Editing Uyghurs (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of the Uyghur people}}
[[File:Uighur princes, Bezeklik, Cave 9, c. 8th-9th century AD, wall painting - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01747.JPG|thumb|Uyghur princes from Cave 9 of the [[Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves]], Xinjiang, China, 8th–9th century AD, wall painting]]

The history of the Uyghur people, as with the ethnic origin of the people, is a matter of contention.<ref name="bovingdon">{{cite book |title=The Uyghurs – strangers in their own land |author=Gardner Bovingdon |chapter=Chapter 1 – Using the Past to Serve the Present |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-231-14758-3 }}</ref> Uyghur historians viewed the Uyghurs as the original inhabitants of Xinjiang with a long history. Uyghur politician and historian Muhammad Amin Bughra wrote in his book ''A History of East Turkestan'', stressing the Turkic aspects of his people, that the Turks have a continuous 9000-year-old history, while historian [[Turghun Almas]] incorporated discoveries of Tarim mummies to conclude that Uyghurs have over 6400 years of continuous history,<ref name="Tursun">{{cite journal |url= http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=105630 |title= The Formation of Modern Uyghur Historiography and Competing Perspectives toward Uyghur History |author= Nabijan Tursun |journal= The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly |volume= 6 |issue= 3 |pages= 87–100 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130524213700/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=105630 |archive-date= 24 May 2013 }}</ref> and the [[World Uyghur Congress]] claimed a 4,000-year history in East Turkestan.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306105709/http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?cat=132 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url=http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?cat=132 |title=Brief History of East Turkestan |work=World Uyghur Congress }}</ref> However, the official Chinese view, as documented in the white paper ''History and Development of Xinjiang'', asserts that the Uyghur ethnic group formed after the collapse of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] in 840, when the local residents of the Tarim Basin and its surrounding areas were merged with migrants from the khaganate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China |title=History and Development of Xinjiang |journal=Chinese Journal of International Law |date=2004 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=629–659 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.cjilaw.a000538}}</ref> The name "Uyghur" reappeared after the Soviet Union took the 9th-century ethnonym from the Uyghur Khaganate, then reapplied it to all non-nomadic Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang.<ref>Ildikó Bellér-Hann (2007). Situating the Uyghurs between China and Central Asia. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-7546-7041-4.</ref> Many contemporary western scholars, however, do not consider the modern Uyghurs to be of direct linear descent from the old Uyghur Khaganate of Mongolia. Rather, they consider them to be descendants of a number of peoples, one of them the ancient Uyghurs.<ref name="xinjiang"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgHlxD4k0z4C&pg=PA135 |title=Democratization and Identity: Regimes and Ethnicity in East and Southeast Asia|author=Susan J. Henders|editor=Susan J. Henders|year=2006|publisher=Lexington Books |page=135|isbn=978-0-7391-0767-6|access-date=9 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The ETIM: China's Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat|first1=J. Todd|last1=Reed|first2=Diana|last2=Raschke|year=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5I2b_hrJO8sC&pg=PA7|isbn=978-0313365409|page=7|access-date=22 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=5I2b_hrJO8sC&pg=PA7|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Millward|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA44 44]}}

===Early history===
Discovery of well-preserved [[Tarim mummies]] of a people European in appearance indicates the migration of a European-looking people into the Tarim area at the beginning of the [[Bronze Age]] around 1800 BC. These people may have been of [[Tocharians|Tocharian]] origin, and some have suggested them to be the [[Yuezhi]] mentioned in ancient Chinese texts.{{sfn|Millward|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA14 14]}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |author=A. K Narain |chapter= Chapter 6 – Indo-Europeans in Inner Asia |editor = Denis Sinor |page=153 |isbn=978-0-521-24304-9|date=March 1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> The Tocharians are thought to have developed from the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] speaking [[Afanasevo culture]] of Southern Siberia (c. 3500–2500 BC).<ref>David W. Anthony, "Two IE phylogenies, three PIE migrations, and four kinds of steppe pastoralism", ''Journal of Language Relationship'', vol. 9 (2013), pp. 1–22</ref> A study published in 2021 showed that the earliest Tarim Basin cultures had high levels of [[Ancient North Eurasian]] ancestry, with smaller admixture from [[Genetic history of East Asians|Northeast Asians]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zhang|first1=F|last2=Ning|first2=C|last3=Scott|first3=A|display-authors=etal|date=2021|title=The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies|journal=Nature|volume=599|issue=7884|pages=256–261|doi=10.1038/s41586-021-04052-7|pmid=34707286|pmc=8580821|bibcode=2021Natur.599..256Z}}</ref> Uyghur activist Turgun Almas claimed that Tarim mummies were Uyghurs because the earliest Uyghurs practiced shamanism and the buried mummies' orientation suggests that they had been shamanists; meanwhile, Qurban Wäli claimed words written in Kharosthi and Sogdian scripts as "Uyghur" rather than Sogdian words absorbed into Uyghur according to other linguists.<ref>{{cite book |title=Xinjiang, China's Muslim Borderland |chapter=Chapter 14 – Contested histories |author=Gardner Bovingdon |year=2004 |editor=S. Frederick Starr |pages=357–358 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe Incorporated |isbn=978-0-7656-1318-9 }}</ref>

Later migrations brought peoples from the west and northwest to the Xinjiang region, probably speakers of various Iranian languages such as the [[Saka]] tribes, who were closely related to the European [[Scythians]] and descended from the earlier [[Andronovo culture]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Unterländer|first1=Martina|last2=Palstra|first2=Friso|last3=Lazaridis|first3=Iosif |last4=Pilipenko|first4=Aleksandr|last5=Hofmanová|first5=Zuzana|last6=Groß|first6=Melanie|last7=Sell |first7=Christian |last8=Blöcher|first8=Jens|last9=Kirsanow|first9=Karola|last10=Rohland|first10=Nadin |last11=Rieger|first11=Benjamin|date=3 March 2017|title=Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe |journal=Nature Communications|volume=8|pages=14615|issn=2041-1723 |doi=10.1038/ncomms14615|pmc=5337992|pmid=28256537|bibcode=2017NatCo...814615U}}</ref> and who may have been present in the [[Khotan]] and [[Kashgar]] area in the first millennium BC, as well as the [[Sogdians]] who formed networks of trading communities across the Tarim Basin from the 4th century AD.{{sfn|Millward|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA13 13], [https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA29 29]}} There may also be an Indian component as the founding legend of [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]] suggests that the city was founded by Indians from [[Taxila (ancient)|ancient Taxila]] during the reign of [[Ashoka]].<ref name="Mallory 2000">{{cite book | last1 =Mallory | first1 =J. P. | author-link =J. P. Mallory | last2 =Mair | first2 =Victor H. | author2-link =Victor H. Mair | year =2000| pages = 77–81| title =The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West | place =London | publisher =Thames & Hudson}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XXGhAL1WKcC&pg=PA193 |title=The Early History of India|first= Vincent A. |last= Smith | page=193 |publisher= Atlantic Publishers |date= 1999|isbn=978-8171566181}}</ref> Other people in the region mentioned in ancient Chinese texts include the [[Dingling]] as well as the [[Xiongnu]] who fought for supremacy in the region against the Chinese for several hundred years. Some Uyghur nationalists also claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to the Chinese historical text the ''[[Book of Wei]]'', the founder of the Uyghurs was descended from a Xiongnu ruler),{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=155}} but the view is contested by modern Chinese scholars.<ref name="Tursun"/>

