Uyghur History

The Uyghurs are a Muslim Central Asian people descended from nomads, merchants, and traders that traversed the Silk Road and lived in the East Turkestan region since the Great Migration of the 6th century.  An important element to understanding the Uyghur history is understanding their home region.  This region was originally known as East Turkestan, but the Chinese renamed the area to Xinjiang, which means 'new frontier' in Mandarin. The region is geographically important to China because it is located in the Northwest area bordering several countries and thus strategic for trade and national security. Xinjiang is where the ancient Silk Road connected China to the rest of the world.  Importantly, Xinjiang is abundant in grasslands, water and natural resources making it ripe for economic expansion.

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In 1949, 75% of the people living in Xinjiang were Uyghurs.  In contrast, Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, only made up approximately 6% of Xinjiang. The Han are native to China and originated from Northern China. They are descendants of agricultural tribes that lived along the Yellow River.

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Today, the Uyghurs number about eleven million, making up approximately half of the population in Xinjiang.

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A brief summary of the history of Xianjing is outlined below:

• 1750s: Qing Dynasty Conquers Xinjiang. The Qing Dynasty took over Muslim lands, known as East Turkestan, and revolts ensued.

• 1884: Qing Dynasty Incorporates Xinjiang into Chinese Empire. In 1864, the region broke away briefly from the Qing Dynasty. The Chinese government regained control and in 1884 the area was renamed Xinjiang.

• 1911: Qing Dynasty Collapses and Sun Yat-sen Establishes Republic of China. To retain the Qing territories, including ethnic minorities in the frontier areas, Sun Yat-sen, founder and President of the new Chinese Republic, promoted a multiethnic nation-state. In reality, Han nationalism was the long-term vision as Sun Yat-Sen believed that all minorities were part of a single line of ancestry that had gone askew. The Uyghurs were marginalized and faced increasing amounts of discrimination. They founded the independent Eastern Turkestan Republic (ETR) in 1933 and 1944 to resist the repression.

• 1949: Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Takes Over China. Sun Yat-sen’s political party (KMT) and Mao Zedong’s China Communist Party (CCP) battled over China in a civil war. To gain support from ethnic minorities, the CCP promised the freedom of choice to join China or form independent states. The Uyghurs believed Mao and thus supported the CCP. Mao was declared the leader of China in 1949.

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1955: Xinjiang Comes Under the CCP ​​​​​​​and XUAR Is Formed

Under Mao, the CCP assumed an egalitarian approach to mobilize support.  However, the pretense of equality hid ulterior motives. The Communist Party and Mao adopted Sun Yat-sen’s prior vision of Han dominance and the CCP pursued a strategy of internal colonization in Xinjiang and marginalized the Uyghurs.  The second Eastern Turkestan Republic (ETR) lasted from 1944-1949. However, the ETR was consumed by the CCP when eight of the ETR leaders were killed in a plane crash on the way to negotiate with the CCP in early 1950. On October 1, 1955, Xinjiang became the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The CCP established the bingtuan, a paramilitary and economic organization, to maintain CCP control in the region.

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1966-1976: Mao’s Cultural Revolution ​​​​​​​and Purging in Xinjiang 

Mao blamed China’s economic problems on “The Four Olds” of ideas, culture, customs, and habits and ushered in the Cultural Revolution, which involved purging and ethnic violence throughout China including Xinjiang. A key element of the CCP strategy was to migrate Han into the Xinjiang frontier. The intense discrimination and displacement due to re-education further negatively impacted Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

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1970s and 1980s: Deng and Resurgence of Nationalism in Xinjiang

After Mao died and the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, Deng Xiaoping focused on opening up the economy and developing. He promoted a multiethnic state and passed the Law on Regional National Autonomy in 1984. It was a pragmatic move to ensure further economic development of Xinjiang under the shroud of tolerance. Uyghurs embraced their own ethnic nationalism. As a result, by the late 1980s, tensions mounted and the bingtuan was implemented again.

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1990s and Beyond

The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 created regional instability. Nationalism brewed within minority groups including the Uyghurs and there was an upsurge of resistance. The CCP cracked down on Xinjiang and the Uyghurs. National unity was threatened by the Uyghurs. In 1992, Uyghur radicals detonated several bombs in Xinjiang.  Following these events, the Strike Hard Campaign was launched. Anyone who was believed to support the Uyghurs could be imprisoned.  Meanwhile the CCP continued to exploit Xinjiang.  After September 11, 2001, the Uyghurs were persecuted as a result of increased Islamophobia and counterterrorism. The Global War on Terror had begun, and in the eyes of Beijing, all Uyghurs could be terrorists regardless of evidence.

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​Tensions reached a high point in July of 2009 when Uyghur protests in the regional capital, Urumqi, broke out. Nearly two hundred people were killed. Thousands of Uyghurs were detained, and some were executed. During the next few years, authorities blamed Uyghurs for attacks at a local government office, a train station, an open-air market, as well as Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The 2009 event was a critical point in the Communist Party’s treatment of the Uyghurs. The CCP began increasing restrictions on Uyghurs and limiting their freedom. Job discrimination, land seizures, and government control over religion led to protests and violent repression throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

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The internal colonization of the Xinjiang frontier during the second half of the twentieth century, driven by Han ethnocentricism, paved the way for the Uyghur cultural genocide which continues to deeply impact the Xianjing region and its indigenous people.