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135-600: As a reminder to the people of Xinjiang that the Manchus conquered the region one in five cash coins produced in that region after the death of the Qianlong Emperor was ordered to bear the inscription "Qianlong Tongbao" (the Qianlong Emperor Money), as a consequence cash coins with this inscription continued to be produced until the end of the dynasty . During the first few years of the reign of

270-492: A Chinese soldier has served his time in Turkestan and has to return to his native city of Pekin or Shanghai, he either leaves his temporary wife behind to shift for herself, or he sells her to a friend. If he has a family he takes the boys with him~—if he can afford it—failing that, the sons are left alone and unprotected to fight the battle of life, While in the case of daughters, he sells them to one of his former companions for

405-542: A coin dragon was created during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor was because the Mandarin word for "Coin dragon" ( Qián lóng ) sounds like the reign name of the emperor ( Qián lóng ) meaning that it was seen as a fitting tribute to the supreme authority of the Qing empire and as it was made of cash coins it could be seen as a symbol of wealth to represent the power and prosperity of the Qing. What remains an unsolved mystery

540-464: A combination of disease and warfare, and recovery took generations. Han and Hui merchants were initially only allowed to trade in the Tarim Basin; their settlement in the Tarim Basin was banned until the 1830 Muhammad Yusuf Khoja invasion , when the Qing rewarded merchants for fighting off Khoja by allowing them to settle in the basin. The Uyghur Muslim Sayyid and Naqshbandi Sufi rebel of

675-467: A military base in the province and deployed several military and economic advisors. Sheng invited a group of Chinese Communists to Xinjiang (including Mao Zedong's brother, Mao Zemin ), but executed them all in 1943 in fear of a conspiracy. In 1944, President and Premier of China Chiang Kai-shek , informed by the Soviet Union of Shicai's intention to join it, transferred him to Chongqing as

810-461: A period of desiccation affected the region from the 3rd century CE onwards. Today, Yarkant is a predominantly Uyghur settlement. The irrigated oasis farmland produces cotton , wheat , corn , fruits (especially pomegranates , pears and apricots ) and walnuts . Yak and sheep graze in the highlands . Mineral deposits include petroleum , natural gas , gold , copper , lead , bauxite , granite and coal . The territory of Yārkand

945-647: A population of 373,492. The fertile oasis is fed by the Yarkand River , which flows north down from the Karakorum mountains and passes through the Kunlun Mountains , known historically as the Congling mountains (lit. 'Onion Mountains' - from the abundance of wild onions found there). The oasis now covers 3,210 square kilometres (1,240 sq mi), but was likely far more extensive before

1080-479: A recently ascended emperor, a mint would first engrave an ancestor coin out of fine brass which would form the basis for mother coins. The introduction of ancestor coins under the Manchu Qing dynasty lead to all mints having more consistently produced coinages and smaller variations between the coins produced by separate mints in both inscription (or legend) as well as in quality. List of mint marks: There

1215-653: A result of a long struggle with the Dzungars which began during the 17th century. In 1755, with the help of the Oirat noble Amursana , the Qing attacked Ghulja and captured the Dzungar khan. After Amursana's request to be declared Dzungar khan went unanswered, he led a revolt against the Qing. Qing armies destroyed the remnants of the Dzungar Khanate over the next two years, and many Han Chinese and Hui moved into

1350-835: A succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of this territory. The territory came under the rule of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century, which was later replaced by the Republic of China . Since 1949 and the Chinese Civil War , it has been part of the People's Republic of China. In 1954, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to strengthen border defense against

1485-457: A temporary wife, dispensing entirely with the services of the clergy, as being superfluous, and most of the high officials also give way to the same amiable weakness, their mistresses being in almost all cases natives of Khotan, which city enjoys the unenviable distinction of supplying every large city in Turkestan with courtesans. When a Chinaman is called back to his own home in China proper, or

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1620-571: A trifling sum. The natives, although all Mahammadans, have a strong predilection for the Chinese, and seem to like their manners and customs, and never seem to resent this behaviour to their womankind, their own manners, customs, and morals (?) being of the very loosest description. The Battle of Yarkand took place in Yarkant county, in April 1934. Ma Zhancang 's Chinese Muslim army defeated

1755-466: A year, making a short trip to Khotan during that time. He reported: During his journey, Göez also noted the presence of large marble quarries in the area, leading him to write that amongst native travellers from Yarkant to Cathay: Yarkent served as capital for the Yarkent Khanate , also known as Yarkent State , from the establishment of Yarkent Khanate to its fall (1514–1713). The Khanate

1890-557: Is 182 centimeters (5.97 ft) in length and 47 cm (1.5 ft) in height. According to Mr. Zhou Qian (周乾), a researcher at the Palace Museum, the Qianlong Tongbao coin dragon could be described as "About 2 meters long, mighty and shocking with fierce teeth and dancing claws, creating clouds and driving the mist" (该钱龙长约2米，张牙舞爪，做腾云驾雾状，形象威武，极具震慑感。). As no known historical documents recorded the existence of this coin dragon it

2025-853: Is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region , China , located on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin . It is one of 11 counties administered under Kashgar Prefecture . The county, usually referred to as Yarkand in English , was the seat of an ancient Buddhist kingdom on the southern branch of the Silk Road and the Yarkand Khanate . The county sits at an altitude of 1,189 metres (3,901 ft) and as of 2003 had

2160-406: Is a type of Chinese numismatic charm with the inscription Qianlong Tongbao which might have been cast during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor which is 56 millimeters in diameter and has a thickness of just slightly more than 3 millimeters. The Chinese characters of this amulet are also different style from those of circulating Qianlong Tongbao cash coins, such as the bottom part of the "Bao" (寶) and

2295-548: Is amply stocked with the means of life, especially cotton." At the end of the 16th century Yarkant was incorporated into the Khanate of Kashgar and became its capital. The Jesuit Benedict Göez , who sought a route from the Mughal Empire to Cathay (which, according to his superiors, may or may not have been the same place as China), arrived in Yarkant with a caravan from Kabul in late 1603. He remained there for about

2430-471: Is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia . Being the largest province-level division of China by area and the 8th-largest country subdivision in the world, Xinjiang spans over 1.6 million square kilometres (620,000 sq mi) and has about 25 million inhabitants. Xinjiang borders

