When it comes to information about Xinjiang's history, it's been a struggle for me to learn much while living here. Sure, I could comb through the internet to gather bits and pieces written in a boring essay-format, but I'm not sure I would even trust what I read on this sensitive subject. Considering some of the big anniversaries that are coming up this year I asked family back at home to send anything they could find that would help shed some light on this place I'm living. What I received in the mail, Christian Tyler's Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang
, was absolutely perfect.
, was absolutely perfect.
I think I liked the book the moment I laid eyes on the cover. A young minority girl stares ahead from within the shadows and I can't quite tell if she's sad or merely stoic. This simple image seems to capture the beauty of China's "wild west" as well as its mystery in a way that no Wikipedia article ever could. For some reason the cover on the copy I received misspelled Xinjiang as 疆疆 instead of 新疆, but judging from the picture on Amazon mine might be a rare mistake. If you're even the slightest bit interested in Xinjiang's history or the plight of the Uyghurs, this book is a must-read. Although many readers might be scared off by its incredibly detailed research and lengthy annotation section, Tyler's work reads more like a novel than a history book. Warlords, concubines, explorers and missionaries all play a role in the development of Xinjiang, a development which for the most part has been volatile and very bloody.
The book is broken into two parts: pre-1949 history and post (1949 being the year the People's Republic of China was established). China claims ownership of this land as early as the first century A.D., but Tyler argues that Chinese control was never really established until the "peaceful" liberation in October of 1949. Before that time Xinjiang's borders were constantly shifting and its rulers ever changing. Ruins and mummies hidden in the desert sands are the little that remain to testify to a long and difficult history.
After China took control in 1949, Xinjiang began to face a different set of difficulties. While the neighbors to the south generally receive more international attention, it's hard to deny there aren't similar issues at play among minority groups here. Tyler does a great job of highlighting these issues and discussing the present situation faced by those minorities living both within and outside the provincial borders. In what could have easily become an opinionated piece of western propaganda, Tyler sticks to the facts while revealing the insecurities and weaknesses of the occupier as well as the occupied.
My favorite part of this book is its comprehensive index, a resource that has been invaluable to me as I continue to study Xinjiang. Although I plan to plow through Wild West China again later in hopes of retaining a bit more information, right now I am happy to know that any information I might want to find is only a few page flips away. Considering that this kind of information is not readily available on the open internet, this index is a wonderful tool.
again later in hopes of retaining a bit more information, right now I am happy to know that any information I might want to find is only a few page flips away. Considering that this kind of information is not readily available on the open internet, this index is a wonderful tool.Xinjiang is increasingly becoming one of the most important provinces within China's borders and Wild West China is the first of hopefully many books that will begin to open the curtains to a mysterious land about which very little is known. Even though it was first published back in 2003, it is still relevant today. For most people Tyler's work provides as fascinating glimpse of this part of China and a detailed account of its troubled history in a concise, readable format. For some of you, like me, who either live or travel in Xinjiang, this book will provide the background to help you admire and appreciate the area and its people all the more.
is the first of hopefully many books that will begin to open the curtains to a mysterious land about which very little is known. Even though it was first published back in 2003, it is still relevant today. For most people Tyler's work provides as fascinating glimpse of this part of China and a detailed account of its troubled history in a concise, readable format. For some of you, like me, who either live or travel in Xinjiang, this book will provide the background to help you admire and appreciate the area and its people all the more.Further Reading:
Cornucopia's Book Review
10 Comments:
I can understand that one might find "Wild West China" a good read, especially while living in Xinjiang proper. Ultra-strict Chinese censorship ensures that only the standard pro-China view of Xinjiang history is available in books on or line, and next to nothing at all in is available in English in Urumqi.
But I think a bit more analysis is in order before we give this book a ***** star rating.
First of all, I did read the book and would point that the portion of it that refers to history and social developments after 1949 is much better written than those on earlier history. Tyler is obviously a journalist (and an entertaining writer) given to generalizing when and where he likes, and his recounting of pre-1949 history is both superficial and at times confusing.
