Xinjiang Province (Chinese: 新疆省; pinyin: Xīnjiāng Shěng) was a province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1949 to 1955. It was founded in 1949 after the incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China. In 1955, it was replaced by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Contents
History
During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) held a decisive advantage, while the Nationalist Army suffered successive defeats. After the First Field Army, commanded by Peng Dehuai, captured Lanzhou and subsequently the entire Gansu province on August 26, 1949, the military and political leaders of Xinjiang Province, including Tao Zhiyue and Burhan Shahidi, declared an uprising against the ROC government. Zhang Zhizhong, who had already sided with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), mediated the conflict, while Deng Liqun served as the CCP's negotiator. That same year, the Soviet Union ordered the Three Districts Economic Commission insurgents to halt their advance into Dihua (now Ürümqi) and surrender to the People's Republic of China. On September 25, the First Army Corps of the First Field Army, led by General Wang Zhen, captured Dihua, making Xinjiang a province of the People's Republic of China. On December 17, the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government was established, with Burhan Shahidi as its first chairman.
On September 13, 1955, the 21st meeting of the Standing Committee of the 1st National People's Congress decided to abolish Xinjiang Province and establish the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with the original administrative area of Xinjiang Province as its administrative area. On October 1, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region People's Committee was subsequently established. Xinjiang became one of China's five provincial-level minority autonomous regions, and the name "Xinjiang Province" became history.
Politics
In 1949, after the Xinjiang Provincial Government of the Republic of China surrendered to the Chinese Communist Party, it was replaced by the newly established Xinjiang Provincial People's Government on December 17 of the same year. Burhan served as the chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government (1949–1954). On October 1, 1955, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established, and the People's Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was subsequently established.
Administrative divisions
In 1954, Xinjiang Province comprised 1 administrative region, 10 special districts, 5 autonomous prefectures, 1 provincial-level city, 2 cities, 73 counties, and 6 autonomous counties.
Demographics
According to the 1953 Chinese census published by the National Bureau of Statistics on November 1, 1954, as of 30 June 1953, the population of Xinjiang Province was 4,873,608. Uyghurs made up 74.7% of the population, or 3,640,125 people, while Han and other ethnic groups made up 25.3% of the population, or 1,233,483 people.