2565-507: Is an important producer of wheat, corn, rice, rapeseed, and cotton in southern Xinjiang. The area also produces grapes, rugs, and leather products. Industries include electronics, coal, silk, tractor repair, and cotton and cooking oil processing. In 1885 there was about 154,600 acres (1,021,500 mu ) of cultivated land in Yarkant. As of 2015, 818,379 of the 851,374 residents of the county were Uyghur , 25,404 were Han Chinese and 7,591 were from other ethnic groups. As of 1999, 95.71% of

2700-544: Is by stringing them together in the shape of a sword , these amulets are referred to as " Chinese coin swords ", these Chinese coin swords consist of either one or two iron rods which are used as their foundation and the Qianlong Tongbao coins (but sometimes other inscriptions may also be used) are fastened with a red string, cord, or wire. A Chinese coin sword is usually about 60 centimeter long and typically consists of around one hundred bronze Chinese cash coins. One of these Chinese coin swords made with Qianlong Tongbao cash coins

2835-679: Is first mentioned in the Book of Han (1st century BCE) as "Shaju" (Old Chinese, approximately, *s³a(j)-ka), which is probably related to the name of the Iranian Saka tribes. Descriptions in the Hou Hanshu ('History of the Later Han') contain insights into the complex political situation China faced in attempting to open up the " Silk Routes " to the West in the 1st century CE. According to

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2970-566: Is home to most of the Uyghur population, about nine million people, out of a total population of twenty million; fifty-five percent of Xinjiang's Han population, mainly urban, live in the north. This created an economic imbalance, since the northern Junghar basin (Dzungaria) is more developed than the south. Land reform and collectivization occurred in Uyghur agricultural areas at the same general pace as in most of China. Hunger in Xinjiang

3105-601: Is in the collection of the British Museum . At the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City , Beijing there is a coin dragon (traditional Chinese: 錢龍 ; simplified Chinese: 钱龙 ; pinyin: Qián lóng ) made of Qianlong Tongbao cash coins, these cash coins are all about 2.8 centimeters in diameter and are identical in every way to those that were minted for normal circulation. But as none of

3240-402: Is possible that it was in fact meant to remain a secret hidden away from sight. The coin dragon was likely installed during a Shang Liang (traditional Chinese: 上樑 ; simplified Chinese: 上梁 ; pinyin: Shàng liáng ) ceremony, this is evident of the remnants of the red silk satin from this topping-out ceremony which occurred several centuries ago. Shang Liang ceremonies were when

3375-521: Is the fact that every leg of the coin dragon only has 4 claws on each leg as opposed to five, as imperial dragons are typically five-clawed as only the emperor and his immediate family could display five-claw dragons, while three-clawed and four-clawed dragons were symbols of government officials below the emperor. After the Tây Sơn Rebellion ousted the Revival Lê dynasty from Northern Vietnam

3510-562: The "Chapter on the Western Regions " in the Hou Hanshu : "Pei Zun, the Administrator of Dunhuang , wrote saying that foreigners should not be allowed to employ such great authority and that these decrees would cause the kingdoms to despair. An Imperial decree then ordered that the seal and ribbons of "Protector General" be recovered, and replaced with the seal and ribbon of "Great Han General." Xian's envoy refused to make

3645-646: The Afaqi suborder, Jahangir Khoja was sliced to death (Lingchi) in 1828 by the Manchus for leading a rebellion against the Qing . According to Robert Montgomery Martin , many Chinese with a variety of occupations were settled in Dzungaria in 1870; in Turkestan (the Tarim Basin), however, only a few Chinese merchants and garrison soldiers were interspersed with the Muslim population. The 1765 Ush rebellion by

3780-494: The Bronze Age linked to the expansion of early Indo-Europeans . These population dynamics gave rise to a heterogeneous demographic makeup. Iron Age samples from Xinjiang show intensified levels of admixture between Steppe pastoralists and northeast Asians, with northern and eastern Xinjiang showing more affinities with northeast Asians, and southern Xinjiang showing more affinity with central Asians. Between 2009 and 2015,

3915-491: The Chinese Tajiks ( Pamiris ), Han Chinese , Hui , Kazakhs , Kyrgyz , Mongols , Russians , Sibe , Tibetans , and Uyghurs . There are more than a dozen autonomous prefectures and counties for minorities in Xinjiang. Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan , Chinese Turkistan, East Turkestan and East Turkistan. With a documented history of at least 2,500 years,

4050-631: The Kokand Khanate ) fled from the khanate in 1865 after losing Tashkent to the Russians . Beg settled in Kashgar, and soon controlled Xinjiang. Although he encouraged trade, built caravansareis , canals and other irrigation systems, his regime was considered harsh. The Chinese took decisive action against Yettishar; an army under General Zuo Zongtang rapidly approached Kashgaria, reconquering it on 16 May 1877. After reconquering Xinjiang in

4185-652: The Protectorate General to Pacify the West ( 安西都護府 ) or Anxi Protectorate, in 640 to control the region. During the Anshi Rebellion , which nearly destroyed the Tang dynasty, Tibet invaded the Tang on a broad front from Xinjiang to Yunnan . It occupied the Tang capital of Chang'an in 763 for 16 days, and controlled southern Xinjiang by the end of the century. The Uyghur Khaganate took control of Northern Xinjiang, much of Central Asia and Mongolia at

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4320-550: The Qianlong Emperor China had suffered from a shortage of cash coins due to the contemporary scarcity of copper, but soon Yunnan's copper mines started producing a large surplus of copper allowing the Qing government to swiftly increase the money supply and minting more coins at a faster pace. The cash coins produced during this early period are similar in size and quality as the preceding Kangxi Tongbao (康熙通寶) and Yongzheng Tongbao (雍正通寶) cash coins, but over time

4455-663: The Wakhan corridor from where travellers could cross the relatively easy Baroghil Pass and Badakshan . As with much of southern Xinjiang, Yarkant has a temperate zone, continental desert climate ( Köppen BWk ), with a mean total of only 61 mm (2.40 in) of precipitation per annum. As spring and autumn are short, winter and summer are the main seasons. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from −5.2 °C (22.6 °F) in January to 25.3 °C (77.5 °F) in July;

4590-559: The "infidel Kalmuks" (Dzungars) built Buddhist monuments in their region. The Turkic Muslims of the Turfan and Kumul oases then submitted to the Qing dynasty and asked China to free them from the Dzungars; the Qing accepted their rulers as vassals. They warred against the Dzungars for decades before defeating them; Qing Manchu Bannermen then conducted the Dzungar genocide , nearly eradicating them and depopulating Dzungaria. The Qing freed

