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XINJIANGIn October 2005, China celebrates the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and in this the third issue of China Heritage Newsletter we examine aspects of the cultural heritage of Xinjiang, a region that covers 1.66 million square kilometers in China's far north-west, or roughly one sixth of the country. The territory designated Chinese Turkestan in late-19th century English language writings comprised two distinct regions—southern Xinjiang or Kashgaria, and northern Xinjiang or Jungharia, dominated by the Mongols until the brutal suppression of their uprising in 1759 by the armies of the Qianlong Emperor. The whole of Chinese Turkestan was only administered as a Chinese province called Xinjiang, meaning "new territory", from 1884 onwards. Prior to then Xinjiang refered to the Junghar Basin and the Ili River valley; after 1884, the Chinese administrative centre shifted from the Ili region to Urumqi. The quelling of the Junghar rebellion ended a long period of Mongol or quasi-Mongol ascendancy over the north of the region, clearing the stage in Central Asia for Russo-Chinese rivalry and the resurgence of closely interrelated Turkic peoples. Xinjiang, like the nations of former Soviet Central Asia, is home to many Turkic ethnic groups. Of Xinjiang's total population of 19.25 million (according to the census of 2000), 11.43 million are classified as members of non-Han national minorities. Although more than 40 of China's 55 'ethnic minorities' are said to live in Xinjiang, it is the Uyghur ethnic group that has lent the autonomous region its ethnic designation. In this issue we examine various aspects of the cultural heritage of Xinjiang, focusing in particular on that of the Uyghurs. Also presented in this issue are the most recent developments in Chinese archaeology, heritage protection, conservation and museology, as well as two reports on major international conferences setting China's scientific traditions within new intellectual contexts—Professor Judith Farquhar on the September 2005 Conference on the History of Visual Representation in Chinese Medicine and Dr Michael Paton on the XXII International Congress on the History of Science in July 2005. |
RECENT UPDATESRedologist Extraordinaire Zhou Ruchang's 周汝昌 DemiseSeasonal Blossoms and Three Friends in Winter: Lois Conner at the MetOfficial Ban on Phoney Provenance StoriesThe Growing Great WallThe Great Wall East and WestThe Chinese Internet: Individual Expression and Collective SuppressionAn Ancient Chinese KitchenARCHIVES2023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005 |