The Yuezhi were driven away by the Xiongnu but founded the [[Kushan Empire]], which exerted some influence in the Tarim Basin, where [[Kharosthi]] texts have been found in [[Loulan Kingdom|Loulan]], [[Niya (Tarim Basin)|Niya]] and [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]]. Loulan and Khotan were some of the many city-states that existed in the Xinjiang region during the [[Han dynasty]]; others include [[Kucha]], [[Turfan]], [[Karasahr]] and [[Kashgar]]. These kingdoms in the Tarim Basin came under the control of China during the Han and Tang dynasties. During the [[Tang dynasty]] they were conquered and placed under the control of the [[Protectorate General to Pacify the West]], and the Indo-European cultures of these kingdoms never recovered from Tang rule after thousands of their inhabitants were killed during the conquest.<ref>{{cite book  | chapter = T'ai-tsung (reign 624–49) the consolidator  | first = Howard J. | last = Wechsler | page = 228  | title = Sui and T'ang China, 589–906, Part 1  | editor-given = Denis | editor-surname = Twitchett | editor-link = Denis C. Twitchett | series = [[The Cambridge History of China]] | volume = 3  | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1979 | isbn = 978-0-521-21446-9 }}</ref> The settled population of these cities later merged with the incoming Turkic people, including the Uyghurs of Uyghur Khaganate, to form the modern Uyghurs. The Indo-European [[Tocharian language]] later disappeared as the urban population switched to a Turkic language such as the [[Old Uyghur language]].<ref>{{citation
  | title = The problem of Tocharian origins: an archaeological perspective
  | given = J.P. | surname = Mallory | author-link = J. P. Mallory
  | journal = Sino-Platonic Papers | number = 259 | year = 2015
  | url = http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp259_tocharian_origins.pdf
  | page = 273
}}</ref>

The early [[Turkic peoples]] descended from agricultural communities in [[Northeast Asia]] who moved westwards into [[Mongolia]] in the late 3rd millennium BC, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle.{{sfn|Robbeets|2017|pp=216–218}}{{sfn|Robbeets|2020}}{{sfn|Nelson et al.|2020}}{{sfn|Li et al.|2020}}{{sfn|Uchiyama et al.|2020}} By the early 1st millennium BC, these peoples had become [[equestrian nomads]].{{sfn|Robbeets|2017|pp=216–218}} In subsequent centuries, the steppe populations of [[Central Asia]] appear to have been progressively [[Turkification|Turkified]] by [[East Asian people|East Asian]] nomadic Turks, moving out of Mongolia.<ref name="Damgaard_Conclusion">{{harvnb|Damgaard et al.|2018|pp=4–5}}. "These results suggest that Turkic cultural customs were imposed by an East Asian minority elite onto central steppe nomad populations... The wide distribution of the Turkic languages from Northwest China, Mongolia and Siberia in the east to Turkey and Bulgaria in the west implies large-scale migrations out of the homeland in Mongolia.</ref><ref name="Kuang_Lee_197">{{harvnb|Lee|Kuang|2017|p=197}}. "Both Chinese histories and modern dna studies indicate that the early and medieval Turkic peoples were made up of heterogeneous populations. The Turkicisation of central and western Eurasia was not the product of migrations involving a homogeneous entity, but that of language diffusion."</ref>

=== <span id="Uyghur Khaganate (8th-9th c.)"></span>Uyghur Khaganate (8th–9th centuries) ===
{{Main|Uyghur Khaganate|Toquz Oghuz}}
[[File:Conversion of Bögü Qaghan (759-780 CE) to Manicheism in 762 (detailed of Bögü Qaghan in a suit of armour, kneeling to a Manichean high priest).jpg|thumb|left|[[Bögü Qaghan]], the third Khagan of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]], in a suit of armor; 8th century [[Manichean]] manuscript ([[Leaf from a Manichaean book MIK III 4979|MIK III 4979]])]]
The Uyghurs of the Uyghur Khaganate were part of a Turkic confederation called the [[Tiele people|Tiele]],{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=157}} who lived in the valleys south of [[Lake Baikal]] and around the [[Yenisei River]]. They overthrew the [[First Turkic Khaganate]] and established the [[Uyghur Khaganate]].

The Uyghur Khaganate lasted from 744 to 840.<ref name="xinjiang"/> It was administered from the imperial capital [[Ordu-Baliq]], one of the biggest ancient cities built in Mongolia. In 840, following a famine and civil war, the Uyghur Khaganate was overrun by the [[Yenisei Kirghiz]], another Turkic people. As a result, the majority of tribal groups formerly under Uyghur control dispersed and moved out of Mongolia.

===<span id="Uyghur kingdoms (9th-11th c.)"></span>Uyghur kingdoms (9th–11th centuries)===
[[File:Old World 820.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Uyghur Khaganate in geopolitical context c. 820 AD]]

The Uyghurs who founded the Uyghur Khaganate dispersed after the fall of the Khaganate, to live among the [[Karluks]] and to places such as [[Jimsar County|Jimsar]], [[Turpan]] and [[Gansu]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://en.people.cn/200305/26/eng20030526_117240.shtml |title = Full Text of White Paper on History and Development of Xinjiang |website=en.people.cn |access-date=15 June 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190625021941/http://en.people.cn/200305/26/eng20030526_117240.shtml |archive-date=25 June 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{NoteTag|"Soon the great chief Julumohe and the Kirghiz gathered a hundred thousand riders to attack the Uyghur city; they killed the Kaghan, executed Jueluowu, and burnt the royal camp. All the tribes were scattered – its ministers Sazhi and Pang Tele with fifteen clans fled to the Karluks, the remaining multitude went to Tibet and [[Guazhou County|Anxi]]." ({{lang-zh|t=俄而渠長句錄莫賀與黠戛斯合騎十萬攻回鶻城，殺可汗，誅掘羅勿，焚其牙，諸部潰其相馺職與厖特勒十五部奔葛邏祿，殘眾入吐蕃、安西。)}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7217%E4%B8%8B |language=zh|script-title=zh:新唐書/卷217下 – 維基文庫，自由的圖書館 |trans-title=New Tang Book/Volume 217 – Wikisource, the free online library |website=zh.wikisource.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512145231/http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7217%E4%B8%8B|archive-date=12 May 2013}}{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}</ref>}} These Uyghurs soon founded two kingdoms and the easternmost state was the [[Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom|Ganzhou Kingdom]] (870–1036) which ruled parts of Xinjiang, with its capital near present-day [[Zhangye]], Gansu, China. The modern [[Yugur]]s are believed to be descendants of these Uyghurs. Ganzhou was absorbed by the [[Western Xia]] in 1036.

