Xinjiang Place Names and Administrative Changes

Author: Yu Weicheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The administrative evolution of a region is a summary of its history; the administrative evolution of a county is a summary of its history. The administrative leadership institutions of the central government in various parts of our country have grown from small to large and from low-level to high-level with the population growth, development of agriculture and animal husbandry, and the enhancement of historical strategic status. To establish a level of administrative authority, it is inevitable to adopt a local name. Therefore, to study historical or modern toponyms, one cannot be separated from the history of administrative changes. This book mainly introduces the administrative evolution and toponymic evolution of Xinjiang, the remote northwestern frontier of China. In this process, the book is mainly based on official historical records, official compiled chronicles, or personal academic works recognized by scholars of ancient and modern times after long historical verification, striving for accurate citations and reliable sources, while excluding speculative assumptions, rumors, or interpretations based on vague evidence. The book is written in Chinese. Considering that the Uyghur New Script is based on the Latin phonetic scheme of Chinese, although the New Script has been discontinued in the autonomous region, it is used for phonetic annotation of Turkic toponyms where necessary. Additionally, to avoid overly complex printing processes, a few Mongolian toponyms in the book are also annotated using the Uyghur New Script.