Forgotten world (35): Xinjiang
Most people have never heard of Xinjiang, an autonomous region of China, but it is the nation’s largest region and takes up about one sixth of its territory (some 1.7M square kilometres). The name literally means ‘New Frontier’ and it is situated in the north-west corner of China, north of Tibet. It is a sparsely populated region and its population of 20M places it 24th in the list of China’s 33 administrative divisions.
Xinjiang is home to several Muslim Turkic groups including the Uyghurs and the Kazakhs. The percentage of ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang has grown from 6% in 1949 to an official tally of over 40% at present. This figure does not include military personnel or their families, or the many unregistered migrant workers. The Ulghurs remain the largest ethnic group (45%) and there is an Ulghur independence movement who want the region to become Uyghuristan.