Xinjiang in the remote far west is one of five autonomous ethnic regions in China, like Tibet and Inner Mongolia. At pop. 22 million, it would be the 3rd most populous US state after California and Texas and larger than Florida, yet ranks in the bottom third of China's provinces in population. It would be the 2nd largest US state by area at 642,800 square miles, just a hair shy of Alaska and well over twice the size of Texas.
Xinjiang multiethnic and today very controversial. It is often called the
Uyghur region of China because it is the homeland of the Uyghurs, an Islamic Turkic people similar to the neighboring Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgz, Tajiks, etc. who are all traditionally nomads of the vast, flat Central Asian steppe.
So historically and ethnically, Xinjiang is like an "honorary stan," similar to the four Turkic stans which it borders to the west but currently part of China, controlled from the east. The strong independence movement in Xinjiang, wanting to break from China, calls the future state they seek "
East Turkestan" (see map below) as it is the easternmost of the Turkic regions.
There is a ton of news recently about China moving Han Chinese people into Xinjiang in droves, building cities and huge numbers of new homes for the Han, and declaring various aspects of traditional Islamic Uyghur culture illegal including head scarves, men's traditional beards, and a few months ago even fasting during the month of Ramadan.
China bans fasting during Ramadan
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/china-bans-ramadan-fasting-muslim-region-150618070016245.html
On the ethnic map below, the bottom half of Xinjiang where 80% of Uyghurs live is centered in the Tarim Basin, at the center of which is the Takla Makan Desert. (Good maps of Xinjiang are hard to find!) This core Uyghur region the Tarim Basin is separated from the northern Xinjiang by the vast Tien Shan Mountains.
Ethnic groups in Xinjiang: Uyhghur, Han Chinese, Kazakh
The vast, flat steppe across Eurasia, traditionally home to nomadic cultures since ancient times
Multiethnic, majority Islamic
One thing I did not realize, however, was that there are two other large ethnic group in Xinjiang, both Islamic like the Uyghurs:
-the
Kazakhs who number 1.5 million in Xinjiang and make up 6.5%, dominating the northernmost subregion.
-the
Hui who are ethnically Chinese (not Turkic) but Islamic make up 4.5%
Currently the demographics stand:
46% Uyghurs
40% Han Chinese
6.5% Kazakh
4.5% Hui
So overall, Xinjiang is around 57% Islamic spread among 3 Islamic ethnic groups Uyghur, Kazakh, Hui. China is trying to change the majority by relocating Han Chinese to the region, but it will take a while before the majority changes.