Simply put, Tyler has three things going for him, and his book benefits as a result: 1) He learned enough Uighur to communicate in the language while traveling there; 2) He did a fair amount of background reading from a variety of sources, assuming he read the works in his bibliography; and 3) His viewpoint is decidely western and sympathetic to the plight of non-Han in Xinjiang.
1-3 will no doubt endear him to most non-Chinese readers, and I am one of them. It seems there are few contemporary books out there in English about the Uighur and Xinjiang, which offer insights into the way the Chinese government is colonizing it via emigration, language policy, restrictions on Islam and bald political repression.
That said, I would point out that the book is also fairly obviously biased against the Han, and takes a cynical view of the policies of the PRC government. One look at the bibliography shows that only two languages were used for research: Mainly English, with a bit of French thrown in. As I recall (not sure!), Tyler doesn't speak Chinese, or at least, doesn't read it. That is a major limiter in terms of access to the "China" angle of the history of Xinjiang.
Personally, I think one of the key reasons one hears such radically different things from scholars and journalists regarding Xinjiang, is that very few people actually have a knowledge of classical and modern Chinese, ancient and modern Uighur, and English. In my opinion, without such knowledge, getting a wider view of the relations between Central Asia and the Chinese Empire will always be difficult.
If you can't read say, Mandarin + Tibetan + English, how could you (as a researcher/author) possibly get a "wider" view of the Tibetan issue?
If you are looking for another book in English offering insight into today's Xinjiang, try "Under the Heel of the Dragon," by Blaine Kaltman. He designed a questionnaire about relations between the Uighur and the Han,and personally interviewed 200+ respondents in four cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Urumqi and Shenzhen. Limited too in its own way, but also an eye-opener.
I unfortunately have given away my copy of "Wild West China" to a local friend, so I cannot back up my comments with specific evidence. I think that while Christian Tyler is an intrepid journalist, he is also a terrible historian; when reading about nineteenth-century Xinjiang (particularly Yakub Beg and his successors, etc), I often found myself quite confused with his story-telling. Like Bruce Humes, I am bothered by the bibliography-- almost all of the books are in English, which means that some of these primary sources like the Great Game explorers who tended to exaggerate, contain some strong biases against the indigenous population, Uyghur or otherwise. Tyler should have treated these eye-witness accounts more critically.
The second half of the book likewise made me frustrated and skeptical, mainly because Tyler tried to pass off sensationalist journalism as "history," without committing to a comprehensive study. I understand that Tyler aimed for an exposé of the Chinese political and cultural regime in Xinjiang; that Japanese scientist a few weeks ago confirmed the devastating legacy of Loulan's nuclear site, for instance, as you wrote on your site.
Anyway, I guess I am echoing many of the comments above, sorry for the redundancy. Nevertheless I did want to remark on the cover. I showed this to my Uyghur friend who burst out laughing, because my dust jacket also has the typo "Jiangjiang," and if you do a Google Image search, you will find that there are many copies floating around with this mistake. Moreover, this friend complained that the girl on the cover was looked too Han Chinese; he then showed the book to his sister, who had the same reaction (though, I would be suspicious of ethnic stereotyping). I know we should not judge a book by its cover, but the publisher's errors destroy any sort of "first-impression" credibility. Anyway, I wish we could find out the back story to this cover-- basically, who was in charge of conceptualizing it? When did the publisher finally catch that typo? Who is that girl? And where did she get her dress from?! I guess I have some emailing to do.
As a postscript, I would recommend "Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland" and "Eurasian Crossroads" for your next book shipment from the US! Both are much more dense and academic unfortunately.
Excellent comments. Thank you both.
I completely understand where you are coming from and although I don't completely agree, it is possible that I may have gone a bit overboard lavishing praises for this book. As you said, Bruce, I'm just finally happy to read something that wasn't censored (anything from China) or absolutely boring (anything on the internet).
The problem I see is that any book written about this region or Tibet is going to have a bias. All of it will be propaganda in some form, either to benefit China or to benefit the rest of the world.
Is there an obviously Han-bias? Maybe. Towards the end of the book Tyler reveals all the disorganization and disunity within the Uyghurs and I believe fairly splits the group into those who are peaceful and those who aren't. The only thing I could see that might seem "unfair" is his lack of covering the Uyghur attacks as much as he detailed the PRC hardline policies.
