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Walking in Two Worlds: Kashgar and Shihezi

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Socio-Economic Development in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

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Abstract

A schematic comparison of Kashgar and Shihezi’s main statistical indicators is presented through a quantitative approach, as well as major differences and commonalities written down by adopting a qualitative perspective. This combination of approaches defines the methodological framework for the whole chapter, which is a comparison of Kashgar and Shihezi in terms of historical background, endowments and administrative framework, cultural background, higher education and water resources. A devoted paragraph addresses the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XJPCC), as major actors in regional politics, economy and society. In the conclusive notes, I highlight how violence was occasionally chosen by a tiny minority of the Uyghur population to express discontent and inequalities and how security concerns and measures impact on Xinjiang social development.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some of them leaving written reports, such as Marco Polo’s Il Milione and Ibn Battuta’s The Adventures of Ibn Battuta.

  2. 2.

    Kuropatkin (2008).

  3. 3.

    See Dwyer (2005).

  4. 4.

    Among the others, Tocharian, Avestan, Khotanese Sogdian, Baktrian, Saka, Chagatai Uyghur and Pamiri languages.

  5. 5.

    The works by Hopkirk present, through the stories of archaeologists and diplomats who were active in the region, the geopolitical aspects of such a key area of Central Asia.

  6. 6.

    As the area is referred to in Arabic sources of the medieval times.

  7. 7.

    Kuropaktin (2008) and Dillon (2004).

  8. 8.

    AFP, “Genetic Testing Reveals Awkward Truth About Xinjiang’s Famous (Red-Headed) Mummies”, 19 April 2005.

  9. 9.

    Heirman and Bumbacher (2007, p. 97). The history of the diffusion of Buddhism in Central Asia can be read in Ch. 3 of the same work. One of the first archeological evidences showing the importance of Buddhism in the history of Kashgar is represented by the Mor Pagoda, on the South-Eastern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, close to the village of Bashkiram, once a rich trading hub and flourishing village near Kashgar.

  10. 10.

    Michell (2008, p. 153).

  11. 11.

    Kauz (2010).

  12. 12.

    Shaw (1871, p. 260).

  13. 13.

    Jarring (1986).

  14. 14.

    Zhang and Cappelletti (2012).

  15. 15.

    Records from the Travels to the Western Territories (西域闻见录 Xiyu wenjian lu), 1777, Ch. 1.

  16. 16.

    The fact that the majority of the population in Shihezi is Han does not mean that the society is not multicultural, since the Han ethnic group is a construction and a mixture of different identities and ethnicities.

  17. 17.

    See Kardos (2009).

  18. 18.

    Assessment by a Uyghur professor coming from a village close to Kashgar, during an interview with the author at Xinjiang University, Urumqi 1 April 2011.

  19. 19.

    These and the following data are taken from the XJSY 2010–2017.

  20. 20.

    Syed Fazl-e-Haider (2009).

  21. 21.

    The project is illustrated in the Web site of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA (http://www.traceca-org.org/en/home/, http://www.traceca-org.org/en/technical-assistance/pre-feasibility-study-of-a-new-rail-link-between-the-ferghana-valley-bishkek-and-kashgar-china/documents/), funded by the European Commission.

  22. 22.

    China Daily, 2 September 2011.

  23. 23.

    At the moment, flights to Almaty, Teheran and Istanbul are available from Urumqi.

  24. 24.

    Uyghurs are linked with Islamic transnational networks following both a political and religious rationale.

  25. 25.

    Shanghai hezuo zuzhi 上海合作组织: http://www.sectsco.org/EN/.

  26. 26.

    See Chapter 3.

  27. 27.

    Shichor in Starr 2004. The reason why a number of rural villages in the Kashgar and Khotan areas is closed to Chinese non-residents and foreigners is allegedly the presence of uranium ore deposits. Interview with a student at the Minzu University of China’s campus, April 2011.

  28. 28.

    People’s Daily Online, 20 September 2011.

  29. 29.

    This notwithstanding, a Sino-German project aimed at raising the life standards of farmers by installing water-saving equipment in the poorest rural villages of the Kashgar Prefecture was implemented from 2004 to 2014. The project was launched and carried on by a consortium of development agencies from the German side and by the Kashgar and Urumqi Water Bureau Administrations from the Chinese side. The financing agencies were the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the German bank KFW. I was member of the Land Allocation Monitoring Mission led by Professor Abduresit Jelil Qarluq, at the time my PhD supervisor, as consultant for land allocation affairs.

  30. 30.

    Unofficial reports mentioned an inflow of approximately three million Han people from Inner China to different areas of Xinjiang only in 2012.

