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The
1940s saw the outbreak of the so-called Yili rebellion, which in time
led to the collapse of Chinese state authority over a wide area of
Xinjiang in the chaotic years of the later 1940s. Much of the story of
this rebellion has been recounted before but what is especially
interesting in this study is Wang's demonstration that the rebellion was
not an internal Chinese matter; rather it was very much an international
affair. Here he looks not just at the ethnic and religious dimensions,
which of course had many international ramifications. But what is not
generally recognised is
that, politically, there were three external actors in the affair: the
KMT government, the Chinese communists and (especially) the Soviets. The
dynamics between these three actors, as World War II came to an end and
the Chinese civil war gathered pace, had a major impact on the course of
events in Xinjiang between 1944 and 1949. Judging by the scanty details
of Uighur unrest that emerged from Xinjiang in early 1997, it would seem
that the ethnic, religious and political dynamics behind the events of
the 1940s are similar to those behind today's events. Published
by NIAS Press |