The second Uyghur kingdom, the [[Kingdom of Qocho]] ruled a larger section of Xinjiang, also known as ''Uyghuristan'' in its later period, was founded in the Turpan area with its capital in Qocho (modern [[Gaochang]]) and [[Jimsar County|Beshbalik]]. The Kingdom of Qocho lasted from the ninth to the fourteenth century and proved to be longer-lasting than any power in the region, before or since.<ref name="xinjiang"/> The Uyghurs were originally [[Tengrism|Tengrists]], shamanists, and [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]], but converted to Buddhism during this period. Qocho accepted the [[Qara Khitai]] as its overlord in the 1130s, and in 1209 submitted voluntarily to the rising [[Mongol Empire]]. The Uyghurs of Kingdom of Qocho were allowed significant autonomy and played an important role as civil servants to the [[Mongol Empire]], but was finally destroyed by the [[Chagatai Khanate]] by the end of the 14th century.<ref name="xinjiang"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8rLUbuZLiaIC&pg=PA480|title=Dust in the Wind: Retracing Dharma Master Xuanzang's Western Pilgrimage |page=480 |isbn=9789868141988 |publisher=Rhythms Monthly |date=2006}}</ref>

===Islamization===
{{Main|Turkic settlement of the Tarim Basin}}
{{Islam and China|groups}}

In the tenth century, the [[Karluks]], [[Yagma]]s, [[Chigils]] and other Turkic tribes founded the [[Kara-Khanid Khanate]] in [[Jetisu|Semirechye]], Western [[Tian Shan]], and [[Kashgaria]] and later conquered [[Transoxiana]]. The Karakhanid rulers were likely to be Yaghmas who were associated with the [[Toquz Oghuz]] and some historians therefore see this as a link between the Karakhanid and the Uyghurs of the Uyghur Khaganate, although this connection is disputed by others.<ref name="Millward2007"/>

The Karakhanids converted to Islam in the tenth century beginning with [[Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan]], the first Turkic dynasty to do so.<ref name="sinor">{{citation|last = Golden|first = Peter. B.|contribution = The Karakhanids and Early Islam|year = 1990|title = The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia|editor-last = Sinor|editor-first = Denis|page = 357|publisher = Cambridge University Press|isbn = 0-521-2-4304-1}}</ref> Modern Uyghurs see the Muslim Karakhanids as an important part of their history; however, Islamization of the people of the Tarim Basin was a gradual process. The Indo-Iranian [[Sakas|Saka]] Buddhist [[Kingdom of Khotan]] was conquered by the Turkic Muslim Karakhanids from Kashgar in the early 11th century, but Uyghur Qocho remained mainly Buddhist until the 15th century, and the conversion of the Uyghur people to Islam was not completed until the 17th century.

[[File:Chagatai Khanate (1490).png|thumb|left|[[Chagatai Khanate]] ([[Moghulistan]]) in 1490]]

The 12th and 13th century saw the domination by non-Muslim powers: first the [[Kara-Khitans]] in the 12th century, followed by the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] in the 13th century. After the death of [[Genghis Khan]] in 1227, Transoxiana and Kashgar became the domain of his second son, [[Chagatai Khan]]. The [[Chagatai Khanate]] split into two in the 1340s, and the area of the Chagatai Khanate where the modern Uyghurs live became part of [[Moghulistan]], which meant "land of the Mongols". In the 14th century, a Chagatayid khan [[Tughlugh Timur|Tughluq Temür]] converted to Islam, Genghisid [[Mongolian nobility|Mongol nobilities]] also followed him to convert to Islam.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} His son [[Khizr Khoja]] conquered Qocho and Turfan (the core of Uyghuristan) in the 1390s, and the Uyghurs there became largely Muslim by the beginning of the 16th century.<ref name="Millward2007">{{harvnb|Millward|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA69 69]}}</ref> After being converted to Islam, the descendants of the previously [[Kingdom of Qocho|Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan]] failed to retain memory of their ancestral legacy and falsely believed that the "infidel Kalmuks" ([[Dzungar people|Dzungars]]) were the ones who built Buddhist structures in their area.<ref name="GibbLewis1998">{{cite book|author1=Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb|author2=Bernard Lewis|author3=Johannes Hendrik Kramers|author4=Charles Pellat|author5=Joseph Schacht|title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJPrAAAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Brill|page=677|access-date=21 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=PJPrAAAAMAAJ|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

From the late 14th through 17th centuries, the Xinjiang region became further subdivided into Moghulistan in the north, [[Altishahr]] (Kashgar and the Tarim Basin), and the Turfan area, each often ruled separately by competing Chagatayid descendants, the [[Dughlats]], and later the [[Khoja (Turkestan)|Khojas]].<ref name="Millward2007"/>

Islam was also spread by the [[Sufis]], and branches of its [[Naqshbandi]] order were the [[Khoja (Turkestan)|Khojas]] who seized control of political and military affairs in the Tarim Basin and Turfan in the 17th century. The Khojas however split into two rival factions, the ''Aqtaghlik'' ("White Mountainers") Khojas (also called the [[Afaq Khoja|Afaqiyya]]) and the ''Qarataghlik'' ("Black Mountainers") Khojas (also called the Ishaqiyya). The legacy of the Khojas lasted until the 19th century. The Qarataghlik Khojas seized power in Yarkand where the Chagatai Khans ruled in the Yarkent Khanate, forcing the Aqtaghlik Afaqi Khoja into exile.