  31. 31.

    Goodman (2004, p. 54). Information about the Shihezi SEZ can be found in http://cnbusinessnews.com/investment-environment-of-shihezi-etdz/.

  32. 32.

    Yeung and Sheng (2004, pp. 202–204).

  33. 33.

    Shichor (2006).

  34. 34.

    Mainly Becquelin.

  35. 35.

    Bao (2010).

  36. 36.

    See Mair and Mallory (2000).

  37. 37.

    Belief explained during the interviews in the Kashgar rural areas by local farmers.

  38. 38.

    Dillon (2004, pp. 11–17).

  39. 39.

    See Clark (2011).

  40. 40.

    Project 211 is a project of National Key Universities and colleges initiated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, with the intent of raising the research standards of high-level universities and cultivating strategies for socio-economic development.

  41. 41.

    The Double First Class University Plan or Double Top University Plan (双一流, shuāngyīliú) is a Chinese government plan conceived in 2015 to comprehensively develop a group of élite Chinese universities and individual university departments into world class universities and disciplines by the end of 2050.

  42. 42.

    Both Xinjiang University, located in the capital city Urumqi, and Shihezi University are included in this program, and this is indeed telling in consideration of the fact that this scheme is designed to appoint one university per province (e.g., Qinghai University in Qinghai, Ningxia University in Ningxia and Yunnan University in Yunnan). As in many other cases, for example, in Statistical Yearbooks and in other province-wise rankings, the XJPCC are treated as an independent province, and, as some scholars argue, a “state within the state”.

  43. 43.

    Program 973 (973计划 jihua), also known as National Basic Research Program, is a research program initiated by the People’s Republic of China to achieve technology and strategic edge in various scientific fields and especially the development of the rare earth minerals industry.

  44. 44.

    Program 863 (863计划) or State High-Tech Development Plan (国家高技术研究发展计划 guojia gaojishu yanjiu fazhan jihua) is a national scheme funded and administered by the Chinese government, intended to stimulate the development of advanced technologies in a wide range of fields for the purpose of rendering China independent of financial obligations for purchasing foreign technologies.

  45. 45.

    Wan and Wang (2008).

  46. 46.

    Wang and Wang (1998).

  47. 47.

    Becquelin (2000, 2004), Borei (1992), Cliff (2009), Millward (2007, 2009), and Seymour (1998, Unpublished).

  48. 48.

    Perdue (2002, p. 81), quoted in Becquelin (2004)

  49. 49.

    They are both professors at Shihezi University.

  50. 50.

    Reported in Bao (2010).

  51. 51.

    Mainly young scholars of Shihezi University, whose papers can be found in 石河子大学学报 “Shihezi University periodical”.

  52. 52.

    Wang (2009); Ilham Tohti, lecture at Minzu University, 3 December 2010.

  53. 53.

    Fan (2007).

  54. 54.

    Such as Zhang, Gao, and Shi (2007). For a more specific approach linking the terrorist threat and the bingtuan, see Millward (2004).

  55. 55.

    HRIC Report (2007) and Kjell (2006). On language policies, see Dwyer (2005).

  56. 56.

    For an extensive and detailed history of the Corps, see the works by Donald H. McMillen, Wang (2009), as well as the official papers published by the Committee for the compilation of historical works of Xinjiang and China.

  57. 57.

    Some recent contributions on the topic are Chen (2007), He (2005), and Yue (2007).

  58. 58.

    Bao (2010).

  59. 59.

    Mozur (2007) and Sommerville (2005).

  60. 60.

    There are different data on this figure: Becquelin (2000) argues that the bingtuan cover 45% of the whole area of Xinjiang, but this figure needs to be confirmed.

  61. 61.

    Bao (2010), 新疆生产建设兵团统计年鉴 (2009); Guo and Liu (2001).

  62. 62.

    In the plan, the Corps were listed as special organization together with the provinces of Xinjiang, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai and so on. See Cliff (2009) and Goodman (2004).

  63. 63.

    For understanding the security concerns and related government measures in Kashgar, see Steenberg and Rippa (2019).

  64. 64.

    On the concept of “terrorist” attack in the Xinjiang context, see Millward (2004).

  65. 65.

    From 31 August on, the news was reported by international media such as the New York Times and the Financial Times. For an overview of the attacks in Xinjiang in the last 20 years, see Steenberg and Rippa (2019) and Millward (2009).

  66. 66.

    I met witnesses in Kashgar between 10 and 15 September 2011.

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Cappelletti, A. (2020). Walking in Two Worlds: Kashgar and Shihezi. In: Socio-Economic Development in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1536-1_4

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