4725-669: The 13th century, although it was ruled by foreign overlords. The Kara-Khanids converted to Islam. The Uyghur state in Eastern Xinjiang, initially Manichean , later converted to Buddhism . Remnants of the Liao dynasty from Manchuria entered Xinjiang in 1132, fleeing rebellion by the neighboring Jurchens . They established a new empire, the Qara Khitai (Western Liao), which ruled the Kara-Khanid and Uyghur-held parts of

4860-725: The 16th and 17th centuries. The reigning dynasty of the Yarkent Khanate originated from this state, which existed for more than a century. In 1509 the Dughlats, vassal rulers of the Tarim basin, rebelled against the Moghulistan Khanate and broke away. Five years later Sultan Said Khan, a brother of the Khan of Moghulistan in Turfan, conquered the Dughlats but established his own Yarkent khanate instead. This put an end to

4995-630: The 1860s, Xinjiang had been under Qing rule for a century. The region was captured in 1759 from the Dzungar Khanate , whose population (the Oirats ) became the targets of genocide. Xinjiang was primarily semi-arid or desert and unattractive to non-trading Han settlers, and others (including the Uyghurs) settled there. The Dungan Revolt by the Muslim Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups

5130-769: The 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD, the Han Empire established the Protectorate of the Western Regions or Xiyu Protectorate ( 西域都護府 ) in an effort to secure the profitable routes of the Silk Road . The Western Regions during the Tang era were known as Qixi ( 磧西 ). Qi refers to the Gobi Desert while Xi refers to the west. The Tang Empire had established the Protectorate General to Pacify

5265-563: The Afaqi Khoja leader Burhan-ud-din and his brother, Khoja Jihan, from Dzungar imprisonment and appointed them to rule the Tarim Basin as Qing vassals. The Khoja brothers reneged on the agreement, declaring themselves independent leaders of the Tarim Basin. The Qing and the Turfan leader Emin Khoja crushed their revolt, and by 1759 China controlled Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin. The Manchu Qing dynasty gained control of eastern Xinjiang as

5400-610: The Afaqi and the Afaq Khoja invited the 5th Dalai Lama (the leader of the Tibetans ) to intervene on his behalf in 1677. The Dalai Lama then called on his Dzungar Buddhist followers in the Dzungar Khanate to act on the invitation. The Dzungar Khanate conquered the Tarim Basin in 1680, setting up the Afaqi Khoja as their puppet ruler. After converting to Islam, the descendants of the previously- Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan believed that

5535-485: The Chinese Emperor. There is very little information on Yarkant's history for many centuries, apart from a couple of brief references in Tang dynasty (618-907) histories and it appears to have been of less note than the oasis of Kharghalik (see Yecheng and Yecheng County ) to its south. The area became the main base in the region for Chagatai Khan (died 1241), who inherited Kashgaria (and also much of

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5670-544: The Eastern Circuit the local population had already adopted the Chinese monetary culture prior to its conquest by the Qing dynasty so these two circuits would use the same type of cash coins as were used in China proper and did not have to adopt a completely different monetary system. Cash coins from China proper flowed in large numbers to these regions. The first mint in the Northern Circuit was opened in

5805-693: The Empire of Timur emerged in 1370, and became the dominant power in the region until its conquest in 1508 by the Shaybanids. Its eastern part became Moghulistan, which was created by Tughluk Timur Khan in 1347 with the capital centered in Almalik, around the Ili River Valley. It comprised all the settled lands of Eastern Kashgaria, as well as regions of Turpan and Kumul which were known at the time as Uyghurstan, according to Balkh and Indian sources of

5940-403: The Later Lê dynasty. These armies would easily defeat the Tây Sơn dynasty at several battles and took Thăng Long (modern Hanoi ) on November 19, 1788, reinstating Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống (黎昭統). After the forces of the Quang Trung Emperor (光中帝) retook Hanoi and expelled the Chinese and Revival Lê forces back over the Chinese border the Viceroy of Yungui , Fu Gangan (富綱安) was chosen to head

6075-413: The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry the following year. During the Ili Rebellion , the Soviet Union backed Uyghur separatists to form the Second East Turkestan Republic (ETR) in the Ili region while most of Xinjiang remained under Kuomintang control. The People's Liberation Army entered Xinjiang in 1949 , when Kuomintang commander Tao Zhiyue and government chairman Burhan Shahidi surrendered

6210-431: The Qianlong Emperor ordered his armies to invade Annam ( Vietnam ) and restore the Revival Lê dynasty. This army would be commanded by the Viceroy of Liangguang , Sun Shiyi (孫士毅). Two armies invaded Vietnam in November 1788 with one army composed of Guangdongers marching in from Guangxi and another one entering from Yunnan led by General Wu Dajing (烏大經), these armies would team up with Vietnamese soldiers loyal to

6345-488: The Qianlong Tongbao used for this coin dragon show any wear it seems that these were all freshly cast for the creation of this sculpture. The coin dragon's backboard is composed of paperboard on which a colourful Chinese dragon is painted. The strings of Qianlong Tongbao cash coins create the form of a Chinese dragon, these cash coins are attached to the paperboard backboard and Hall of Mental Cultivation's roof beam by "gold-plated round-head copper nails". The coin dragon

6480-472: The Qing dynasty in 1911 making many of them hard to attribute. Under the Jiaqing Emperor the cash coins produced by the Aksu Mint continued using the description "Qianlong Tongbao" and made up 20% of all cash coins produced in this era in Aksu. The ratio of Qianlong Tongbao cash coins produced in Xinjiang after the death of the Qianlong Emperor increased at certain times to 30% or even 40%. As so many Qianlong Tongbao cash coins were produced in Xinjiang until 1911

6615-454: The Qing government now faced the fact that the amount of copper ore available in the region was very little, in order to get the amount of copper needed to manufacture these "red cash coins", General Zhao Hui requested to the Qianlong Emperor in his July 1759 petition if he was allowed to reclaim old pūl coins from the locals to use as scrap metal and cast these new "red cash coins" from. These "red cash coins" had an official exchange rate with

6750-448: The Southern Circuit such as Aksu , Karashar, Kucha , and Turpan copper was more easily acquired as this area was rich in copper ore . Because of this the government of the Qing dynasty opened a massive mint with six furnaces and employing 360 workers in the city of Aksu in the year 1761, among its employees were technicians sent to oversee the coin production brought in from the mints of the Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Other than using

6885-427: The Southern Circuit. Initially the "red cash coins" produced in Turfan were the same weight as those previously produced in Yarkant and Aksu but as the supply of copper decreased the weight to 5.595 grams of these Qianlong Tongbao cash coins also decreased in the year 1771, in 1774 this was even further decreased to only 4.476 grams making it equal with the "yellow cash coins" of China proper and Northern Xinjiang. Even in

