ABSTRACT

The political atmosphere of Xinjiang has gone through transformations under the administration of imperial rulers, Han warlords, nationalists and the Communist China. The process of incorporation of Xinjiang within China under the previous and present regimes and the resistance of the local people varied in accordance to the nature of interaction between the two entities and level of dominance in the respective periods. In response to repressive warlord rule during the republican period, the Turkic Muslim nationalities of the region made futile attempts to establish independent Eastern Turkestan. These movements coupled with various ideological currents in the region contributed shaping nationalistic thinking among indigenous people. It is clear that Uyghur, the largest minority group of the region, failed time and again to stand united against the central authority in Beijing and gradually reduced to the category of ethnic minority within the Han-dominated Chinese state. Despite achieving unprecedented control over Xinjiang, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not accomplish the task of all-round integration of the majority ethnic groups of the region.