100 Part II: Outsiders
But Kublai also modernized China, expanding the use of paper money and
patronizing the arts, especially drama. Most significant of all his efforts was to
create the China of which the Chinese elite dreamed:
The Mongols united not only all of the areas speaking various Chinese dia-
lects, but they combined with it the adjacent kingdoms of the Tibetans,
Manchurians, Uighurs, and dozens of smaller kingdoms and tribal nations.
The new country under their administration was about five times as large
as the civilization where people spoke the Chinese languages. The official
Chinese state culture that emerged was certainly not Mongol; nor was it
Chinese. Khubilai Khan had created a hybrid, and, through his efforts, the
culture would have a worldwide impact of unanticipated dimensions and
importance. (Weatherford 2004:209)Xinjiang and Tibet
Xinjiang and Tibet have presented the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
with two of its most vexing challenges of governance. At the time of this writ-
ing, occasional flare-ups of unrest have continued to frustrate the governments
of both these “Autonomous Regions” of the People’s Republic of China. The
regional governments are run by the closest allies of Beijing, and the name
“Autonomous Region” does not denote significantly more autonomy than any
other Chinese province. Both Xinjiang and Tibet have seen floods of Han
migration into the regions, with Xinjiang now comprised of nearly equal por-
tions of Uighurs and Han Chinese, and smaller percentages of ethnic groups
like Uzbeks and Kazakhs. These two regions are certainly under the political
control of Beijing today.“New Dominion”
The Uighur (Uyghur) ethnic group of Xinjiang now makes up between 40
and 50 percent of the population, with a Han portion nearly equal to that and
growing. The region, now called Xinjiang (literally, “new dominion”), became
part of China only under the Mongol Yuan (1279–1368) and the Manchu Qing
(1644–1911). The Uighurs are not the only group in China that is culturally
Central Asian, or distinct from the axial Chinese civilization, nor are they even
the only non-Han group in Xinjiang. Kazakhs, Tajiks, and others also play an
important role in the cultural fabric of the region, but Uighurs are the most sig-
nificant cultural force.
Located today in the northwest of China, the geography of Xinjiang is for-
bidding, and the Taklamakan Desert described in chapter 1 was bypassed to
either the north or the south by Silk Road travelers. Like other peoples who
lived along these trade routes, the Uighurs developed a tolerant and cosmopoli-
tan culture in many ways, exposed to diverse cultures, languages, and faiths. As
nomads, merchants, and sometimes pilgrims, the Uighurs interacted with their