Xinjiang is a region of many nationalities with the Uygurs as the major one. The census in 2000 shows that, by the end of 1999, the region has a total about population of 17,000, 000, of which the minority residents numbers 10,015,948 and accounts for 62 of the total population. Of the total,about 9,000,000 Uygurs make up 53 percent.  Others are Hans,Kazaks,Huis,Mongols,Kirghizes,Xibes,Tajiks,Uzbeks,Manchus, Daurs,Tatars, Russians. The above 13 nationalities have lived in Xinjiang for many years. Besides had moved to Xinjiang earlier or later from other parts of the country since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

  Language

   Most of the nationalities of Xinjiang have their own spoken and written languages (some of these languages are commonly used by several nationalities). Now the languages in use are the Uygur, Han, Kazak, Tuote Mongolian, Xibe, and Kirghiz languages. In the past four decades, the government of Xinjiang Autonomous Region has taken a series of effective measures to ensure all nationalities of Xinjiang can use and develop their own languages. As a result, minority languages are respected and widely used in whole society in Xinjiang. Uygur and Han languages are commonly used within the territory of entire Xinjiang; and in different autonomous prefectures and counties, local and Han languages are used. The working languages of the National People's Congress (NPC) of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are Uygur, Han, Kazak, Mongolian and Kirghiz languages.

  Religion

  Xinjiang is a region of many religions. The major religions here are lslamism,Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism), Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Shamanism. Islamism is believed by the Uygur, Kazak, Hui, Kirghiz, Tajik, Uzbek, Tatar, Sala, Dongxiang and Bao'an nationalities, more than ten in all. Islamism, therefore, is more influential in social life in Xinjiang. Now there are, throughout the region, 23,000 mosques and other religious activity places including Lamaist temples and Catholic churches, which have completely satisfied the religious people of all nationalities. The principle religious institutions in Xinjiang are the lslamic Association, The Islamic Scripture Seminary and the Buddhist Association, etc.

  Administrative Division

  In line with the Constitution of the people's Republic of China and the Minority Regional Autonomy Law of the People's Republic of China, Xinjiang's status as a province was revoked and the founding of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced on October 1,1955. "Tihua," the old name of the capital of the region, was changed to "Urumqi." Since it was established, the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has, in accordance with the party's national minorilt regional autonomy policy and a series of important instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made great headway in respecting and protecting minority people's rights to participate in governmental and political affairs and in the fields of economic development and cultural construction. In fact, all these achievements are obtained on the basis of the principle of mutual-study, mutual-confidence, Mutual-respect, and mutual-assistance.

  Under the Autonomous Region are eight prefectures, namely, Turpan, kumul (Hami), Aksu, Kashgar (Kashi),Hotan, Ili, Tarbagatay (Tacheng) and Altay; five autonomous prefectures, namely, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Bayangol Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, and Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture; three cities under the direct jurisdiction of the region, namely, Urumqi, Karamay and Shihezi; eight cities under the jurisdiction of the prefectures, namely, Turpan City, Kumul (Hami )City, Aksu City, Kashgar (Kashi) City, Hotan City, Gulja (Yining)City, Qoqek (Tacheng )City, and Altay City; six cities under the jurisdiction of the Autonomous Prefectures, namely, Kuytun City, Korla City, Bortala City, Changji City, Fuytun City, Korla City, Bortala City, Changji City, Fukang City, and Artux City; 64 counties; six autonomous counties, namely, Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, Hoboksar Mongol Autonomous County, Mori Kazak Autonomous County, Barkol kazak Autonomous County, Karaxar (Yanji )Hui Autonomous County and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County; 802 townships; and 42 nationality autonomous townships. 

  CHANGES IN HISTORY

  Xinjiang was known as "Western Region" in history.It has been a component part of our unified and multi-nationality country for more than two thousand years. From 60 B.C., when the Han dynasty instituted the Military Viceroy's Office in the Western Region, Xinjiang was under the direct jurisdiction of the government of the Western Han Dynasty. What Was known as "Western Region" at that time coincides the vast areas about today's Lake Balqash and the Pamirs.

  After the Han Dynasty, China's Wei, Jin and the subsequent dynasties in the Epoch of Division between South and North all established offices in the Western Region to assert the country's sovereignty over it, and initiated the administrative "jun "and "xian "(county)system here. The Earlier Liang Dynasty instituted Gaochang Jun in present day Turpan and put it nuder the government of Shazhou (now Dunhuang County, Gansu Province). All this shows that the feudalist centralized power was strengthened further in the Western Region.

