Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 05-20-04 03:14
The province of Xinjiang (新疆省)
(新) Xin means new.
(疆) Jiang means frontier.
(新疆) Xinjiang means new frontier land and its single word name is Xin (新).
(人口) The population is 19.1 million
(省會) The provincial capital is Wulumuqi (Urumqi 烏魯木齊) with a population of 1.1 million.
(面積). The area is 1.600,000 square kilometers. Xinjiang is the largest province in China.
The population is a mixture of many ethnic groups and the majority of them are Muslim. The main ethnic group is the Uygur (維吾爾族) with a population of 7.2 million. The rest of the ethnic groups are the Kazakh (哈薩克族), Han (漢族), Hui (回族), Kirghiz (柯爾克孜族), Menggu (蒙古族), Tartar (塔塔爾族), Daur (達斡爾族), Xibe (錫伯族), Tajik (塔吉克族), Uzbek (烏孜別克族), Russian (俄羅斯族) and a few other groups..
Xinjiang is a land of song and dance (歌舞之鄉). In the 1950s Mao Zedong wrote a poem about this territory. It was titled 萬方樂奏有于闐 Wan Fang Le Zou You Yu Tian or Playing all kinds of happy music:
長夜難明赤縣天,---Chang ye nan ming chi xian tian,
百年魔怪舞翩躚,---Bai nian mo guai wu pian xian,
人民五億不團圓.---Ren min wu yi bu tuan yuan.
一唱雄雞天下白,---Yi chang xiong ji tian xia bai,
萬方樂奏有于闐,---Wan fang le zou you yu tian,
詩人興會更無前.---Shi ren xing hui geng wu qian.
The Silk Road was already in existence during the Han Dynasty (漢朝 206BC to 220AD). This territory was first subjugated by General Ban Chao (班超 32AD to 102AD) during the Han Dynasty. In 1638AD a provincial government called Xinjiang (新疆) or the Administration of New Frontier was established there by the decree of the Ming Emperor Yi Zong (明毅宗皇帝 1628AD to 1644AD) to manage the affairs of this region. Ever since then it had been called by that name, Xinjiang.
In 1938, Mao Zemin (毛澤民), the younger brother of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) on his way to Russia for medical treatment. Mao Zemin passed through Xinjiang. Sheng Shicai (盛世才), the Warlord of Xinjiang asked Mao Zedong, who was in Yanan (延安) for permission to let Mao Zemin to stay in Xinjiang to help running the finance of the province which was in great difficulty. Mao Zemin was a financial expert in the Chinese Soviet Government in Yanan. Sheng Shicai even begged Mao Zedong to allow his brother to help in building up the Xinjiang economic. Eventually Mao Zedong agreed and Mao Zemin stayed in Xinjiang instead of going to Russia.
In 1942, Sheng Shicai turned against the Communists and had Mao Zemin and his two colleagues, Chen Tanqiu (陳潭秋) and Lin Jilu (林基路) arrested. Later the three of them were executed by Sheng Shicai. Before he died Mao Zemin told his friends in Xinjiang:
"我家為國家, 為革命已經犧牲了嫂嫂, 妹妹和弟弟,
只要能取得革命的勝利, 再犧牲我的生命又怕什麼!"
"Because of the country and the revolution my family had sacrificed my
sister-in-law (Yang Kaihui 楊開慧), my younger sister (Mao Zehong (毛澤紅)
and my younger brother (Mao Zetian 毛澤田). If the revolution can be won I am
not afraid of sacrificing my life!"
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
All rights reserved 20052004
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