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7020-427: The Soviet Union and promote the local economy by settling soldiers into the region. In 1955, Xinjiang was administratively changed from a province into an autonomous region . In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang and it is currently China's largest natural-gas-producing region. From the 1990s to the 2010s, the East Turkestan independence movement , separatist conflict and

7155-407: The States of Káshghar."( Kashgar ). Yakub Beg (1820–1877) conquered Khotan , Aksu , Kashgar , and neighbouring towns with the help of the Russians in the 1860s. He made Yarkant the capital of the newly founded Turkic state of Yettishar , where he received embassies from England in 1870 and 1873. The Qing dynasty defeated Yakub at Turpan in 1877 after which he committed suicide. Thus ended

7290-417: The Tang dynasty, a series of expeditions were conducted against the Western Turkic Khaganate and their vassals: the oasis states of southern Xinjiang. Campaigns against the oasis states began under Emperor Taizong with the annexation of Gaochang in 640. The nearby kingdom of Karasahr was captured by the Tang in 644 and the kingdom of Kucha was conquered in 649 . The Tang Dynasty then established

7425-444: The Tarim Basin for the next century. Although Khitan and Chinese were the primary administrative languages, Persian and Uyghur were also used. Present-day Xinjiang consisted of the Tarim Basin and Dzungaria and was originally inhabited by Indo-European Tocharians and Iranian Sakas who practiced Buddhism and Zoroastrianism . The Turfan and Tarim Basins were inhabited by speakers of Tocharian languages, with Caucasian mummies found in

7560-422: The Tarim Basin were originally ruled by the Chagatai Khanate and the nomadic Buddhist Oirat Mongols in Dzungaria ruled the Dzungar Khanate. The Naqshbandi Sufi Khojas , descendants of Muhammad , had replaced the Chagatayid Khans as rulers of the Tarim Basin during the early 17th century. There was a struggle between two Khoja factions: the Afaqi (White Mountain) and the Ishaqi (Black Mountain). The Ishaqi defeated

7695-406: The Tianshan Mountains and the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains, before Qing China unified them into one political entity called Xinjiang Province in 1884. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe dwelling, nomadic Tibetan Buddhist Dzungar people, while the Tarim Basin was inhabited by sedentary, oasis dwelling, Turkic-speaking Muslim farmers, now known as

7830-403: The Tocharian language had high amounts of influence from Paleosiberian languages , such as Uralic and Yeniseian languages . Yuezhi culture is documented in the region. The first known reference to the Yuezhi was in 645 BC by the Chinese chancellor Guan Zhong in his work, Guanzi ( 管子 , Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). He described the Yúshì , 禺氏 (or Niúshì , 牛氏 ), as a people from

7965-454: The Turkic Uighur and Kirghiz army, and the Afghan volunteers sent by king Mohammed Zahir Shah , and exterminated them all. The emir Abdullah Bughra was killed and beheaded, his head was sent to Idgah mosque . Almost all the ancient buildings of the old city were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1968) with only the central mosque, the main gate of the old palace and the royal cemetery surviving. Violent clashes occurred in

8100-407: The Turpan-Urumchi region offered its allegiance to the Mongols in 1209, contributing taxes and troops to the Mongol imperial effort. In return, the Uyghur rulers retained control of their kingdom; Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire conquered the Qara Khitai in 1218. Xinjiang was a stronghold of Ögedei Khan and later came under the control of his descendant, Kaidu . This branch of the Mongol family kept

8235-527: The Uyghurs against the Manchu began after Uyghur women were raped by the servants and son of Manchu official Su-cheng. It was said that "Ush Muslims had long wanted to sleep on [Sucheng and son's] hides and eat their flesh" because of the months-long abuse. The Manchu emperor ordered the massacre of the Uyghur rebel town; Qing forces enslaved the Uyghur children and women, and killed the Uyghur men. Sexual abuse of Uyghur women by Manchu soldiers and officials triggered deep Uyghur hostility against Manchu rule. By

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8370-450: The Uyghurs, who were governed separately until 1884. The Qing dynasty was well aware of the differences between the former Buddhist Mongol area to the north of the Tian Shan and the Turkic Muslim area south of the Tian Shan and ruled them in separate administrative units at first. However, Qing people began to think of both areas as part of one distinct region called Xinjiang. The very concept of Xinjiang as one distinct geographic identity

8505-559: The West or Anxi Protectorate ( 安西都護府 ) in 640 to control the region. During the Qing dynasty , the northern part of Xinjiang, Dzungaria was known as Zhunbu ( 準部 , " Dzungar region") and the Southern Tarim Basin was known as Huijiang ( 回疆 , "Muslim Frontier"). Both regions merged after Qing dynasty suppressed the Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas in 1759 and became the region of "Xiyu Xinjiang" ( 西域新疆 , literally "Western Regions' New Frontier"), later simplified as "Xinjiang" ( 新疆 ; formerly romanized as "Sinkiang"). The official name

8640-619: The Western Tarim Basin such as Loulan , the Xiaohe Tomb complex and Qäwrighul . These mummies have been previously suggested to have been Tocharian or Indo-European speakers, but recent evidence suggest that the earliest mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to Indo-European pastoralists and spoke an unknown language, probably a language isolate . Although many of the Tarim mummies were classified as Caucasoid by anthropologists, Tarim Basin sites also contain both "Caucasoid" and "Mongoloid" remains, indicating contact between newly arrived western nomads and agricultural communities in

8775-478: The Xiongnu and Han China in which China eventually prevailed. During the 100s BCE, the Silk Road brought increasing Chinese economic and cultural influence to the region. In 60 BCE, Han China established the Protectorate of the Western Regions ( 西域都護府 ) at Wulei ( 烏壘 , near modern Luntai ), to oversee the region as far west as the Pamir Mountains . The protectorate was seized during the civil war against Wang Mang (r. AD 9–23), returning to Han control in 91 due to

8910-520: The Yettishar kingdom, and the region returned to Qing Chinese control. Chinese merchants and soldiers, foreigners like Russians, foreign Muslims, and other Turki merchants all engaged in temporary marriages with Turki (Uyghur) women, since a lot of foreigners lived in Yarkand, temporary marriage flourished there more than it did towards areas with fewer foreigners like areas towards Kucha's east. The Earl of Dunmore wrote in 1894: Almost every Chinaman in Yarkand, soldier or civilian, takes unto himself