===Qing rule===
[[File:Khojis full-length portrait.jpg|thumb|left|Uyghur General [[Khojis]] (−1781), governor of [[Us-Turfan]], who later resided at the Qing court in Beijing. Painting by a European Jesuit artist at the Chinese court in 1775.<ref>{{cite web |title=北京保利国际拍卖有限公司 |url=https://www.polypm.com.cn/news/detail/3934/14 |website=www.polypm.com.cn}}</ref>]]
In the 17th century, the Buddhist [[Dzungar Khanate]] grew in power in [[Dzungaria]]. The [[Dzungar conquest of Altishahr]] ended the last independent Chagatai Khanate, the [[Yarkent Khanate]], after the Aqtaghlik [[Afaq Khoja]] sought aid from the [[5th Dalai Lama]] and his Dzungar Buddhist followers to help him in his struggle against the Qarataghlik Khojas. The Aqtaghlik Khojas in the Tarim Basin then became vassals to the Dzungars.

The expansion of the Dzungars into [[Khalkha Mongols|Khalkha Mongol]] territory in [[Mongolia]] brought them into direct conflict with [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] in the late 17th century, and in the process also brought Chinese presence back into the region a thousand years after Tang China lost control of the [[Western Regions]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang |author=Christian Tyler|page=55 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year= 2004 |isbn=978-0813535333 }}</ref>

[[File:Turpan-minarete-emir-d07.jpg|thumb|Minaret of [[Turpan]] ruler [[Emin Khoja]], built by his son and successor Suleiman in 1777 in the memory of his father (tallest minaret in China)]]
The [[Dzungar–Qing War]] lasted a decade. During the Dzungar conflict, two Aqtaghlik brothers, the so-called "Younger Khoja" ({{lang-zh|c=霍集佔}}), also known as Khwāja-i Jahān, and his sibling, the Elder Khoja ({{lang-zh|c=波羅尼都}}), also known as Burhān al-Dīn, after being appointed as vassals in the Tarim Basin by the Dzungars, first joined the Qing and rebelled against Dzungar rule until the final Qing victory over the Dzungars, then they rebelled against the Qing in the [[Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas]] (1757–1759), an action which prompted the invasion and conquest of the Tarim Basin by the Qing in 1759. The Uyghurs of Turfan and Hami such as [[Emin Khoja]] were allies of the Qing in this conflict, and these Uyghurs also helped the Qing rule the Altishahr Uyghurs in the Tarim Basin.{{sfn|Millward|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA101 101]}}<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3107653|title=The Begs of Xinjiang: Between Two Worlds|last=Newby|first=L. J.|volume= 61|issue= 2|pages=278–297|year=1998|doi=10.1017/s0041977x00013811 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|publisher=Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies|s2cid=153718110}}</ref>

The [[Ten Great Campaigns|final campaign against the Dzungars in the 1750s]] ended with the [[Dzungar genocide]]. The Qing "final solution" of genocide to solve the problem of the Dzungar Mongols created a land devoid of Dzungars, which was followed by the Qing sponsored settlement of millions of other people in Dzungaria.<ref name="Zungar2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=J4L-_cjmSqoC&pg=PA285 Perdue 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=J4L-_cjmSqoC&pg=PA285 |date=1 January 2016 }}, p. 285.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbpG8QEguXEC&pg=PT183|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=kbpG8QEguXEC&pg=PT183|url-status=dead|title=The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China|first=Eric Enno|last=Tamm|date=10 April 2011|archive-date=1 January 2016|publisher=Catapult|isbn = 9781582438764|access-date=24 July 2020|via=Google Books}}</ref> In northern Xinjiang, the Qing brought in Han, Hui, Uyghur, Xibe, Daurs, Solons, Turkic Muslim Taranchis and Kazakh colonists, with one third of Xinjiang's total population consisting of Hui and Han in the northern area, while around two thirds were Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang's Tarim Basin.<ref name="ed. Starr 2004">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GXj4a3gss8wC&pg=PA243 ed. Starr 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212214513/https://books.google.com/books?id=GXj4a3gss8wC&pg=PA243 |date=12 February 2019 }}, p. 243.</ref> In Dzungaria, the Qing established new cities like Ürümqi and Yining.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA102 Millward 1998] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA102 |date=1 January 2016 }}, p. 102.</ref> The [[Dzungaria]]n basin itself is now inhabited by many Kazakhs.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bEzNwgtiVQ0C&pg=PA4 Tyler 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193741/https://books.google.com/books?id=bEzNwgtiVQ0C&pg=PA4 |date=1 January 2016 }}, p. 4.</ref> The Qing therefore unified Xinjiang and changed its demographic composition as well.<ref name="Liu & Faure 1996">{{cite book |last1=Liu |first1=Tao Tao |last2=Faure |first2=David |title=Unity and Diversity; Local Cultures and Identity in China |date=1996 |publisher=University of Hong Kong Press |isbn=978-9622094024 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FW8SBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |access-date=4 June 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713183855/https://books.google.co.th/books?id=FW8SBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA76&redir_esc=y |archive-date=13 July 2018 }}</ref>{{RP|71}} The crushing of the Buddhist Dzungars by the Qing led to the empowerment of the Muslim Begs in southern Xinjiang, migration of Muslim Taranchis to northern Xinjiang, and increasing Turkic Muslim power, with Turkic Muslim culture and identity was tolerated or even promoted by the Qing.<ref name="Liu & Faure 1996"/>{{RP|76}} It was therefore argued by Henry Schwarz that "the Qing victory was, in a certain sense, a victory for Islam".<ref name="Liu & Faure 1996"/>{{RP|72}}

In [[Beijing]], a community of Uyghurs was clustered around the mosque near the [[Forbidden City]], having moved to Beijing in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/middlekingdomas09willgoog |title=The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants |author= Samuel Wells Williams|year=1848|publisher=Wiley and Putnam|page=[https://archive.org/details/middlekingdomas09willgoog/page/n96 64]|access-date=8 May 2011}}</ref>

The [[Ush rebellion]] in 1765 by Uyghurs against the [[Manchus]] occurred after several incidents of misrule and abuse that had caused considerable anger and resentment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Millward |first1=James A. |title=Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759–1864 |date=1998 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0804797927 |page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ir2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA124}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Millward |first1=James A. |title=Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 |date=1998 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0804797927 |pages=206–207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ir2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA206}}</ref>{{sfn|Millward|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA108 108]}} The Manchu Emperor ordered that the Uyghur rebel town be massacred, and the men were executed and the women and children enslaved.{{sfn|Millward|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA109 109]}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769, Uyghur chieftain from Ush, Kucha and Aksu, with his wife.jpg|Uyghur chieftain from [[Uqturpan County|Wushi]], [[Kucha]] and [[Aksu City|Aksu]], with his wife. ''[[Huang Qing Zhigong Tu]]'', 1769.<ref>[[:File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu - 071.jpg|烏什庫車阿克蘇等城回目]]</ref>
File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769, Uyghur commoners from Ush, Kucha and Aksu.jpg|Uyghur commoners from [[Uqturpan County|Wushi]], [[Kucha]] and [[Aksu City|Aksu]]. ''[[Huang Qing Zhigong Tu]]'', 1769.<ref>[[:File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu - 072.jpg|烏什庫車阿克蘇等處回人]]</ref>
File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769, Uyghur people from Hami in Anxi subprefecture.jpg|Uyghur people from [[Hami]], in Anxi subprefecture. ''[[Huang Qing Zhigong Tu]]'', 1769.<ref>[[:File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu - 077.jpg|安西廳哈密回民]]</ref>
File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769, Uyghur from Ili, Taleqi, Chahan and Wusu, with his wife.jpg|Uyghur people from [[Ili River|Ili]], [[Huocheng County|Taleqi]], Chahan and [[Wusu]]. ''[[Huang Qing Zhigong Tu]]'', 1769.<ref>[[:File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu - 066.jpg|伊犂塔勒奇察罕烏蘇等處回人]]</ref>
</gallery>

