Xinjiang (Mandarin pronunciation: [ɕíntɕjɑ́ŋ]; Uyghur: شىنجاڭ, Shinjang; Chinese: 新疆; pinyin: Xīnjiāng; Wade-Giles: Hsin1-chiang1; Postal map spelling: Sinkiang) is an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the territory of Republic of China. It is a large, sparsely populated area, spanning over 1.6 million km2 (comparable in size to Iran), which takes up about one sixth of the country's territory. Xinjiang borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and India's Leh District to the south and Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west. It administers most of Aksai Chin, a territory formally part of Kashmir's Ladakh region over which India has claimed sovereignty since 1962.
"Xinjiang" or "Ice Jecen" in Manchu, literally means "New Frontier" a name given during the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China.[1] It is home to a number of different ethnic groups, many of them Turkic, the largest of which is the Uyghur people. Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan,[2] Sinkiang, East Turkestan, or Uyghuristan. More specifically, at times, the term East Turkestan only referred to the Xinjiang area south of the Tian Shan mountains, North of the Tian Shan was called Dzungaria (Zungaria).[3]
The east-west Tian Shan Mountains separate Dzungaria in the north from the Tarim Basin in the south. Dzungaria is dry steppe. The Tarim Basin is desert surrounded by oases. In the east is the Turfan Depression. In the west, the Tian Shan split, forming the Ili River valley.
Contents |
|
Reuters
... adviser urged Chinese leaders on Friday to act with "appropriate restraint" in dealing with unrest in the Xinjiang region, a senior US official said. ...
White House Adviser Jones To Meet Chinese Delegation At G8 Friday NASDAQ
Obama says looking forward to China visit China Daily
Chinese state councilor, Obama have talks at summit China Daily
all 194 news articles »
