History Outline of Xinjiang

Author: Miao Puseng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: The History of Xinjiang explores the essence of Xinjiang's historical research from political, economic, and cultural perspectives using Marxist historical materialism. It comprehensively and systematically organizes and discusses the long history of Xinjiang from ancient times to 1949. It truly depicts a three-dimensional scroll of the thousands of years of historical evolution and development of the various ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Under the backdrop of Chinese historical evolution, this research, guided by the traditional dynastic changes in Chinese history, combines the actual development of Xinjiang's history to briefly summarize the thousands of years of Xinjiang's history into nine chapters:
Chapter 1: Xinjiang in the Pre-Qin Period;
Chapter 2: Western Regions in the Han Dynasty;
Chapter 3: Western Regions in the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties;
Chapter 4: Western Regions in the Sui and Tang Dynasties;
Chapter 6: Western Regions in the Five Dynasties, Song, Liao, and Jin Periods;
Chapter 7: Western Regions in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties;
Chapter 8: Xinjiang in the Qing Dynasty;
Chapter 9: Xinjiang in the Republican Era.
The arrangement of chapters highlights the characteristics of Xinjiang's history in each different stage while organically integrating it with Chinese history, fully reflecting the author's grasp of the political stance in the writing process of Xinjiang's history. This research also overcomes the shortcomings of previous local history writing in Xinjiang, which often focused on political succession or the development history of Xinjiang's ethnic minorities while neglecting social life studies. While continuing to focus on political history research, it devotes more attention to exploring the social and economic lives, as well as social changes, of the people of all ethnic groups, touching upon broader aspects and deeply studying the intrinsic connections between them. The research employs new archaeological materials to confirm the eastward-oriented characteristics of Xinjiang's cultural types in prehistoric times, refuting the traditional view of the "Western Origin Theory" of Western Regions culture. Additionally, it examines the close economic exchanges between the Central Plains and the Western Regions during the Pre-Qin period, detailing in each chapter the inevitable political jurisdiction of the successive central governments of the Han Dynasty and later dynasties over the regions north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, as well as the forms and policies of military and administrative governance in different periods, clarifying the objective fact that Xinjiang has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times. The historical activities of ancient tribes and ethnic groups in Xinjiang in different periods are recorded throughout the chapters of The History of Xinjiang, with particular emphasis on exploring the formation and development processes of Xinjiang's ethnic groups in modern times, fully absorbing the latest achievements of academia in recent years. Throughout history, all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have made their own contributions to its development and progress. Especially since modern times, the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have fought against foreign invasions and the expansion of Russia, safeguarding the security of China's northwest frontier, embodying the great spirit of the Chinese nation's unity in opposing foreign aggression. This research fully presents and records these struggles. Furthermore, it objectively and innovatively explores issues such as ancient ethnic origins, social form classification, reclamation and frontier defense, as well as the evaluation of historical figures, based on facts, clearly stating its academic views, and making courageous explorations and practices in correctly explaining and promoting Marxist historical perspectives. The History of Xinjiang is rich in content and accurate in perspective, basically representing the high level of general history writing on Xinjiang local history in the 20th century.