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Eastern Turkestan, Kashgaria, or Sinkiang (Xinjiang)

Kashgaria was a name common to some portion of Eastern Turkestan before the 1860s. Eastern Turkestan lies between the southern slopes of the Thian Shan mountains and the Kuen-lun and Kara Korum (Nan Shan) ranges. In the west it is walled by the crested margin of the great Pamir upland, by the so-called Belur-Tagh mountains which divide Central Asia into Eastern and Western Turkestan. In the east it fades away into the vast Mongol desert, Shamo or Gobi, and the level lands annexed to the Chinese province of Han-su. Skirting the north lie Dzungaria and the Russian territories (the Semirechensk district). To the south, beyond the Kuen-lun range, are situated Cashmere and Thibet, while Kokan and Badakhshan, with the Russian portion of Bokhara (the Zarafshan district) intervening, encompass Eastern Turkestan immediately beyond its broad line of demarcation in the west.

Eastern Turkestan reached nearly 1,250 miles from west to east and varied from 300 to 500 miles in breadth, but the plain surface alone between the Kuenlun and Thian Shan, i.e., between 37° and 40° to 43°30' N. latitude (Kashgar being situated in 39°25' or 39°23' and Turfan in 43°30' N. lat.) was 180 to 400 geographical miles wide, while its length from Kashgar to Hami, or more properly to Lop-Nor at the western extremity of the Mongol desert, is about 740 geographical miles. The plain suface thus embraces about 48,000 square geographical miles of country. The entire area of Eastern Turkestan within these limits is computed at 80,000 square miles.f The greater part of Eastern Turkestan is composed of desert and sfeppe, traversed by the River Tarim, but the northern and western extremities are of a different character; the northern is intersected by projecting spurs of the Thian Shan mountains, and the western is an elevated table land gradually sloping away to the southeast and covered with short projections from the " BelurTagh " mountain chain, which are both steep and bare, and which alternate with deep fissures.

From the Kirghiz Alataii towards the east, the Thian Shan mountains, forming the northern boundary of Eastern Turkestan, bear different local appellations. The elevations in those mountains which Russians have reached vary from 12,000 to 21,000 feet, and the principal passes, such as the Bars-Kaun, Zauku, Kantak, and Muzart, occur at heights of 10,000 to 16,000 feet. The great military road from China into Eastern Turkestan, or the so-called South Thian Shan road, passed along the bases of the southern spurs of those mountains through all the principal towns, from Hami to Kashgar.

Eastern Turkestan is a geographical distinction of comparatively modern origin, dictated by the great physical barrier which, in the shape of the Pamir upland, nature has placed longitudinally, between East and West, in Central Asia. Ethnographically, this physical line of limitation marked no ethnic distinction. One homogeneous family of Turks filled the whole of that zone from the extreme western limits of Asia to the borders of Western China. In the eastern division of Central Asia there may indeed be a perceptible difference in the national character of the Turks, but this came from the interspersion of some heterogeneous elements among the dominant population. The rule, and the manners and customs of China had, during the course of more than a century, caused some alteration in the character of the people.

Buddhists in the south, and a variety of Tartar tribes in the north, doubtless had some considerable effect in re-idiomatising the language of the Turks, in modifying their habits, and perhaps, also, in toning down to some extent their faith and religious observances. Originally, the population of Eastern Turkestan was Buddhist, but for many ages the un-animating forms of idolatry had been superseded by Mahomedanism. Women were, however, reported to enjoy an extensive share of freedom, and there is, perhaps, less fanaticism in the country of the Seven Cities than in the western division of Central Asia. Nevertheless, the Mahomedan faith had an irrepressible vitality which frequently roused all the worst passions of its adherents.

Originally, the Uigurs occupied Eastern Turkestan (Little Bokharia), and in the sixth century they formed a strong kingdom, known to the Chinese as Hao-Chan or Kaochang of which the capital wasHarashar. The Ouigurs were then pure Buddhists, and Chinese pilgrims were in the habit of visiting Hao-Chan, for the purpose of studying the religious forms and doctrines of the people. In the eighth century, however, Mahomedanism began to penetrate into that country, and the Ouigurs at length became as devoted to Islamism as they had previously been to Buddhism. The Tan dynasty, which came to the Chinese throne in the seventh century, being apprehensive of danger to its metropolis, which was then Singan-fu, in the province of Shensi, and which was consequently very close to the frontiers of the country of the Ouigurs, waged an almost incessant war against the latter during the seventh and eighth centuries.

