China: Great Dragon Rising - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 301

Figure 11-5
This Kazakh woman and daughter were spending
the summer in the Tien Shan where they were
tending animal herds. Their way of life is being
altered as the Chinese government is promoting
tourism in this region. I asked the daughter what
she was going to do with her life. Her eyes filled
with tears as she sadly proclaimed, “I don't know
what will happen to me.” Photograph courtesy of
B. A. Weightman.

municipalities known as zhixiashis (shortened to shis) ;
and 2 special administrative regions (SARs)—Xianggang
(Hong Kong) and Macau.
Autonomous regions were created to recognize the
existence of non-Han peoples. There are 55 officially
recognized minority groups in China (Figure 11-5).
Although minorities constitute only a small percentage
of China' s overall population, they occupy large re-
gions such as Xinjiang and Nei Mongol (Menggu) ARs.
China' is population is 94 percent Han Chinese. Minori-
ties make up a mere 6 percent, yet they are spread over
60 percent of China' s territory , mostly concentrated in
the international border regions.
Autonomous regions have a legacy of population
transfers in the context of sinicization policies. Han Chi-
nese actually now outnumber minorities in some places
such as Nei Mongol AR (Inner Mongolia). Only the larger
minority groups such as the Uyghurs and Chuang have
their own ARs. Numerous other non-Mandarin speakers
such as the Hakka, the Min, and the Y ue (Cantonese) live
in the provinces, especially in southern China.
The four shis are the capital, Beijing; its port, Tianjin;
the largest city , Shanghai; and the Chang/Yangzi river
port of Chongqing. When Chongqing was designated a
zhixiashi in 1996, its municipal boundaries were ex-
tended to incorporate a huge hinterland totaling 30 mil-
lion people! In reality , the central urban area has around
4 million inhabitants. However, because Chongqing
zhixiashi is separate from the provincial administrative
area, its creation actually reduced the population of
Sichuan Province.

Xinjiang—New Frontier

Occupying one-sixth of China, the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region is the country' is largest admin-
istrative area. Divided into a series of basins and
ranges (Chapter 10), it is home to more than 40
different ethnic groups. The largest ethnic minority
is Uyghur. Uyghurs are a Muslim, T Turkic-speaking
people who constitute 41 percent of Xinjiang' s pop-
ulation and make up 45 percent of Xinjiang' s popu-
laton (Figure 11-6). Other groups include the
Mongols, Hui (Chinese Muslims), Kazakhs, Tajiks,
Tatars, Russians, and Xibo.
Due to sinicization efforts, Han Chinese now
comprise one-third of Xinjiang' s population. In
1949, the Han numbered 200,000. In 1993, there
were 6 million Han in a population of 16 million.
About 250,000 to 300,000 Han enter the region
yearly . In 2000, Xinjiang had 18.25 million people,
more than 41 percent of which are Han. Sinicization
is important to keep any notions of separatism
at bay .
Separatist movements on the part of the
Uyghurs have been part of the history of Xinjiang.
The broader issues include discrimination in reli-
gion, education, and employment. As part of a cam-
paign against “the three evil forces”—terrorism,
religious extremism, and separatism—the Chinese
government has taken ruthless action against all