16/km2 (40/sq mi)
  • Rank29th
Demographics
[4]
 • Ethnic
 composition
 (2020 census)
 • Languages44 languages;[5] including the two lingua francas, Chinese and Uyghur[6]
GDP (2023)[7]
 • TotalCN¥ 1,913 billion (23th)
US$ 271 billion
 • Per capitaCN¥ 73,774 (16h)
US$ 10,469
ISO 3166 codeCN-XJ
HDI (2022)0.762[8] (22nd) – high
Websitewww.xinjiang.gov.cn Edit this at Wikidata (in Chinese)
Uyghur version
This article contains Uyghur text. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined letters or other symbols instead of Uyghur script.

Xinjiang,[a] officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,[11][12] is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia. Being the largest province-level division of China by area and the 8th-largest country subdivision in the world, Xinjiang spans over 1.6 million square kilometres (620,000 sq mi) and has about 25 million inhabitants.[1][13] Xinjiang borders the countries of Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun and 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 are claimed by India but administered by China.[14][15][16] 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.

Xinjiang is divided into the Dzungarian Basin (Dzungaria) in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range and only about 9.7 percent of Xinjiang's land area is fit for human habitation.[17][unreliable source?] It is home to a number of ethnic groups, including the Chinese Tajiks (Pamiris), Han Chinese, Hui, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, Russians, Sibe, Tibetans, and Uyghurs.[18] There are more than a dozen autonomous prefectures and counties for minorities in Xinjiang. Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan,[19][20] Chinese Turkistan,[21] East Turkestan[22] and East Turkistan.[23]

With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, a succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of this territory. The territory came under the rule of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century, which was later replaced by the Republic of China. Since 1949 and the Chinese Civil War, it has been part of the People's Republic of China. In 1954, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to strengthen border defense against the Soviet Union and promote the local economy by settling soldiers into the region.[24] In 1955, Xinjiang was administratively changed from a province into an autonomous region. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang and it is currently China's largest natural-gas-producing region.

From the 1990s to the 2010s, the East Turkestan independence movement, separatist conflict and the influence of radical Islam have resulted in unrest in the region with occasional terrorist attacks and clashes between separatist and government forces.[25][26] 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 including, according to some, genocide.[27][28]

  1. ^ a b 6-1 自然资源划 [6-1 Natural Resources] (in Chinese). Statistics Bureau of Xinjiang. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  2. ^ Mackerras, Colin; Yorke, Amanda (1991). The Cambridge handbook of contemporary China. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-521-38755-2. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
  3. ^ "Communiqué of the Seventh National Population Census (No. 3)". National Bureau of Statistics of China. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Main Data of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from the Seventh National Population Census". www.fmprc.gov.cn. Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Toronto. 16 June 2021. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference progress was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "China". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  7. ^ "National Data". China NBS. March 2024. Retrieved 22 June 2024. see also "zh: 新疆维吾尔自治区2023年国民经济和社会发展统计公报" (Press release). xinjiang.gov.cn. Retrieved 12 June 2024. The average exchange rate of 2023 was CNY 7.0467 to 1 USD dollar "Statistical communiqué of the People's Republic of China on the 2023 national economic and social development" (Press release). China NBS. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Human Development Indices (8.0)- China". Global Data Lab. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  9. ^ Longman, J.C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3 ed.). Pearson Education ESL. ISBN 978-1-4058-8117-3.
  10. ^ "Xinjiang Uygur". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  11. ^ "新疆的历史与发展". www.gov.cn. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  12. ^ "新疆维吾尔自治区政府网（En）". The Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  13. ^ "National Data". Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  14. ^ Saul B. Cohen, ed. (2008). "Aksai Chin". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-231-14554-1. LCCN 2008009181. OCLC 212893637. "divided between India and CHINA"
  15. ^ Alastair Lamb (25 March 2023). The China-India Border--the Origins Of Disputed Boundaries. London. p. 11. Retrieved 12 April 2024 – via archive.org.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ^ "As India and China clash, JFK's 'forgotten crisis' is back". Brookings. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  17. ^ 新疆绿洲面积已从4.3%增至9.7%. People's Daily 人民网 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Regions and territories: Xinjiang". BBC News. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011.
  19. ^ "Turkestan". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. XV. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1912. Archived from the original on 20 April 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
  20. ^ "EXCAVATIONS iv. In Chinese Turkestan". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 24 September 2020. In contemporary geographic terminology, Chinese Turkestan refers to Xinjiang (Sinkiang), the Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.
  21. ^ A Short History of Chinese Turkistan. Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir. 1981.
  22. ^ Sheila Hollihan-Elliot (2006). Muslims in China. Mason Crest Publishers. p. 55. ISBN 1-59084-880-2. For most of their history, the Uyghurs lived as tribes in a loosely affiliated nation on the northern Chinese border (sometimes called East Turkestan).
  23. ^ William Samolin (1964). East Turkistan to the Twelfth Century. The Hague: Mouton & Co. p. 9. The general boundaries of East Turkistan are the Altai range on the northeast, Mongolia on the east, the Kansu corridor or the Su-lo-ho basin on the southeast, the K'un-lun system on the south, the Sarygol and Muztay-ata on the west, the main range of the T'ien-shan system on the north to the approximate longitude of Aqsu (80 deg. E), then generally northeast to the Altai system which the boundary joins in the vicinity of the Khrebët Nalinsk and Khrebët Sailjuginsk.
  24. ^ O'Neill, Mark (13 April 2008). "The Conqueror of China's Wild West". Asia Sentinel. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  25. ^ Tiezzi, Shannonb (3 October 2015). "China's 'Protracted War' in Xinjiang". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  26. ^ "East Turkestan: Chinese Authorities Confiscate Passports Amid Security Crackdown". Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Radio Free Asia. 21 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  27. ^ Ramzy, Austin; Buckley, Chris (16 November 2019). "'Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  28. ^ Ramzy, Austin (20 January 2021). "China's Oppression of Muslims in Xinjiang, Explained". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 March 2022.


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