===Yettishar===
During the [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)]], Andijani Uzbeks from the [[Khanate of Kokand]] under [[Buzurg Khan]] and [[Yakub Beg of Yettishar|Yaqub Beg]] expelled Qing officials from parts of southern Xinjiang and founded an independent Kashgarian kingdom called [[Yettishar]] ("Country of Seven Cities"). Under the leadership of Yaqub Beg, it included [[Kashgar]], [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]], [[Hotan|Khotan]], [[Aksu, Xinjiang|Aksu]], [[Kucha]], [[Korla]], and [[Turpan]].{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Large Qing dynasty forces under Chinese General [[Zuo Zongtang]] attacked Yettishar in 1876.

===Qing reconquest===
After this invasion, the two regions of Dzungaria, which had been known as the Dzungar region or the Northern marches of the Tian Shan,<ref>{{cite book|title=Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759–1864|first=James A.|last=Millward|edition=illustrated|year=1998|publisher=Stanford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21|isbn=978-0804729338|page=21 |access-date=10 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704224223/http://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21|archive-date=4 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864–1877|first=Hodong|last=Kim|edition=illustrated|year=2004|publisher=Stanford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AtduqAtBzegC&pg=PA218|isbn=978-0804767231|page=15|access-date=10 March 2014}}</ref> and the Tarim Basin, which had been known as "Muslim land" or southern marches of the Tian Shan,<ref>{{cite book|title=Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 |first=James A.|last=Millward|edition=illustrated|year=1998|publisher=Stanford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA23|isbn=978-0804729338|page=23|access-date=10 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704223821/http://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA23|archive-date=4 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> were reorganized into a province named ''Xinjiang'', meaning "New Territory".<ref>{{cite book |title=Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang |author=Christian Tyler|page=56 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year= 2004 |isbn=978-0813535333 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Inner Asia, Volume 4, Issues 1-2 |page=127 |year=2002|publisher=The White Horse Press for the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1RuAAAAMAAJ&q=Zhunbu|access-date=10 March 2014}}</ref>

===First East Turkestan Republic===
In 1912, the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. By 1920, Pan-Turkic [[Jadidism|Jadidists]] had become a challenge to Chinese warlord Yang Zengxin, who controlled Xinjiang. Uyghurs staged several uprisings against Chinese rule. In 1931, the [[Kumul Rebellion]] erupted, leading to the establishment of an independent government in Khotan in 1932,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=S. Frederick |title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |date=2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317451372 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuvqBgAAQBAJ&dq=Khotan+Government+1932&pg=PA76 |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> which later led to the creation of the [[First East Turkestan Republic]], officially known as the Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan. Uyghurs joined with Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz and successfully declared their independence on 12 November 1933.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ercilasun |first1=Güljanat Kurmangaliyeva |title=The Uyghur Community: Diaspora, Identity and Geopolitics |date=November 2017 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=9781137522979 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLg8DwAAQBAJ |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> The First East Turkestan Republic was a short-lived attempt at independence around the areas encompassing Kashgar, Yarkent, and Khotan, and it was attacked during the Qumul Rebellion by a [[36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)|Chinese Muslim army]] under [[Ma Zhancang|General Ma Zhancang]] and [[Ma Fuyuan]] and fell following the Battle of Kashgar (1934). The Soviets backed Chinese warlord Sheng Shicai's rule over East Turkestan/Xinjiang from 1934 to 1943. In April 1937, remnants of the First East Turkestan Republic launched an uprising known as the [[Islamic Rebellion in Xinjiang (1937)|Islamic Rebellion in Xinjiang]] and briefly established an independent government, controlling areas from Atush, Kashgar, Yarkent, and even parts of Khotan, before it was crushed in October 1937, following Soviet intervention.<ref name=":4">{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=S. Frederick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuvqBgAAQBAJ&dq=Khotan+Government+1932&pg=PA76 |title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |date=2015 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=9781317451372 |location=United States |pages=80 |language=en |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> Sheng Shicai purged 50,000 to 100,000 people, mostly Uyghurs, following this uprising.<ref name=":4" />

