1) What does "integration" mean in general and with respect to Xinjiang (and
how does this change over time)?
Two possible meanings of the term “integration”:
- integration can refer to the relationship between the majority and
minority populations of a given state (territorial integration)
- integration can refer to ‘the patterns by which the different parts of
a nation-state cohere’ (political, social and economic integration)
The first understanding of integration can be seen as a means by which a
large, multi-ethnic state can ensure and maintain sovereignty over its
territory, while the second concerns the operation of society once the
territorial integrity of the state has been ensured.
both the mechanisms by which the state has attempted to incorporate the
territory of Xinjiang and the deeper endeavour to incorporate the non-Han
peoples of the region into the ‘unitary, multiethnic’ Chinese state. It
emerges from this discussion that in the first respect—incorporation of
territory—the state has been successful. In the second respect, although the
Chinese state has managed the tensions arising from its governance of the
peoples of Xinjiang, the question of the ultimate incorporation of these
people remains unresolved.
Process culminated in the 1870s and 1880s with the construction of
Xinjiang as a province of the empire that was ultimately underpinned by an
overtly integrationist and assimilationist approach.
--Qing:
traditional divide between sedentary/agricultural China and
nomadic/pastoral Inner Asia -> Lifa Yuan -> Qing policy and goals toward
Xinjiang immediately after its conquest were anything but integrationist
nineteenth century, Qing policy and goals began to exhibit tendencies that
portended a shift from the imperatives of the Qianlong era (1735 – 1796)
and toward a greater emphasis on administrative measures that would
enmesh the region to a greater extent with the rest of the empire.
From 1759 to the early years of the nineteenth century, Qing rule of
Xinjiang was relatively successful for the Qing, with imperial authority
seemingly consolidated through direct and indirect rule and reinvigoration
of the region’s economy. Situation proved illusory, with the almost constant
generation of internal and external challenges to Qing rule throughout the
nineteenth century.-> gradual, but nonetheless profound, transformation
in the rationality that had underpinned Qing rule of Xinjiang.
Internally, the stability and relative economic prosperity forthcoming from
the imposition of the ‘Pax Manjurica’ ironically laid the basis for growing
Turkic – Muslim grievances against the imperial authorities by the early
1800s. -> initiated a re-evaluation. results of this re-evaluation were felt
with varying intensity across the constituent elements of Qing rule in
Xinjiang from the mid-1830s onward:
- unequal treaty with Khoqand (encouragement of Han Chinese
colonization of the Altishahr
- 1840s, Qing rule in Altishahr had been partially consolidated through
the expansion of Han colonization, military agricultural colonies and
land reclamation projects
- pressures culminated in 1864 with the outbreak of a series of internal
rebellions, which resulted in the collapse of Qing rule in Xinjiang, and
external intervention by Khoqand and Russia -> ethnic complexity of
these revolts ultimately contributed to the intervention of external
forces
- cornerstone of the new rationality of Qing administration following
Zuo Zongtang’s re-conquest was ultimately integration. -> extension
of a web of political, economic, cultural and ideological linkages from
China to Xinjiang.
- “If we wish to change their peculiar customs and assimilate them to
our Chinese ways (huafeng), we must found free schools (yishu) and
make the Muslim children read books, recognize characters and
understand spoken language. (Cited in Millward, 2007, p. 142)”
- the imperial administration of Xinjiang pursued an explicitly
sinicizing policy. Page 8
- Qing policy in Xinjiang from 1759 to 1911 could be considered a
success, as it effectively implanted the notion of Xinjiang as an
integral part of the Chinese state into an emerging national
consciousness in the early twentieth century.
Republican Era:
semi-independence of Xinjiang from the Chinese state from 1911 to
1949
- continued tension between and interaction of forces/dynamics
emanating from outside Xinjiang and from within it
- duality of weak political authority at the centre and along the
frontiers facilitated the development of a dynamic that permitted Han
elites, such as those in Xinjiang, to have almost total autonomy from
the Republic, albeit in the face of strong external challenges
- Xinjiang’s position between 1911 and 1949 as both the pawn and
pivot of Asia
- vicissitudes of Xinjiang’s ambiguous position between China and the
Soviet Union.
- Yang succeeded in isolating Xinjiang from China and limited the
expansion of Soviet influence, his successors found it exceedingly
difficult to balance the competing imperatives of the Soviet Union and
China
- The accretion of Chinese techniques and tactics of rule in Xinjiang
since the Qing period required concrete expression of the
Chineseness of the region both internally and externally. Thus,
throughout the Republican period, the KMT government intensely
and regularly claimed Xinjiang as a Chinese province within the
context of the Sino – Soviet relationship. Moreover, upon
establishing KMT authority in Xinjiang in 1943 – 1944, a series of
techniques and tactics of rule aimed at integrating the province
with the state was implemented immediately, albeit with limited
effect. As we see in the following section, this Qing-origin legacy
would be bequeathed to the PRC and pursued with vigour.
period of political fragmentation in China from 1911 to 1949:
- external powers
- duality of weak political authority at the centre and at the periphery
resulted in a number of contradictory dynamics in Xinjiang
CCP’s victory in 1949
- ‘liberation’ of Xinjiang, the Chinese state’s integrationist project was
rejuvenated and pursued with vigour
- Process entailed implementing a complex of policies aimed at not
only securing Chinese control over the territory of Xinjiang but also
making the region an integral province of the PRC.
- Importantly, across the 1949 – 2005 period, whenever a particular
component of this encompassing integrationist project has been
perceived to generate dynamics that threaten the state’s ultimate
goal, the component has been either re-evaluated or scaled back
2) How does this speak to the issue of "empire becoming nation" raised in the
first session?
the intensification of non-Chinese power in
Xinjiang played a vital role in re-affirming the integrationist logic of the late
Qing era
for what Chinese authorities saw as the correct nature of the relationship
between the
Chinese state and Xinjiang.
Following the CCP’s victory in 1949 and its ‘liberation’ of Xinjiang, the
Chinese
state’s integrationist project was rejuvenated and pursued with vigour. This
process, as
we have seen, entailed implementing a complex of policies aimed at not
only securing
Chinese control over the territory of Xinjiang but also making the region an
integral
province of the PRC.