9045-406: The Yining Mint. As the Qianlong Emperor ordered in 1775 that 20% of all cash coins cast in Xinjiang should bear the inscription "Qianlong Tongbao" even after the end of his reign as an "eternal reminder" of the Manchu conquest of the region, for this reason the majority of "red cash coins" with this inscription were actually produced after the Qianlong era as their production lasted until the fall of

9180-404: The Yuan dynasty at bay until their rule ended. During the Mongol Empire era the Yuan dynasty vied with the Chagatai Khanate for rule of the region and the latter controlled most of it. After the Chagatai Khanate divided into smaller khanates during the mid-14th century, the politically-fractured region was ruled by a number of Persianized Mongol Khans, including those from Moghulistan (with

9315-438: The annual mean is 12.01 °C (53.6 °F). The diurnal temperature variation is not particularly large for a desert, averaging 13.3 °C (23.9 °F) annually. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 56% in March to 75% in October, the county seat receives 2,860 hours of bright sunshine annually. Yarkant County includes 5 subdistricts , 14 towns , 14 townships , and 1 ethnic township . Yarkant County

9450-423: The army and marched back into Vietnam and concluded a truce recognising the revolutionary government. During this episode special Qianlong Tongbao cash coins were cast in the province of Yunnan as payment for the Chinese troops who engaged in this invasion which featured the characters "安南" (The Pacified South) on their reverse. Xinjiang Xinjiang , officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region ,

9585-500: The army of the First East Turkestan Republic in the 1934 Battle of Kashgar , ending the republic after Chinese Muslims executed its two emirs: Abdullah Bughra and Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra . The Soviet Union invaded the province ; it was brought under the control of northeast Han warlord Sheng Shicai after the 1937 Xinjiang War . Sheng ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with support from the Soviet Union , many of whose ethnic and security policies he instituted. The Soviet Union maintained

9720-622: The assistance of local Dughlat emirs), Uigurstan (later Turpan) and Kashgaria. These leaders warred with each other and the Timurids of Transoxiana to the west and the Oirats to the east: the successor Chagatai regime based in Mongolia and China. During the 17th century, the Dzungars established an empire over much of the region. The Mongolian Dzungars were the collective identity of several Oirat tribes which formed and maintained, one of

9855-673: The bottom is sometimes written with a "Fou" (缶) instead of the usual "Sheng" (生). The Qianlong era saw the founding of the Zhili mint in the city of Baoding (保定) as well as several mints in the newly conquered region of Xinjiang , some of these mints oversaw the production of "red cash coins" (紅錢) which were made of nearly pure copper. In the middle of the Qianlong era as much as 3,700,000 strings of cash were produced annually. Early Qianlong Tongbao cash coins contained no tin and were referred to as "yellow cash coins" (黃錢), however in 1740 2% tin

9990-487: The cash produced by the Yining Mint were of the same weight and size as found in the rest of China and also used the same alloys, but the copper content of Yining cash coins was occasionally higher and the weight of these coins often exceeded the national standard and could weigh more than 5 grams. In the year 1776 a large amount of copper ore was discovered in the proximity of Yining city leading to an increased output of

10125-403: The casting technique is often inaccurate or the inscriptions on them seemed deformed. As the copper used to make these new Qianlong Tongbao cash coins was melted from copper ore or scrap copper by local primitive methods. Therefore, the actual pure copper content in "red cash coins" is usually around 98%, the remaining 2% usually being lead, zinc, and other impurities which were all beyond skills of

10260-470: The central government denied the name Xinjiang was colonialist and denied that the central government could be colonialists both because they were communists and because China was a victim of colonialism. However, due to the Uyghur complaints, the administrative region would be named "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region". Xinjiang consists of two main geographically, historically and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names, Dzungaria north of

10395-452: The city of Yining which was both the military and administrative of the region. It is unclear whether the Yining Mint opened in 1764 (as argued by the Chinese numismatist Ding Fubao ) or in 1775. The Yining Mint had a total of twenty-one buildings and its technical staff included two employees from Shaanxi who supervised the local production of Qianlong Tongbao cash coins in Yining. Generally

10530-618: The copper ore acquired from the region to produce Qianlong Tongbao cash coins, the Aksu Mint also used copper the government accepted as a form of taxation from the population of the eastern part of the Southern city as well as the begs of Aksu. The weight of the Qianlong Tongbao cash coins produced in Aksu was identical to those produced in Yarkent, but they mostly circulated exclusively within

10665-502: The countries of Afghanistan , India , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Mongolia , Pakistan , Russia , and Tajikistan . The rugged Karakoram , Kunlun and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract regions are claimed by India but administered by China. Xinjiang also borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and

10800-584: The country's territory. Xinjiang borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and India 's Leh district in Ladakh to the south, Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the east, Mongolia ( Bayan-Ölgii , Govi-Altai and Khovd Provinces ) to the east, Russia 's Altai Republic to the north and Kazakhstan ( Almaty and East Kazakhstan Regions ), Kyrgyzstan ( Issyk-Kul , Naryn and Osh Regions ), Tajikistan 's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region , Afghanistan 's Badakhshan Province and Pakistan 's Gilgit-Baltistan to

10935-432: The county in the summer of 2014, in which dozens of people were killed according to local officials, though some estimates claim the death toll to be as high as 3,000. In August 2015, it was reported by Chinese media that the amount of farmland per capita was increased from 2.6 mu per person to 3.5 mu after clearing up more arable lands. Yarkant is strategically located about halfway between Kashgar and Khotan , at

11070-564: The dominance in the cities of Kashgaria of the Dughlat emirs, who had controlled them since 1220, when most of Kashgaria had been granted to the Dughlat by Chagatai Khan himself. The conquest of the Dughlats allowed the Yarkent state to become the foremost power in the region. The Qing dynasty gained control of the region in the middle of the 18th century. By the 19th century, due to its active trade with Ladakh , and an influx of foreign merchants, it became "the largest and most populous of all

11205-570: The earlier cash coins. The production cost of these new Qianlong Tongbao cash coins was about 15% of the material value and their intrinsic value exceeded their nominal one . Yet in actuality not all provincial mints followed the imperial directive to change the alloy of the coinage and continued to produce the cheaper copper-zinc alloy which was used before. From this period onwards the Ministry of Public Works Mint manufactured 12,490 strings of cash coins annually (with 1,000 cash coins per string). By

11340-501: The early 1990s, a total of 19 billion yuan had been spent in Xinjiang on large- and medium-sized industrial projects, with an emphasis on developing modern transportation, communications infrastructure, and support for the oil and gas industries. A brisk cross-border shuttle trade by Uyghurs further developed following the adoption of the Soviet Union's perestroika . Yarkant County Yarkant County , also Shache County , also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County ,