===Second East Turkestan Republic===
The oppressive reign of [[Sheng Shicai]] fueled discontent by Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of the region, and Sheng expelled Soviet advisors following U.S. support for the [[Kuomintang]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=S. Frederick |title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |date=2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317451372 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuvqBgAAQBAJ&dq=Khotan+Government+1932&pg=PA76 |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> This led the Soviets to capitalize on the Uyghur and other Turkic people's discontent in the region, culminating in their support of the [[Ili Rebellion]] in October 1944. The Ili Rebellion resulted in the establishment of the [[Second East Turkestan Republic]] on 12 November 1944, in the three districts of what is now the [[Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benson |first1=Linda |title=The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 |date=1990 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=9780873325097 |page=265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suuXIhetjZcC |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> Several pro-KMT Uyghurs like [[Isa Yusuf Alptekin]], Memet Emin Bugra, and Mesut Sabri opposed the [[Second East Turkestan Republic]] and supported the Republic of China.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=James A.|editor1-last=Millward|editor2-first=Yasushi|editor2-last=Shinmen|editor3-first=Jun|editor3-last=Sugawara|publisher=The Toyo Bunko|year=2010|location=Tokyo|first=Ablet|last=Kamalov|page=260|series=Studies on Xinjiang Historical Sources in 17–20th Centuries|title=Uyghur Memoir literature in Central Asia on Eastern Turkistan Republic (1944–49)|url=https://www.academia.edu/2277955}}</ref><ref name="Klimeš2015 2">{{cite book|author=Ondřej Klimeš|title=Struggle by the Pen: The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900–1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdcuBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA197|date=8 January 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-28809-6|pages=197–}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benson |first1=Linda |title=Uygur Politicians of the 1940s: Mehmet Emin Bugra, Isa Yusuf Alptekin and Mesut Sabri∗ |journal=Central Asian Survey |date=1991 |volume=10 |issue=4 |page=87 |doi=10.1080/02634939108400758}}</ref> In the summer of 1949, the Soviets purged the thirty top leaders of the Second East Turkestan Republic<ref>{{cite web |title=The Soviet-Sponsored Uprising in Kuldja/The East Turkestan People's Republic |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00047R000200650005-2.pdf |website=Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> and its five top officials died in a mysterious plane crash on 27 August 1949.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malhotra |first1=Iqbal Chand |title=Red Fear: The China Threat |date=November 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9789389867596 |pages=356 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8k0FEAAAQBAJ |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> On 13 October 1949, the People's Liberation Army entered the region and the East Turkestan [[Ili National Army|National Army]] was merged into the PLA's 5th Army Corps, leading to the official end of the Second East Turkestan Republic on 22 December 1949.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Urban |first1=Madison |title=21st Century Crimes Against Humanity: Oppression of the Uyghurs in China |url=https://www.carolinapoliticalreview.org/editorial-content/2020/10/16/21st-century-crimes-against-humanity-oppression-of-the-uyghurs-in-china |access-date=25 March 2021 |agency=Carolina Political Review |date=16 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sanchez |first1=Alejandro |title=Business as Usual with Beijing as Uyghurs Languish in "Education Camps" |url=https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/business-as-usual-with-beijing-as-uyghurs-languish-in-education-camps/ |access-date=25 March 2021 |agency=Geopolitical Monitor |date=30 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=4 March 2021 |title=Second East Turkistan Republic (1944–1949) |url=https://east-turkistan.net/second-east-turkistan-republic-1944-1949/ |access-date=25 March 2021 |website=[[East Turkistan Government in Exile]]}}</ref>

===Contemporary era===
{{further|Xinjiang conflict}}
{{Historical populations
|type=China
|percentages = pagr
|1990<ref name="census1990">{{cite web |url = http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16773.htm |script-title=zh:中華人民共和國國家統計局 關於一九九○年人口普查主要數據的公報 （第三號） |publisher=[[National Bureau of Statistics of China]] |url-status=dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120510075257/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020404_16773.htm |archive-date=10 May 2012 |quote={{lang|zh-hans|維吾爾族 7214 431人}}}}</ref>|7214431
|2000|8405416
|2010|10069346
|footnote = Figures from Chinese Census
|}}
[[File:"TURKIC" GROUPS 1967 map, "COMMUNIST CHINA ETHNOLINGUISTIC GROUPS" by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, Office of Basic Geographic Intelligence, 1967 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ethnolinguistic map of Xinjiang in 1967]]
[[File:Xinjiang nationalities by prefecture 2000.png|thumb|Map showing the distribution of ethnicities in [[Xinjiang]] according to census figures from 2000. The prefectures with Uyghur majorities are in blue.]]

Mao declared the founding of the [[China|People's Republic of China]] on 1 October 1949. He turned the Second East Turkistan Republic into the [[Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture]], and appointed [[Saifuddin Azizi]] as the region's first Communist Party governor. Many Republican loyalists fled into exile in Turkey and Western countries. The name Xinjiang was changed to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Uyghurs are the largest ethnicity, mostly concentrated in the south-western Xinjiang.<ref>{{cite book |language=zh-hans |script-title=zh:2000年人口普查中國民族人口資料 |trans-title=2000 Population Census Chinese Ethnic Population Data |publisher={{lang|zh|民族出版社}} |year=2003 |isbn=978-7-105-05425-1}}</ref>

The [[Xinjiang conflict]] is a separatist conflict in China's far-west province of Xinjiang, whose northern region is known as [[Dzungaria]] and whose southern region (the [[Tarim Basin]]) is known as East Turkestan. Uyghur separatists and independence groups claim that the Second East Turkestan Republic was illegally incorporated by China in 1949 and has since been under Chinese occupation.
Uyghur identity remains fragmented, as some support a [[Pan-Islamism|Pan-Islamic]] vision, exemplified by the [[East Turkestan Islamic Movement]], while others support a [[Pan-Turkism|Pan-Turkic]] vision, such as the [[East Turkestan Liberation Organization]]. A third group which includes the [[Uyghur American Association]] supports a [[Western liberal democracies|western liberal]] vision and hopes for a US-led intervention into Xinjiang.<ref name=":7" /> Some Uyghur fighters in Syria have also studied [[Zionism]] as a model for their homeland.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gerry Shih |date=22 December 2017 |title=Uighur militants in Syria look to Zionism as model for their homeland |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/uighur-militants-in-syria-look-to-zionism-as-model-for-their-homeland/ |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |quote=They looked to an improbable model for building an independent homeland: Israel and the Zionist movement. “We studied how the Jews built their country,” Ali said.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gerry Shih |date=22 December 2017 |title=AP Exclusive: Anger with China drives Uighurs to Syrian war |url=https://apnews.com/1a7aad978ad5470bb6450ef13f86469e/AP-Exclusive:-Anger-with-China-drives-Uighurs-to-Syrian-war |access-date=2 March 2024 |website=[[Associated Press]] |language=en-US |quote=A shopkeeper who prayed five times a day and then at night huddled with others in a ruined Syrian neighborhood to study Zionist history.}}</ref> As a result, "no Uyghur or East Turkestan group speaks for all Uyghurs", and Uyghurs in Pan-Turkic and Pan-Islamic camps have committed violence including assassinations on other Uyghurs who they think are too assimilated to Chinese society.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Christofferson |first=Gaye |date=September 2002 |title=Constituting the Uyghur in U.S.-China Relations: The Geopolitics of Identity Formation in the War on Terrorism |url=https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/25393/Constituting_the_Uyghur_in_USChina_Relations_The_Geopolitics_of_Identity_Formation_in_the_War_on_Terrorism.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=[[Strategic Insights]] |publisher=[[Center for Contemporary Conflict]] |volume=1 |issue=7}}</ref> Uyghur activists like [[Rebiya Kadeer]] have mainly tried to garner international support for Uyghurs, including the right to demonstrate, although China's government has accused her of orchestrating the deadly [[July 2009 Ürümqi riots]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90002/96417/6695082.html|title=Unveiled Rebiya Kadeer: a Uighur Dalai Lama|date=7 July 2009|access-date=21 August 2010|newspaper=[[People's Daily]]|first=Li|last=Hongmei|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109163217/http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90002/96417/6695082.html|archive-date=9 January 2010}}</ref>

