Xinjiang and the Expansion of Chinese Communist Power

This book outlines the history of Xinjiang. It focuses on the key city of Kashghar, the symbolic heart of Uighur society, drawing on a large body of records in which ordinary people provided information on the period around the communist takeover. These records provide an exceptionally rich source, showing how ordinary Uighurs lived their everyday lives before the communist takeover, and how their everyday lives were profoundly affected by the communist takeover.

Michael Dillon was founding Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham, where he taught modern Chinese history. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society and was Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2009.

Preface 1. Silk Road City in the Land of Mountain and Desert 2. Kashgar and the Chinese Republic 1911-1949 3. Kashgar and the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Republic 1933-4 4. The view from Chinibagh 1: Britain's Consulate-General in Kashgar and Xinjiang under Governor Jin Shuren 5. The view from Chinibagh 2: The Consulate-General and the 1933-4 Revolt in Southern Xinjiang 6. Communist Activists in the Kashgar Region during the 1930s and 1940s 7. Border Security and the Battle against the British and Smugglers: Hu Dong in Tashkurgan 8. Tax and Currency Reform in Kashgar 9. Education and Running a County: Li Yunyang in Kashgar and Maralbashi (Bachu) 10. Educating Girls and Working with Women: Wu Naijun in Kashgar and Maralbashi 11. Kashgar Newspaperman: Wang Mo and Xinjiang Daily 12. Honest and Public-Spirited Official: Xu Liang 13. Political Commissar on the Frontier: Zhou Chunlin 14. Abudukerimhan Mehsum 15. Entry of the PLA into Kashgar and the 'Peaceful Liberation' of Xinjiang 16. Liberating Khotan: Bai Chushi in Southern Xinjiang 17. Colonising Kashgar in the Name of the People