This is my first post in a 33 part series: Better Know a Chinese Province. Where possible, I'll try to compare China's provinces to their American counterparts. That way, we can all learn a little bit more about our future global overlord. First up: Xinjiang, China's Muslim Separatist Alaska. The word Xinjiang, 新疆, is Mandarin for 'new frontier' while Alaska's nickname is 'The last frontier.' Maybe Mars can be 'the frontier of the future.' Xinjiang has been part of China, but 
frequently independent throughout its modern history. It was the independent East Turkestan Republic from 1933 to 1934 and from 1944 to 1949 (its flag is pictured above, now illegal to fly in China). In 1949, the People's Liberation Army invaded/liberated Xinjiang and proclaimed it part of the People's Republic. The territory became an autonomous republic in 1955, 4 years before Alaska (flag pictured to the right) became a US state.
There are quite a few similarities between Alaska and Xinjiang. Both have enormous energy resources that their respective states want to exploit (China is planning an oil pipeline from western Xinjiang to Shanghai, 2,000 miles away. A bill signed by Sarah Palin in 2008 has cleared the way for a pipeline connecting Alaska's North Shore [which contains ANWR] to the lower 48 states. Newsweek called it the most significant thing she accomplished as governor). They are almost exactly the same size, but the population of Alaska is 690,000 while 21 million live in Xinjiang. Both have separatist movements, but the pacification of Alaska was aided by the natives' complete lack of resistance to European diseases. In the first two generations of Russian exploration, 80% of the native peoples had died. The Han Chinese have had to establish dominance in Xinjiang the old-fashioned way. I'll let the first 23 seconds of this clip from Braveheart explain. Just replace 'Scotland' with 'Xinjiang' and 'Scots' with 'Uyghurs:'
In 1949, the number of Han Chinese in Xinjiang was a mere 300,000. In 1956, Mao Zedong called on China's youth to "open up the west," or what I'll call 'Manifest Destiny with Chinese characteristics.' By 2000, the Han Chinese numbered 7.5 million and made up more than 40% of the population of Xinjiang. At this point, Xinjiang is solidly part of China and Gordon Chang is probably overstating the ability of ethnic violence to destabilize the state. According to the 2000 US Census, Alaska is almost 70% Caucasian, so I encourage China to keep plodding along and eventually the 169 who died in July of this year will be as distant a memory as when Alaska switched from the Julian calender to the Gregorian calender and got two Fridays in a row.
While many Americans know former governor Sarah Palin, few will recognize her Chinese counterpart, Regional Secretary Wang Lequan, 王乐泉, pictured to the right. Wang is the top government official in Xinjiang and has overseen economic development there since 1994. He's built roads and railways and has been developing oil and gas fields in the region. He's replaced the local language with Mandarin in primary schools, forbidden fasting and praying while on the job, and banned wearing scarves or beards in public. He's known as the 'stability secretary' and when the July riots in Urumqi weren't ended quickly, some publicly called for his resignation.Wang has been a member of the Politburo since 2004. For those of you not down with politics in China, the Politburo is the 25 member body that rules China. Within the Politburo, there is a smaller Standing Committee of 9 people. Current President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are members of both. How these organizations work is something of a mystery, but outsiders carefully watch who makes it into or out of the Politburo to guess which direction China is moving in.