Eric Enno Tamm's 2011 book stated that "authorities have censored Uyghur writers and 'lavished funds' on official histories that depict Chinese territorial expansion into ethnic borderlands as 'unifications (tongyi), never as conquests (zhengfu) or [[annexation]]s (tunbing)' "<ref>{{Cite book |last=Enno |first=Tamm, Eric |url=https://archive.org/details/horsethatleapsth00tamm/page/194 |title=The horse that leaps through clouds: a tale of espionage, the Silk Road, and the rise of modern China |date=2011 |publisher=[[Counterpoint Press]] |isbn=9781582437347 |location=Berkeley, CA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/horsethatleapsth00tamm/page/194 194] |language=en |oclc=663952959 |quote="Yet the Uyghurs have stubbornly resisted the Chinese Communist Party's ideological claims, Bovingdon writes, in 'an enduring struggle over history that is also a battle' over the future of their land and their own fate." |url-access=registration}}</ref>

====Human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang====
{{main|Persecution of Uyghurs in China|Xinjiang internment camps}}
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In 2014, the Chinese government announced a "[[people's war on terror]]". Since then, Uyghurs in Xinjiang have been affected by extensive controls and restrictions which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government has imposed upon their religious, cultural, economic and social lives.<ref name="Dou-2022">{{Cite news |date=23 September 2022 |title=As crackdown eases, China's Xinjiang faces long road to rehabilitation |language=en |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/23/china-xinjiang-crackdown-uyghurs-surveillance/ |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="aj2018">{{cite news |date=10 August 2018 |title=One million Muslim Uighurs held in secret China camps: UN panel |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/8/10/one-million-muslim-uighurs-held-in-secret-china-camps-un-panel}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{cite news |last1=Welch |first1=Dylan |last2=Hui |first2=Echo |last3=Hutcheon |first3=Stephen |date=24 November 2019 |title=The China Cables: Leak reveals the scale of Beijing's repressive control over Xinjiang |publisher=[[ABC News (Australia)]] |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-25/china-cables-beijings-xinjiang-secrets-revealed/11719016}}</ref><ref name="hrw._UN:U">{{Cite web |date=10 July 2019 |title=UN: Unprecedented Joint Call for China to End Xinjiang Abuses |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/10/un-unprecedented-joint-call-china-end-xinjiang-abuses |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217070044/https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/10/un-unprecedented-joint-call-china-end-xinjiang-abuses |archive-date=17 December 2019 |access-date=18 December 2020 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref> In order to [[Forced assimilation|forcibly assimilate]] them, the government has [[Arbitrary arrest and detention|arbitrarily detained]] more than an estimated one million Uyghurs in [[Xinjiang internment camps|internment camps]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Waller |first1=James |last2=Albornoz |first2=Mariana Salazar |year=2021 |title=Crime and No Punishment? China's Abuses Against the Uyghurs |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/789548 |journal=Georgetown Journal of International Affairs |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=100–111 |doi=10.1353/gia.2021.0000 |issn=2471-8831 |s2cid=235855240}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Danilova |first=Maria |date=27 November 2018 |title=Woman describes torture, beatings in Chinese detention camp |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://apnews.com/61cdf7f5dfc34575aa643523b3c6b3fe |url-status=live |access-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213063324/https://apnews.com/61cdf7f5dfc34575aa643523b3c6b3fe |archive-date=13 December 2019}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] says that the camps have been used to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |date=10 September 2017 |title=China: Free Xinjiang 'Political Education' Detainees |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/10/china-free-xinjiang-political-education-detainees |access-date=10 September 2017 |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last1=Ramzy |first1=Austin |last2=Buckley |first2=Chris |date=16 November 2019 |title='Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html |access-date=16 November 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Leaked Chinese government operating procedures state that the main feature of the camps is to ensure adherence to [[Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP ideology]], with the inmates being continuously held captive in the camps for a minimum of 12 months depending on their performance on Chinese ideology tests.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 November 2019 |title=Read the China Cables Documents |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/read-the-china-cables-documents/ |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=[[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]] |language=en-US}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' has reported inmates are required to "sing hymns praising the Chinese Communist Party and write 'self-criticism' essays," and that prisoners are also subjected to physical and verbal abuse by prison guards.<ref name="nyt-detention">{{cite news |last1=Buckley |first1=Chris |date=8 September 2018 |title=China Is Detaining Muslims in Vast Numbers. The Goal: 'Transformation.' |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/asia/china-uighur-muslim-detention-camp.html |url-status=live |access-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908213310/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/asia/china-uighur-muslim-detention-camp.html |archive-date=8 September 2018}}</ref> Chinese officials have sometimes assigned to monitor the families of current inmates, and women have been detained due to actions by their sons or husbands.<ref name="nyt-detention" />