Finally, I like the idea of using Chinese sources as well, but it would make for a horrible book. Too many contradictions. That said, I've been inspired to go out and get a copy of the Xinjiang history textbook used at the local college. Would probably be very interesting, wouldn't you think?
I think I know what textbook you're talking about... at the university there is some mandatory local history class everyone takes on Xinjiang. (Another graduation requirement at my school is a class on Marxism, which my students have not been so happy about!)
About Chinese sources: I hope Chinese historiography is growing out of this now, but some of the accounts on minority groups in the 1960s-1980s try to explain everything in terms of Marx's four stages of history. I'd be interested to know if they try to fit Xinjiang into that pattern in this textbook (and I would bet yes).
Sorry for all of the Tyler-bashing because the book certainly wasn't all bad, at all! It was also very entertaining and colorful, just a bit problematic.
I have no time to read this book. But I agree with Bruce Humes. Provincial leaders of Xinjiang usually were Han Chinese since Qing to 1949. So, without considering Han people's opinon, the readability of this book will be much less.
There are a negative review(in Chinese) on this book.
http://bbs.cqzg.cn/thread-208485-1-1.html
Also, there is a book writen by KMT's general Song Xilian.
http://www.yifan.net/yihe/novels/history/xinjiang/xinjiang.html
Another important guy in Xinjiang history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Zhongying
@Chemhu - I'm sorry to hear that, but I stand by my earlier statement that a book which aims to consider both the Han and Uyghur opinions would be far too contradictory. Using your line of thinking I should just skip reading the Chinese version of Xinjiang's history because it wouldn't take into account the Uyghur's opinion. In order to get a full picture of Xinjiang I guess I'll just have to read the Chinese version and the Uyghur version separately.
Also, you say "provincial leaders" as if Xinjiang has been a province for hundreds of years. Geography itself has kept this from being the case with massive mountain ranges splitting the area into various sub-sections which often times were each controlled by different groups in the same period of time.
This book obviously has its faults, as has been very well explained by both Bruce and Sakura, but I don't think that makes it unreadable.
Thanks for the comment and the links, chemhu. I hadn't seen that Chinese review before and it was quite interesting to read.
FYI: Before Xinjiang was founded as a province, the formal name was (Xinjiang) YiLi General, just like Jilin, Heilongjiang, Qinghai etc. YiLi General was the same rank as provinces. It just is a type of administrative division. So, it's not wrong that I said provincial leaders. But earlier, the generals usually were Man people. At that time, Xinjiang was called XinJiang, HuiJiang, XiJiang, or XiYu. Since founed as a province in 1883，the formal name is Xinjiang.
I don't know whether your blog supports Chinese.
Some information about YiLi General:
http://kecheng.edu.people.com.cn/database_type/library/g/gggg/y/ggggg1013066/zgls_109.htm
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清政府在平定天山南北准噶尔，大、小和卓及张格尔的叛乱后，于乌噜木齐（今乌鲁木齐）设都统一员，伊犁（今霍城南）、塔尔巴哈台（今塔城）、喀什噶尔（今喀什）各设参赞大臣一员，统辖全境驻防官兵，合称“四大镇”。另在叶尔羌（今莎车）、英吉沙尔（今英吉沙尔）、乌什（今乌什）、阿克苏（今阿克苏）、库车（今库车）、和阗（今和田）、库尔喀喇乌苏（今乌苏）、喀喇沙尔（今焉耆）、吐鲁番（今吐鲁番）、古城（今奇台）、巴里坤（今巴里坤）、哈密（今哈密）等城，设办事领队大臣，统辖县、营各级文武职官。复设伊犁将军总理全疆的军政边防事务，各级驻劄大臣均置于伊犁将军的统辖之下。
清政府按照蒙、回族习俗，对分布在天山以北塔尔巴哈台、库尔喀喇乌苏及喀喇沙尔北境的旧土尔扈特、和硕特等蒙族各部，仿内、外蒙制置札萨克；天山以南的回部则置各级伯克，作为地方政权。
nice post, thx for sharing it
nice post, thx for sharing it
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