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Geography
of ( Eastern
Turkistan)
Chinese have
come to call the land Xinjiang which
means "the new territory" or "the new
frontier." It was a name applied in 1884
when the then Chinese Imperial government
formally annexed what had for centuries been
known as Sharqi Turkistan -- "The Land of
the Eastern Turks."
As its
traditional name implies, Eastern Turkistan
is a Turkic country populated primarily
by Muslims who can trace their history back
to at least the 7th century. Culturally,
linguistically, even economically, Eastern
Turkistan is tied far more closely to
nations which lie to its north and west than
to its current overlord, China.
To meet an
Eastern Turkistani is to know instantly that
those who live in Sharqi Turkistan are not
Chinese. While they suffer under the rule of
what can perhaps be seen as the last great
empire on Earth, Eastern Turkistanis yearn
for the day when they can once again guide
the course of their own nation.
The Land Located in Central Asia, 1500
miles from Beijing, Eastern Turkistan is
bordered by Kazakhstan to the north,
Mongolia to the northeast, and Kirghizstan
and Tajikistan to the northwest and west. To
the west and southwest lie Afghanistan and
Pakistan, and to the south are Tibet and
India. To the east lies China. Eastern
Turkistan is a vast land of
640,000 square miles --
one sixth the total of all China.
Geographically, it is China's largest
province. Mountains ring most of the
land. To the north and northeast lie the
Altai Mountains. The Tarbagatai Mountains
are in the northwest, forming part of the
border with the former Soviet Republics. To
the south are the Tibetan ranges: the
Pamirs, the Karakorams, and the Kunlun
Mountains. To the east are the Qilian
Mountains which complete the circle. Only a
few natural corridors pierce this wall of
moutains. The Gansu corridor links the
province to China proper, through the Gobi
Desert. While Beijing has sought to
strengthen that link, mountain passes to the
north and west provide far easier access to
the outside world -- a fact which has shaped
commerce, culture and history through the
centuries. Still another range of
mountains, the Tangri Taghlari, runs east to
west across the province forming two basins:
the Dzungarian Plain to the north and the
much larger Tarim Basin to the south. Each
basin has its own desert, but by far the
largest desert -- the Taklimakan ---- is to
be found in the extremely arid Tarim Basim.
It is the largest desert in all China. The
extent of the deserts in Eastern Turkistan
is but the most dramatic demonstration of
the dryness of the climate. Far from any
ocean, Eastern Turkistan receives little
rain. Its winters are cold and summers hot.
Sandstorms are frequent. But for the rivers,
fed by melting snow found on the surrounding
mountains, much of Eastern Turksitan would
be completely unlivable. Natural Resources
Agriculture in the province depends on
irrigation fed by rivers flowing from the
mountains and oases. Crops include winter
and spring wheat, corn, rice and millet. The
province's farmers are a major producer of
long-fiber cotton for China; fruit from the
region such as the seedless grapes of
Turfan, melons of Artush and Peyzawat, and
apples of Ghulja are well known. The
province is one of China's biggest producers
of livestock. Large numbers of sheep,
cattle, horses, goats, donkeys, camels,
mules and yaks are to be found grazing on
the provinces vast natural grasslands.
Potentially of greatest importance is the
natural wealth to be found beneath the land
-- a fact not lost on China. The province is
rich in uranium, platinum, gold, diamonds,
rubies, emeralds and and other precious
stones. Iron, lead, copper, silver, suphur,
tin, and mica are abundant as well.
Most
significantly, Eastern Turkistan has vast
and largely untapped deposits of coal and
reserves of oil. China estimates that one
third of its total coal and oil is to be
found within the province. By the year 2000,
confirmed oil reserves are expected to reach
6.5 billion tons -- along with billions of
cubic meters of natural gas. According to
The Washington Post, "oil in China's Tarim
Basin may contain nearly as much crude as
Saudi Arabia." Despite the natural wealth
of Eastern Turkistan, the Turkic people of
this land remain poor, living in what China
itself acknowledges to be one of its poorest
provinces. Indeed, according to China's own
statistics, 90 percent of the Turkic people
live below the nation's poverty line.
The People
and Their Culture
The indiginous peoples of Eastern Turkistan
are mainly Turkic. Uighurs represent the
largest population group by far, but about a
million Kazakhs and thousands of Kirghiz,
Uzbeks, and Tatars are also to be found. A
small number of Iranian speaking Tajiks live
in eastern Turkistan as well.
Since
reasserting control of Eastern Turkistan in
1949 (see below), Beijing has transported
millions of Han Chinese to the province.
The
population of Eastern Turkistan is unclear.
China claims that 16 million people live
there, 6 million of them Han. Other sources
place the total far higher -- perhaps more
than 25 million inhabitants. The overlooked
10 million are, clearly, not Han. While the
Han speak Chinese, overwhelmingly the people
of Eastern Turkistan speak Turkic languages
-- Uighur Turkic,
Kazakh Turkic, and so forth -- which are
closely linked with one to the other. These
and other languages, including Turkic
itself, are branches of the ancient Altaic
language family. The religion of the
province's Turkic majority is Islam,
reflecting a conversion that occurred a
thousand years ago. The People's Republic of
China has sought to suppress the practice of
Islam, closing thousands of mosques and
religous schools. Every aspect of the
life of Eastern Turkistanis is different
from that of Chinese: clothing, marriage
ceremonies, funerals, sports, music,
theater, dancing, and more. While China
seeks to gloss over these differences, they
are clear to anyone who visits the province. |
