Migration to Xinjiang

[3] Chinese historians refute Uyghur nationalist claims by pointing out the 2000-year history of Han settlement in Xinjiang, documenting the history of Mongol, Kazakh, Uzbek, Manchu, Hui, Xibo indigenes in Xinjiang and by emphasizing the relatively late "westward migration" of the Huihe (unturkified Uyghurs in Chinese) people from Mongolia the 9th century.

[2] The discovery of the Tarim mummies has created a stir in the Uyghur population of the region, who claim the area has always belonged to their culture.

While scholars generally agree that it was not until the 10th century when the Uyghurs have moved to the region from Central Asia, these discoveries have led Han Kangxin to conclude that the earliest settlers were not Asians.

[4] American Sinologist Victor H. Mair claims that "the earliest mummies in the Tarim Basin were exclusively Caucasoid, or Europoid" with "east Asian migrants arriving in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin around 3,000 years ago", while Mair also notes that it was not until 842 that the Uyghur peoples settled in the area.

[6] Han people were moved to Central Asian areas like Besh Baliq, Almaliq and Samarqand by the Yuan dynasty where they worked as artisans and farmers.

[8] Some scholars estimate that about 80% of the Dzungar population or around 500,000 to 800,000 people, were killed by a combination of warfare, massacres and disease during or after the Qing conquest in 1755–1757.

The genocide of the Zunghar Mongols led to the Qing sponsored settlement of Han Chinese, Hui, Turkestani Oasis people (Uyghurs) and Manchu Bannermen in Dzungaria.

[16] The depopulation of northern Xinjiang after the Buddhist Öölöd Mongols (Zunghars) were slaughtered, led to the Qing settling Manchu, Sibo (Xibe), Daurs, Solons, Han Chinese, Hui Muslims and Turkic Muslim Taranchis in the north, with Han Chinese and Hui migrants making up the greatest number of settlers.

Since it was the crushing of the Buddhist Öölöd (Dzungars) by the Qing which led to promotion of Islam and the empowerment of the Muslim Begs in southern Xinjiang, and migration of Muslim Taranchis to northern Xinjiang, it was proposed by Henry Schwarz that "the Qing victory was, in a certain sense, a victory for Islam".

[22] Taranchi was the name for Turki (Uyghur) agriculturalists who were resettled in Dzhungaria from the Tarim Basin oases ("East Turkestani cities") by the Qing dynasty, along with Manchus, Xibo (Xibe), Solons, Han and other ethnic groups in the aftermath of the destruction of the Dzhunghars.

[26] The Manchu garrisons were supplied and supported with grain cultivated by the Han soldiers and East Turkestani (Uyghurs) who were resettled in agricultural colonies in Zungharia.

[28][29] The amount of Uyghurs moved by the Qing from Altä-shähär (Tarim Basin) to depopulated Zunghar land in Ili numbered around 10,000 families.

[33] The Qing settled in Dzungaria even more Turki-Taranchi (Uyghurs) numbering around 12,000 families originating from Kashgar in the aftermath of the Jahangir Khoja invasion in the 1820s.

[45] In 1765, 300,000 ch'ing of land in Xinjiang were turned into military colonies, as Chinese settlement expanded to keep up with China's population growth.

[55] While a few people try to give a misportrayal of the historical Qing situation in light of the contemporary situation in Xinjiang with Han migration and claim that the Qing settlements and state farms were an anti-Uyghur plot to replace them in their land, Professor James A. Millward pointed out that the Qing agricultural colonies in reality had nothing to do with Uyghur and their land, since the Qing banned settlement of Han in the Uyghur Tarim Basin and in fact directed the Han settlers instead to settle in the non-Uyghur Dzungaria and the new city of Ürümqi, so that the state farms which were settled with 155,000 Han Chinese from 1760 to 1830 were all in Dzungaria and Ürümqi, where there was only an insignificant amount of Uyghurs, instead of the Tarim Basin oases.

[60] Along the way many were attacked and killed by Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, their historical enemies based on intertribal competition for land and many more died of starvation and disease.

After several gruelling months of travel, only one-third of the original group reached Zungharia and had no choice but to surrender to the Qing upon arrival.

They proved to be incompetent farmers and they became destitute, selling their children into slavery, engaging in prostitution and stealing, according to the Manchu Qi-yi-shi.

Han and Hui merchants were initially only allowed to trade in the Tarim Basin, while Han and Hui settlement in the Tarim Basin was banned, until the Muhammad Yusuf Khoja invasion, in 1830 when the Qing rewarded the merchants for fighting off Khoja by allowing them to settle down permanently, however, few of them actually took up on the offer.

[72] Professor Stanley W. Toops noted that today's demographic situation is similar to that of the early Qing period in Xinjiang.

[74] The Qing dynasty gave large amounts of land to Chinese Hui Muslims and Han Chinese who settled in Dzungaria, while Turkic Muslim Taranchis were also moved into Dzungaria in the Ili region from Aqsu in 1760, the population of the Tarim Basin swelled to twice its original size during Qing rule for 60 years since the start.

[78][79] The People's Republic of China has directed the majority of Han migrants towards the sparsely populated Dzungaria (Junggar Basin).

In the 1990s, there was a net inflow of Han people to Xinjiang, many of whom were previously prevented from moving because of the declining number of social services tied to hukou (residency permits).

[100] There was a chain of press releases in the 1990s on the violent insurrections in Xinjiang, some were made by the former Soviet supported URFET leader Yusupbek Mukhlisi.

Dzungaria (red) and the Tarim Basin (blue), the two constituent territorial components of Xinjiang.
The Zunghar Khanate (c.1750) (within blue borders)
Ethnic pluralities in Xinjiang by prefecture, 2000:
Uyghur plurality
Han plurality
Kazakh plurality