Other policies have included [[forced labor]],<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Turdush |first1=Rukiye |last2=Fiskesjö |first2=Magnus |date=28 May 2021 |title=Dossier: Uyghur Women in China's Genocide |journal=Genocide Studies and Prevention |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=22–43 |doi=10.5038/1911-9933.15.1.1834 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Sudworth |first=John |date=December 2020 |title=China's 'tainted' cotton |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nz0g306v8c/china-tainted-cotton}}</ref> suppression of Uyghur [[Islam in China|religious practices]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Congressional Research Service |date=18 June 2019 |title=Uyghurs in China |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10281.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Congressional Research Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218075723/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10281.pdf |archive-date=18 December 2020 |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref> political [[indoctrination]],<ref name="reut_Musl">{{Cite news |date=9 September 2018 |title=Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang face 'political indoctrination': Human Rights Watch |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang-rights/muslim-minority-in-chinas-xinjiang-face-political-indoctrination-human-rights-watch-idUSKCN1LQ01F |url-status=live |access-date=18 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109032307/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang-rights/muslim-minority-in-chinas-xinjiang-face-political-indoctrination-human-rights-watch-idUSKCN1LQ01F |archive-date=9 November 2020}}</ref> severe ill-treatment,<ref name="bhrc">{{cite web |title=Responsibility of States under International Law to Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, China |url=https://www.barhumanrights.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-Responsibility-of-States-to-Uyghurs_Final.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921202046/https://www.barhumanrights.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-Responsibility-of-States-to-Uyghurs_Final.pdf |archive-date=21 September 2020 |access-date=18 December 2020 |publisher=Bar Human Rights Committee}}</ref> [[forced sterilization]],<ref name="apne_Chin">{{cite news |date=28 June 2020 |title=China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization |url=https://apnews.com/article/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216200613/https://apnews.com/article/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c |archive-date=16 December 2020 |access-date=18 December 2020 |work=[[Associated Press]] |quote=Birth rates in the mostly Uighur regions of Hotan and Kashgar plunged by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, the latest year available in government statistics. Across the Xinjiang region, birth rates continue to plummet, falling nearly 24% last year alone — compared to just 4.2% nationwide, statistics show.}}</ref> forced [[contraception]],<ref name="urlChina Forces Birth Control on Uighurs to Suppress Population | Voice of America - English">{{Cite news |date=29 June 2020 |title=China Forces Birth Control on Uighurs to Suppress Population |publisher=[[Voice of America]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_china-forces-birth-control-uighurs-suppress-population/6191919.html}}</ref><ref name="genocide against the Uyghurs">{{cite news |last=Samuel |first=Sigal |date=10 March 2021 |title=China's genocide against the Uyghurs, in 4 disturbing charts |work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22311356/china-uyghur-birthrate-sterilization-genocide}}</ref> and [[forced abortion]].<ref name="urlwww.dw.com">{{Cite news |date=1 July 2020 |title=China: Uighur women reportedly sterilized in attempt to suppress population |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |url=https://www.dw.com/en/china-uighur-women-reportedly-sterilized-in-attempt-to-suppress-population/a-54018051 |access-date=14 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news |date=29 June 2020 |title=China 'using birth control' to suppress Uighurs |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53220713 |url-status=live |access-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629222610/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53220713 |archive-date=29 June 2020}}</ref> According to German researcher [[Adrian Zenz]], hundreds of thousands of children have been forcibly separated from their parents and sent to [[Boarding schools in China|boarding schools]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kuo |first=Lily |date=16 October 2020 |title=Chinese detention 'leaving thousands of Uighur children without parents' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/16/thousands-of-uighur-children-orphaned-by-chinese-detention-papers-show |access-date=28 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{cite journal |author=[[Adrian Zenz]] |date=July 2019 |title=Break Their Roots: Evidence for China's Parent-Child Separation Campaign in Xinjiang. |url=https://www.jpolrisk.com/break-their-roots-evidence-for-chinas-parent-child-separation-campaign-in-xinjiang/ |journal=The Journal of Political Risk |volume=7 |issue=7}}</ref> The [[Australian Strategic Policy Institute]] estimates that some sixteen thousand [[mosque]]s have been razed or damaged since 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Like we were enemies in a war" |url=https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/report/blanket-repression-and-erasure-of-ethnic-identity/destruction-of-religious-and-cultural-sites/ |access-date=28 February 2024 |website=Amnesty International |archive-date=28 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228042709/https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/report/blanket-repression-and-erasure-of-ethnic-identity/destruction-of-religious-and-cultural-sites/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Associated Press]] reported that from 2015 to 2018, [[birth rate]]s in the mostly Uyghur regions of [[Hotan]] and [[Kashgar]] fell by more than 60%,<ref name="apne_Chin" /> compared to a decrease by 9.69% in the whole country.<ref name="data_Birt">{{Cite web |title=Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people) – China |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.CBRT.IN?start=2015&end=2018&locations=CN |access-date=2 January 2021 |publisher=[[The World Bank]]}}</ref> The allegation of Uyghur birth rates being lower than those of Han Chinese have been disputed by pundits from ''[[Pakistan Observer]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 September 2021 |title=Experts reject US allegations of genocide in Xinjiang, China |url=https://pakobserver.net/experts-reject-us-allegations-of-genocide-in-xinjiang-china/ |website=[[Pakistan Observer]] |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Antara (news agency)|Antara]],<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last1=M. Irfan Ilmie |last2=Tia Mutiasari |date=11 January 2021 |title=Populasi Uighur naik 25 persen, pemerintah Xinjiang bantu cek keluarga |trans-title=Uighur population up 25 percent, Xinjiang government helps check families |url=https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1940188/populasi-uighur-naik-25-persen-pemerintah-xinjiang-bantu-cek-keluarga |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614144118/https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1940188/populasi-uighur-naik-25-persen-pemerintah-xinjiang-bantu-cek-keluarga |archive-date=14 June 2021 |website=[[Antara News]] |language=id}}</ref> and [[Detik.com]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Basuki |first=Novi |date=20 December 2021 |title=Uighur dan Pemboikotan Olimpiade Beijing |trans-title=Uighurs and the Boycott of the Beijing Olympics |url=https://news.detik.com/kolom/d-5863420/uighur-dan-pemboikotan-olimpiade-beijing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220720120855/https://news.detik.com/kolom/d-5863420/uighur-dan-pemboikotan-olimpiade-beijing |archive-date=20 July 2022 |website=[[Detik.com]] |language=id-ID |quote=Pada 2018, misalnya, persentase kelahiran Uighur adalah 11,9‰, sedangkan Han cuma 9,42‰. Secara keseluruhan, total populasi Uighur di Xinjiang naik dari yang sekitar 8,346 juta pada 2000, ke 11,624 juta lebih pada 2020. Alias rata-rata naik 1,71% tiap tahunnya. Jauh lebih tinggi ketimbang populasi suku minoritas lain di seluruh China yang saban warsa hanya naik 0,83%.}}</ref> [[File:Uyghurs protesting.jpg|left|thumb|Protesters in Amsterdam with the [[Flag of East Turkestan]]]]The policies have drawn widespread condemnation, with some characterizing them as a genocide. In an [[United Nations Xinjiang Report|assessment by the UN Human Rights Office]], the [[United Nations]] (UN) stated that China's policies and actions in the Xinjiang region may be [[crimes against humanity]], although it did not use the term genocide.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ramzy |first1=Austin |date=1 September 2022 |title=For Uyghurs, U.N. Report on China's Abuses Is Long-Awaited Vindication |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/world/asia/china-xinjiang-uyghurs.html |access-date=2 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=31 August 2022 |title=China: New UN Report Alleges Crimes Against Humanity |work=[[Human Rights Watch]] |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/31/china-new-un-report-alleges-crimes-against-humanity |access-date=2 September 2022}}</ref> The United States<ref name="wsj._U.S._says">{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Michael R. |date=19 January 2021 |title=U.S. Says China Is Committing 'Genocide' Against Uighur Muslims |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-declares-chinas-treatment-of-uighur-muslims-to-be-genocide-11611081555 |access-date=19 January 2021}}</ref> and legislatures in several countries have described the policies as a genocide. The Chinese government denies having committed human rights abuses in Xinjiang.<ref name="Finley-2020">{{cite journal |last=Finley |first=Joanne |year=2020 |title=Why Scholars and Activists Increasingly Fear a Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=348–370 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2020.1848109 |s2cid=236962241}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Griffiths |first=James |date=17 April 2021 |title=From cover-up to propaganda blitz: China's attempts to control the narrative on Xinjiang |work=[[CNN]] |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/16/china/beijing-xinjiang-uyghurs-propaganda-intl-hnk-dst/index.html}}</ref>