11475-705: The east. Mummies have been found in various locations in the Western Tarim Basin such as Loulan , the Xiaohe Tomb complex and Qäwrighul . Nomadic tribes such as the Yuezhi , Saka and Wusun were probably part of the migration of Indo-European speakers who had settled in Tarim Basin of Xinjiang long before the Xiongnu and Han Chinese. By the time the Han dynasty under Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) wrested

11610-545: The eastern part of the Southern Circuit. After a Muslim uprising against Qing rule occurred in the year 1765 the Qianlong Emperor decreed that a large number of soldiers should go to Turfan. Turfan was later proclaimed to be the administrative capital of the Southern Circuit and in 1766 the Aksu Mint was relocated to Turfan. In 1769 the Yarkent Mint closed its doors and Turfan became the only mint in operation in

11745-401: The efforts of general Ban Chao . The Western Jin dynasty succumbed to successive waves of invasions by nomads from the north at the beginning of the 4th century. The short-lived kingdoms that ruled northwestern China one after the other, including Former Liang , Former Qin , Later Liang and Western Liáng , all attempted to maintain the protectorate, with varying degrees of success. After

11880-415: The end of the Qianlong era Yunnan's copper mines started depleting. Thus, the production of cash coins was lowered by the end of the Qianlong era, and the copper content was debased once more. In 1794, all provincial mints were forced to close their doors, but, they were subsequently reopened in 1796. In the summer of 1759, the government of the Qing dynasty finished their conquest of Xinjiang , and Xinjiang

12015-583: The exchange, and (Pei) Zun took them by force. In 90 CE the Yuezhi or Kushans invaded the region with an army of reportedly 70,000 men, under their Viceroy, Xian, but they were forced to withdraw without a battle after Ban Chao instigated a "burnt earth" policy. After the Yuanchu period (114-120 CE), when the Yuezhi or Kushans placed a hostage prince on the throne of Kashgar: In 130 CE, Yarkand, along with Ferghana and Kashgar , sent tribute and offerings to

12150-532: The face of these weight reductions the actual weight of "red cash coins" manufactured in Turfan tended to be around 3.5 grams. As the Northern and Eastern Circuits of Xinjiang were mostly inhabited with bartering nomads who did not have a monetary tradition the government of the Qing dynasty did not force these peoples to adopt the monetary system of China . These regions also saw an influx of immigrants from China proper who brought with them their own money and in

12285-491: The final reunification of Northern China under the Northern Wei empire, its protectorate controlled what is now the southeastern region of Xinjiang. Local states such as Shule, Yutian , Guizi and Qiemo controlled the western region, while the central region around Turpan was controlled by Gaochang , remnants of a state ( Northern Liang ) that once ruled part of what is now Gansu province in northwestern China. During

12420-550: The historical Uyghur name for the southern half of the region referring to "the six cities" of the Tarim Basin , as well as Khotan, Khotay, Chinese Tartary , High Tartary, East Chagatay (it was the eastern part of the Chagatai Khanate ), Moghulistan ("land of the Mongols"), Kashgaria, Little Bokhara, Serindia (due to Indian cultural influence) and, in Chinese, Xiyu ( 西域 ), meaning " Western Regions ". Between

12555-556: The influence of radical Islam have resulted in unrest in the region with occasional terrorist attacks and clashes between separatist and government forces. These conflicts prompted the Chinese government to commit a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the province including, according to some, genocide. The general region of Xinjiang has been known by many different names throughout time. These names include Altishahr ,

12690-578: The junction of a branch road north to Aksu . It also was the terminus for caravans coming from Kashmir via Ladakh and then over the Karakoram Pass to the oasis of Niya in the Tarim Basin . The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway China National Highway 219 , built in 1956 commences in Yecheng/Yarkant and heads south and west, across Aksai Chin and into central Tibet. From Yarkant another important route headed southwest via Tashkurgan Town to

12825-532: The land between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Jaxartes (Syr Darya) rivers) after his father, Genghis Khan , died in 1227. Marco Polo described Yarkant in 1273, but said only that this "province" (of Kublai Khan 's nephew, Kaidu , d. 1301) was, "five days' journey in extent. The inhabitants follow the law of Mahomet , and there are also some Nestorian Christians . They are subject to the Great Khan's nephew. It

12960-468: The last nomadic empires . The Dzungar Khanate covered Dzungaria, extending from the western Great Wall of China to present-day Eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day Northern Kyrgyzstan to Southern Siberia . Most of the region was renamed "Xinjiang" by the Chinese after the fall of the Dzungar Empire, which existed from the early 17th to the mid-18th century. The sedentary Turkic Muslims of

13095-457: The late 1870s from Yaqub Beg, the Qing dynasty established Xinjiang ("new frontier") as a province in 1884  – making it part of China, and dropping the old names of Zhunbu ( 準部 , Dzungar Region) and Huijiang (Muslimland). After Xinjiang became a Chinese province, the Qing government encouraged the Uyghurs to migrate from southern Xinjiang to other areas of the province (such as

13230-455: The late 1970s has exacerbated uneven regional development, more Uyghurs have migrated to Xinjiang's cities and some Han have migrated to Xinjiang for economic advancement. Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made a nine-day visit to Xinjiang in 1981 and described the region as "unsteady". The Deng era reforms encouraged China's ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, to establish small private companies for commodity transit, retail, and restaurants. By

13365-460: The late 19th century, it was still being proposed by some people that two separate regions be created out of Xinjiang, the area north of the Tianshan and the area south of the Tianshan, while it was being argued over whether to turn Xinjiang into a province. Xinjiang is a large, sparsely populated area, spanning over 1.6 million km (comparable in size to Iran ), which takes up about one sixth of

13500-530: The local mint technicians in Xinjiang to remove. Sometimes due to circulation or due to corrosion the slag kernels or organic impurities in the body of a particular "red cash coin" would decompose or wear out and would form a comb-like cluster of very small see-through openings which the Chinese refer to as "sand eyes". At the introduction of red cash system in Southern Xinjiang in 1760, the exchange rate of standard cash (or "yellow cash") and "red cash"

13635-415: The main roof beam of a palace building was raised and installed. During these ceremonies Good luck charms, which frequently included cash coins, would traditionally be attached to one of the palace's roof beams in order to provide protection from evil spirits, fire, and other potential disasters. There would also be good luck charms that included wishes for peace and good fortune. The coin dragon thus serves as