  In the Tang and Sui Dynasties, the administrative system adopted here by the central government of ancient China was developed further.The Sui Dynasty, earlier and later, instituted Shanshan Jun, Qarqan (Qiemo) Jun and Araturuk (Yiwu ) Jun (now Kumul Prefecture). The Tang Dynasty instituted the county under the "zhou",the "xiang" (township) under the county, and the "li" (district) under the township in conformity with the administrative system practiced in the other parts of the country. The Anxi Military Viceroy's Office and the Beiting Military Viceroy's Office were the two supreme bodies of military and administrative power established by the Tang Dynasty in the Western Region. The former governed the extensive areas south of the Tianshan Mountains and the west of the Pamirs, the latter the vast land north of the Tianshan Mountains, including Lake Balqash.

  The Yuan and Ming Dynasties instituted an office here and named "daluhuachi" for the administration of the local affairs of the various areas of Xinjiang. Afterwards, the dynasties established, in addition, Alimali Administrative Office, and also, the Military Viceroy's Office, the Administrative Office and the Headquarters of the Marshal in Bieshibali and other localities. They set up courier stations along the roads of the Marshal in Bieshibali and other localities.They set up courier stations along the roads of strategic importance. The Min Dynasty initiated the Kumul (Hami) Military District.

  The Qing Dynasty, in Huiyuan City of Ili (south of today's Horgas City), founded the office of the Ili General for the overall Administration of Ili and Other Areas (the Ili General is the shortened form of the office) for the rule over entire Xinjiang. In 1884, the Qing government established Xinjiang Province, unified its administrative system and strengthened its ties with the other provinces of the country. From then on, the administrative center of Xinjiang was shifted from Ili eastward to Urumqi.

  The Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yatsen Overthrew the rule of Qing Dynasty and founded the Republic of China. ln Xinjiang, the revolutionaries had also organized armed uprisings in Urumqi and Ili in conjunction with the upper circles of minority groups.

  Since it was founded in 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has devoted attentions to the liberation of Xinjiang people. It was in early 1930s that the CPC had sent cadres to Xinjiang. After the eruption of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the CPC organs in Xinjiang established anti-Japanese national united front with local Kuomintang government and opened CPC Xinjiang office.The office organized a widely involved mass contribution movement in Xinjiang to support the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Central China.

  In 1994, a revolution against the rule of Kuomintang government broke out in Ili, Tacheng and Altay, giving strong support to the War of Liberation led by the CPC.

  In September 1949, Xinjiang was liberated peacefully. And on October 1 of the same year, Xinjiang people, with people in other parts of the country together, celebrated the founding of the People's Republic of China. Since then Xinjiang's history opened a wholly new page.

  The history of Xinjiang is closely bound up with the world-famous Silk Road. Xinjiang lies on a section of the Road of strategic importance and, therefore, changes in the history of Xinjiang have had effects on the rise and fall of the Silk Road.

  The Silk Road is an international road of historical significance. It is this ancient passageway that has connected the civilizations from China, lndia, Persia, and Arabia with those from Greece and Rome, and thus promoted the interchange between East and West. The ancient road has its start in Chang'an, an ancient capital of China (now Xi'an), and its terminus on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, with nearly half of it running across Xinjiang. Therefore, Xinjiang, situated in the center of the Eurasian continent has been an important section of the ancient Silk Road and a place of the economic and cultural interchange between East and West, a place where many men of fame in history have left their footprints behind them and a place rich in highly prized historic relics and sites.

  China is one of the countries where sericulture started early. In the years between 138 B.C. and 119 B.C., Zhang Qian, an outstanding diplomat, opened the way to the Western Region, the way connecting the East and West of the world. He and the mission headed by him took gold and silk cloth with them and visited Loulan (now Qarkilik and its neighborhood), Lopnur, Qiuci (now Kuqar), Shule (now Kashgar), Yutian (now Hotan), Wusun (now the Ili Rover Valley), Dawan, Kangju, Dayuezhi and other places of Xinjiang and Central Asia. His deputies even visited Anxi (now Iran) and Shendu (now India). And the areas and countries he visited, in return, also sent their envoys to pay visits to the Central Plains of China, Besides, there was an endless stream of merchants and businessmen on the road. What flowed into the Western Region, India and Europe from China included silk, ironware, yellow and white metals, brass mirrors, lacquered bamboo ware, medicine and techniques of farming and metallurgy. And in return, things like clover, grapes, flax, pomegranates, walnuts, cucumbers, carrots, saffron, etc. and animals like lions, peacocks, elephants, camels, "sweat and blood" horses, etc. were brought in large quantities to the Central Plains of China from the Western Region and foreign countries.