After finally destroying the Uigur capital, the Chinese reduced the whole of Eastern Turkestan to subjection. But even this not having had the desired effect of thoroughly reducing the Ouigurs, who continued frequently to rise against the Chinese, the Tan dynasty, in order to complete their pacification, and to neutralize the effects of the rapid progress which the new faith was making, caused a great deportation of the bellicose tribes and converts into China in the latter part of the eighth and in the beginning of the ninth century. According to Chinese history, there were two deportations, in one case of upwards of 800,000 families, and in another of more than 200,000. Doubtless, voluntary immigrations into China followed afterwards, but history contains no record of them.

The immigrants, called Hoi-hoi-tsi, or Turks of Turkestan, were mainly settled in the province of Han-su, whence, in subsequent times, under the general designation of Han-hoi-tsi, or Chinese Turks, they gradually spread all over China, but principally over the northern provinces along the great wall, and over the provinces of the west, such as Shensi, Szechuen, Yunnan, and Kwei-chan, where they came to be distinguished as Tun-Han-Su, that is, "the same as those of Han-su." Hence, very likely, the corruption of their name into Tungan was made by the Uigurs themselves, since to them it had a signification. The word is also "East Turkestan for "vert" and may, indeed, have other interpretations.

From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century the whole of Kashgaria was under the rule of the Hodjas, the saintly descendants of Mahomed. The dissensions which occurred among them brought about a division of parties as well as constant bloodshed, and a general revolution. The result was the conquest of all Kashgaria by the Kalmuks of Dzungaria. But in 1756, Dzungaria was seized by the Chinese, and in 1758 the whole of Eastern Turkestan likewise succumbed to their authority. From that time, until 1864, Eastern Turkestan was known as Chinese Turkestan.

By the mid-19th Century a Chinese garrison of soldiers, with an amban, were the only Chinese occupants of the Mussulman towns in Turkestan, with the addition of a few Chinese merchants in the principal commercial centres. In Dzungaria, on the other hand, there were numerous Chinese inhabitants of all classes: military, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and criminal.

The seven principal towns of Eastern Turkestan were garrisoned with Chinese soldiers located in the citadels established in the outskirts. Those troops were under the command of a Chinese amban, or military Governor, resident in the citadel, to whom, at the same time, the civil administration of the town and its district was subordinate. The seven ambans of Eastern Turkestan were inferior in rank to the Tsian-Kiung of Kuldja (I'li) in Dzungaria, who was thus head and chief (but nominally rather than practically) over all the Chinese forces distributed over Eastern Turkestan and Dzungaria. The senior officer in Eastern Turkestan, to whom the others were subordinate, was the amban of Yarkend.

In the mid-19th Century the Chinese troops in Eastern Turkestan were estimated to number about 70,000. These were originally Manchur and Chinese soldiers of eight divisions of banners, whose complement, was, however, systematically made up by native levies. The garrisons of the towns of the interior were considerably stronger than those of the frontier cities, which would show that the Chinese felt the necessity of guarding against an insurrection of the people more than against any irruption of a foreign foe.

Having been banished from Altyshar, the descendants and representatives of the Hodja dynasty resided with some of their adherents in Kokan, from whence they used constantly to send emissaries, sometimes venturing even in person to raise the Mahomedans against the Manchurs in Altyshar. Thus, in the years 1825, 1829, 1847, and 1857 the people, instigated by the Hodjas, attempted to subvert the Manchur Government, but the attempts were on each occasion abortive.

The Hodjas were not unaided in their intrigues; profiting by the demonstrations which were made by the natives of the towns of Altyshar against their masters, the Kokan Government took an active part in promoting them. Nor did the Kokan Government cease to co-operate with the rebels, even after pledging itself not to allow the Hodjas and their interdicted partisans to overstep the Kokan frontier into Eastern Turkestan. An agreement to that effect was made after the insurrection of 1829, and in return the Chinese gave the Khan of Kokan j3ermission to leyy^ duties on all foreign merchandise brought into Kashgar. A Kokan aksakal was thereupon established in that city, and his receipts were paid over to the Kokan Governor of Andijan once a year. Up to the time of the recent massacre of the Chinese, Kokanians enjoyed in Kashgar all the privileges of native subjects of China, while they paid no taxes to the Chinese Government.

The Mussulman populations of the western provinces of China rose in rebellion against the Manchu Government in 1862, and in 1866 those in the north-west completely emancipated themselves from the Manchur yoke. This event, coupled with the earlier outbreak of the Taepings, shook the throne of the reigning dynasty in Pekin, and produced a profound sensation throughout Central Asia. Yet the cause and the course of the insurrections in Eastern Turkestan and Dzungaria remained for a long time obscure. The principal performers in the drama, of which the first act was played in the bordering provinces of China in the year 1862, were the Hodjas of Kashgaria, the Tungans of Chinese Turkestan, and the Taranchis of Dzungaria.