13770-653: The mid-first millennium BC, the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China." Crossed by the Northern Silk Road , the Tarim and Dzungaria regions were known as the Western Regions. At the beginning of the Han dynasty the region was ruled by the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people. During the 2nd century BC, the Han dynasty prepared for war against Xiongnu when Emperor Wu of Han dispatched Zhang Qian to explore

13905-541: The mysterious kingdoms to the west and form an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. As a result of the war, the Chinese controlled the strategic region from the Ordos and Gansu corridor to Lop Nor . They separated the Xiongnu from the Qiang people on the south and gained direct access to the Western Regions. Han China sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the states of the region, beginning several decades of struggle between

14040-452: The name colonialist in nature since it meant "new territory". Saifuddin Azizi , the first chairman of Xinjiang, registered his strong objections to the proposed name with Mao Zedong , arguing that "autonomy is not given to mountains and rivers. It is given to particular nationalities." Some Uyghur Communists proposed the name " Tian Shan Uyghur Autonomous Region" instead. The Han Communists in

14175-526: The north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains (also known as Yushi) in Gansu. The longtime jade supply from the Tarim Basin is well-documented archaeologically: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty , more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as

14310-403: The pacified areas. The native Dzungar Oirat Mongols suffered greatly from the brutal campaigns and a simultaneous smallpox epidemic. Writer Wei Yuan described the resulting desolation in present-day northern Xinjiang as "an empty plain for several thousand li , with no Oirat yurt except those surrendered." It has been estimated that 80 percent of the 600,000 (or more) Dzungars died from

14445-533: The production of "red cash coins" as also equipment from the military was used. According to David Hartill the first Qianlong Tongbao cash coins produced at the Yarkant Mint were intended to be a present for the Qianlong Emperor. The Western cities of the Southern Circuit were poor in natural copper sources and required the reclamation of pūl coins for the production of cash coins while in the Eastern cities of

14580-748: The province and acceded in name to the Republic of China in March of that year. Balancing mixed ethnic constituencies, Yang controlled Xinjiang until his 1928 assassination after the Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang . The Kumul Rebellion and others broke out throughout Xinjiang during the early 1930s against Jin Shuren , Yang's successor, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. Jin enlisted White Russians to crush

14715-465: The province to them. Five ETR leaders who were to negotiate with the Chinese about ETR sovereignty died in an airplane crash that year in the outskirts of Kabansk in the Russian SFSR . The PRC continued the system of settler colonialism and forced assimilation which had defined previous Chinese expansionism in Xinjiang. The PRC autonomous region was established on 1 October 1955, replacing

14850-522: The province; that year (the first modern census in China was taken in 1953), Uyghurs were 73 percent of Xinjiang's total population of 5.11 million. Although Xinjiang has been designated a "Uygur Autonomous Region" since 1954, more than 50 percent of its area is designated autonomous areas for 13 native non-Uyghur groups. Modern Uyghurs developed ethnogenesis in 1955, when the PRC recognized formerly separately self-identified oasis peoples. Southern Xinjiang

14985-492: The provinces of Gansu and Qinghai . The most well-known route of the historic Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border. Xinjiang is divided into the Dzungarian Basin ( Dzungaria ) in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range and only about 9.7 percent of Xinjiang's land area is fit for human habitation. It is home to a number of ethnic groups, including

15120-440: The pūl coins that remained in circulation of 1 "red cash" for 2 pūl coins. As Zhao Hui wanted the new can coins to have the same weight as pūl coins they weighed 2 qián (or 7.46 grams) and had both a higher width and thickness than regular cash coins. Red cash coins are also generally marked by their rather crude craftsmanship when compared to the cash coins of China proper. The edges of these coins are often not filed completely and

15255-470: The quality and size of the Qianlong Tongbao would deteriorate. Like the preceding Yongzheng Tongbao coinage all Qianlong Tongbao cash coins exclusively use Manchu mint marks characterised by the character " ᠪᠣᠣ " (Boo) on the left side and the name of the issuing mint in the Manchu language on the right. A special characteristic of some Qianlong Tongbao cash coins is that the Chinese character "Long" (隆) at

15390-442: The quality control of mother coins , these ancestor coins were used to cast more mother coins and from a single ancestor thousands of mother coins could be cast. The production process of making mother coins with ancestor coins was the same as it was for the casting of circulation coins from mother coins, however these coins were usually only produced for a new reign title, when preparing to cast new cash coins with new inscriptions for

15525-545: The radical portion of the "Tong" (通). The Manchu characters on the reverse side of this amulet indicate that it was manufactured at the Ministry of Revenue Mint in Beijing . However, these Manchu characters appear to be very large compared to other Manchu mint marks and are rotated 90 degrees clockwise. The intention of this may have had political motivations but the meaning of why this was done remains unclear today. Another method how Qianlong Tongbao cash coins are used as charms

15660-444: The region between Qitai and the capital, largely inhabited by Han Chinese, and Ürümqi, Tacheng (Tabarghatai), Yili, Jinghe, Kur Kara Usu, Ruoqiang, Lop Nor and the lower Tarim River. In 1912, the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China . The ROC continued to treat the Qing territory as its own, including Xinjiang. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor of Xinjiang, fled. One of his subordinates, Yang Zengxin , took control of

15795-697: The region. The area became Islamified during the 10th century with the conversion of the Kara-Khanid Khanate , who occupied Kashgar. During the mid-10th century, the Saka Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan was attacked by the Turkic Muslim Karakhanid ruler Musa; the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered Khotan around 1006. After Genghis Khan unified Mongolia and began his advance west the Uyghur state in

15930-573: The remains of 92 individuals in the Xiaohe Cemetery were analyzed for Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA markers. Genetic analyses of the mummies showed that the paternal lineages of the Xiaohe people were of almost all European origin, while the maternal lineages of the early population were diverse, featuring both East Eurasian and West Eurasian lineages, as well as a smaller number of Indian / South Asian lineages. lineages. Over time,

16065-513: The revolts. In the Kashgar region on 12 November 1933, the short-lived First East Turkestan Republic was self-proclaimed after debate about whether it should be called "East Turkestan" or "Uyghuristan". The region claimed by the ETR encompassed the Kashgar , Khotan and Aksu Prefectures in southwestern Xinjiang. The Chinese Muslim Kuomintang 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) defeated