  In the year 73, China sent another delegation of 36 with Ban Chao as the head on a mission to the Western Region. Gan Ying, Ban's deputy, was dispatched to the Roman Empire and the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf). The mission guaranteed the prosperity of the Silk Road and made some extensions of the Road. In the year 67, Jiayemoteng and Zhufalan, both Indian Buddhist monks of great repute, accompanied by envoys of the Eastern Han Dynasty, arrived in Luoyang, in Henan Province now, by way of Pakistan and Afghanistan. An Shiguo, prince of Anxi, where Buddhism was most prosperous, and Jiumoluoshi, a Buddhist monk of great repute of Qiuci, came to the midland of China via the same road, respectively in the years 147 and 401, for the translation of Buddhist Scriptures and for preaching of Buddhism of thousands of disciples so that their names were known to the entire world as well as to China. Fa Xian of the Jin Dynasty and Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty, both prestigious Buddhist monks, started their visiting and preaching tours respectively in 366 and 627, by following the Silk Road, over more than 30 countries and areas including Kashmir, Pakistan, India and Sri lanka. The Notes of the Buddhist Countries by Fa Xian and the Notes of the Western Region of the Tang Dynasty by Xuan Zang are both important works for the study and research of the Western Region, the history of India and the Silk Road.

  In 1222 and 1223, Yeluchucai, a great poet of the Yuan Dynasty, and Qiu Chuji, the leader of all Taoists of the country at that time, on their tours over the Western Region along the Silk Road, gave their vivid descriptions of what they saw of the northern territory of China and Central Asia in the verses and essays they wrote as they were traveling here. Marco Polo, an ltalian tourist, who traveled to the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (now Beijing ) via the Silk Road in 1275, records truly what he saw of the Pamirs, Kashgar, Yarkan, Hotan and their Vicinities and what they produced.

  The long sections of the Silk Road running across Xinjiang make up a treasure house of relics known to the whole world with their frontier passes, ancient cities and castles, strongholds and fortifications, Buddhist caves and temples, courier stations, ancient tombs, war-signaling stations, etc. like strings of pearls that sparkle brilliantly and colorfully along the ancient Road.

  Xinjiang boasts 14 Buddhist cave temples and over 990 caves. The major ones are the Kizil, Kumtura, Kizilgaha, Senmusaimu and Bizaklik Grottoes, five in all. There are 239 biggest numbered caves and 46 smallest ones. The sculptures and murals in the caves, welding Chinese culture with those from India and Persia, gave birth go a unique style of art of their own. In addition to the Buddhist pictures, there are ones which depict the productive activities and everyday lives, in great vividness, of the local residents of various nationalities.

  The most fascinating of all the historic sites on the Silk Road is the ancient city of Loulan. Located in the northwest part of what is now known as Lop Nur, it used to be a key hub of traffic of the Silk Road, with a past of commercial prosperity. Now, however, there are only the ruins of the city buried in the desert. Mummies of men and women have been unearthed from the ancient tombs here. Countless cultural relics have been discovered about the ancient cities and castles. The best preserved historic sites are the ancient cities of Gaochang and Jiaohe, situated in the Turpan Basin. In the ruins of the two ancient cities, the tourists can still see distinctly the keeps of the once significant royal palaces and Buddhist temples. Over a hundred dried-up bodies of men and women have been excavated out of the ancient tombs in Astana near the city ruins. The funerary objects unearthed from the tombs here include, all from the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Dynasties previous to them, large quantities of documentary papers, silk, cotton and hemp fabrics of excellent workmanship, ancient money of all sorts and descriptions, colorful pottery human figures of all characters in various poses, and many varieties of food that have survived the wear and tear of nature. The mummy of an officer of high rank from the Tang Dynasty still keeps the man's tall and big stature, dignified appearance, and all the air expected of an ancient warrior. The dried corpse of a young girl, with her well-proportioned figure and dark hair, still suggests, more or less, the youth and beauty of her lifetime. The colorful pottery figurines and statuettes of great versatility in type and posture include stalwart warriors, shapely maids of honor, pestling or grinding women, and so on and so forth, all represented with verisimilitude and liveliness. How many footprints have been left behind for our tracing of the ancient ages!

  Caravan bells have reverberated for two thousand years of human history on the different sections of the Tianshan mountains.

  Now, however, parallel to the ancient Silk Road is a three-dimensional network of communication composed of highways, railways, and air routes. Highways wind up the Pamirs, "the roof of the world," and the sky-scraping Kunlun Mountains, and run across the Tarim and Junggar Basins. The Dushanzi-Kuqar Highway starts from Dushanzi in the north and ends in Kuqar, the ancient state of Qiuci, in the south. Flying over the Tianshan Mountains like a rainbow, it connects Northern Xinjiang and Southern Xinjiang closely. The opening of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway in 1963 changed the railwayless history of Xinjiang.

  The connection of a second Eurasian bridge by the completion and opening of the western section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway (the section between Urumqi and Alashankou Pass) on September 1,1990, was followed on the twelfth day of the same month by the joining of its tracks with those of a railway of Kazakhstan, thus opening the railway for the China-Kazakhstan passenger trains and extending the terminus of the "Silk road " to Europe and even to places beyond it.