16200-735: The same time. As Tibet and the Uyghur Khaganate declined in the mid-9th century, the Kara-Khanid Khanate (a confederation of Turkic tribes including the Karluks , Chigils and Yaghmas) controlled Western Xinjiang during the 10th and 11th centuries. After the Uyghur Khaganate in Mongolia was destroyed by the Kirghiz in 840, branches of the Uyghurs established themselves in Qocha (Karakhoja) and Beshbalik (near present-day Turfan and Ürümqi). The Uyghur state remained in eastern Xinjiang until

16335-683: The sites of mints operated by the Qing government, as the official mint of the Dzungar Khanate was in the city of Yarkent the Qing used this mint to cast the new "red cash coins" and new mints were established in Aksu and Ili . The Yarkant Mint opened its doors in September 1760 and employed 99 people of which 8 were ethnic Han supervisors who were mint workers from the provincial mint of Shaanxi . These Han employees from Shaanxi also brought 2 full sets of both casting and melting equipment with them to aid production. Not only reclaimed pūl coins were used for

16470-491: The supreme representation of the Chinese belief in numismatic charms as objects with supernatural powers which are able to defeat ghosts and demons, deter disastrous events, and bring both peace and good luck to those in possession of them. While dragons had been symbols of imperial authority for centuries this is the only coin dragon ever known to have been created in the history of the Chinese Empire. The reason why

16605-400: The vast majority of Xinjiang cash coins with this inscription were produced after the Qianlong period. Ancestor coins ( simplified Chinese : 祖钱 ; traditional Chinese : 祖錢 ; pinyin : zǔ qián ) also known as engraved mother coins (Chinese: 雕母 ; pinyin: diāo mǔ ) were introduced around 1730 during the Qianlong period in middle of the eighteenth century to improve

16740-503: The west Eurasian maternal lineages were gradually replaced by east Eurasian maternal lineages. Outmarriage to women from Siberian communities, led to the loss of the original diversity of mtDNA lineages observed in the earlier Xiaohe population. The Tarim population was therefore always notably diverse, reflecting a complex history of admixture between people of Ancient North Eurasian , South Asian and Northeast Asian descent. The Tarim mummies have been found in various locations in

16875-691: The west. The east-west chain of the Tian Shan separate Dzungaria in the north from the Tarim Basin in the south. Dzungaria is a dry steppe and the Tarim Basin contains the massive Taklamakan Desert , surrounded by oases. In the east is the Turpan Depression . In the west, the Tian Shan split, forming the Ili River valley. The earliest inhabitants of the region encompassing modern day Xinjiang were genetically of Ancient North Eurasian and Northeast Asian origin, with later geneflow from during

17010-748: The western Tarim Basin away from its previous overlords (the Xiongnu), it was inhabited by various peoples who included the Indo-European -speaking Tocharians in Turfan and Kucha , the Saka peoples centered in the Shule Kingdom and the Kingdom of Khotan , the various Tibeto-Burmese groups (especially people related to the Qiang ) as well as the Han Chinese people. Some linguists posit that

17145-525: Was added and in 1741 coins were ordered to be made of an alloy of 50% copper, 41.5% zinc, 6.5% lead, and 2% tin to reduce the likelihood of people melting down coins to make utensils, did not allow to reuse the material because it would become brittle and objects would more easily break. All while the Qing government encouraged to sell their utensils to the state mints to be melted into coinage, these cash coins are commonly referred to as "green cash coins" (青錢) even though their colour appears to be just as yellow as

17280-406: Was created by the Qing. During the Qing rule, no sense of "regional identity" was held by ordinary Xinjiang people; rather, Xinjiang's distinct identity was given to the region by the Qing, since it had distinct geography, history and culture, while at the same time it was created by the Chinese, multicultural, settled by Han and Hui and separated from Central Asia for over a century and a half. In

17415-495: Was divided into three circuits: the Northern Circuit, Eastern Circuit, and Southern Circuit. In the Southern Circuit a different monetary system was used than in the other circuits, as this circuit had been Dzungaria the Dzungar pūl (ﭘول) coin system was retained, these pūl coins composed of 99% copper, these new pūl coins were modeled after the Qianlong Tongbao cash coins, but due to their high copper content were red in colour hence they were known as "red cash coins" (紅錢) however

17550-584: Was fought in China's Shaanxi , Ningxia and Gansu provinces and in Xinjiang from 1862 to 1877. The conflict led to a reported 20.77 million deaths due to migration and war, with many refugees dying of starvation. Thousands of Muslim refugees from Shaanxi fled to Gansu; some formed battalions in eastern Gansu, intending to reconquer their lands in Shaanxi. While the Hui rebels were preparing to attack Gansu and Shaanxi, Yaqub Beg (an Uzbek or Tajik commander of

17685-687: Was given during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor in 1878. It can be translated as "new frontier" or "new territory". In fact, the term "Xinjiang" was used in many other places conquered, but never were ruled by Chinese empires directly until the gradual Gaitu Guiliu administrative reform, including regions in Southern China. For instance, present-day Jinchuan County in Sichuan was then known as "Jinchuan Xinjiang", Zhaotong in Yunnan

17820-474: Was named directly as "Xinjiang", Qiandongnan region, Anshun and Zhenning were named as "Liangyou Xinjiang" etc. In 1955, Xinjiang Province was renamed "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region". The name that was originally proposed was simply "Xinjiang Autonomous Region" because that was the name for the imperial territory. This proposal was not well-received by Uyghurs in the Communist Party, who found

17955-623: Was not as great as elsewhere in China during the Great Leap Forward and a million Han Chinese fleeing famine resettled in Xinjiang. In 1980, China allowed the United States to establish electronic listening stations in Xinjiang so the United States could monitor Soviet rocket launches in central Asia in exchange for the United States authorizing the sale of dual-use civilian and military technology and nonlethal military equipment to China. The Chinese economic reform since

18090-552: Was predominantly Uyghur/Turki; some of its most populated cities were Hotan, Yarkent, Kashgar, Yangihissar, Aksu, Uchturpan, Kucha, Karashar, Turpan and Kumul. It enjoyed continued dominance in the region for about 200 years until it was conquered by the Dzungar Khan, Tsewang Rabtan in 1705. In the first half of the 14th century the Chagatai Khanate had collapsed; on the western part of the collapsed Chagatai Khanate,

18225-402: Was set at 10 standard cash coins were worth 1 "red cash coin". During two or three subsequent years this exchange rate was decreased to 5:1. When used in the Northern or Eastern circuits of Xinjiang, the "red cash coins" were considered equal in value as the standard cash coins that circulated there. The areas where the Dzungar pūls had most circulated such as Yarkant , Hotan , and Kashgar were

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