an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the People's Republic of China
or Hsin-chiang conventional Sinkiang in full Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang Autonomous region (pop., 2000 est.: 19,250,000), northwestern China. It is bordered by the Kashmir region, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and Tibet. China's largest political unit, it covers some 635,900 sq mi (1,646,900 sq km). The capital is Ürümqi. Inhabited since early times by nomad tribes, it is an area of rugged mountains and desert basins. The Silk Road traversed the region. It came under the control of local leaders with the fall of the Han dynasty in the 3rd century AD and was regained by China in the 7th century. It was successively subject to the Tibetans, Uighurs, and Arabs and was conquered by Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Again under Chinese rule during the Manchu dynasty, it was established as Xinjiang province 1884. It came under Chinese communist rule in 1949. It was reconstituted as an autonomous region in 1955. It has mineral resources, heavy industry, including iron and steel works, and some agricultural production
an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the Peoples Republic of China
an autonomous province in far northwestern China on the border with Mongolia and Kazakhstan; the largest province in the People's Republic of China and the homeland of the Uighur people
Mandarin word meaning 'New Dominion' or 'New Territory' This word came into use only after the end of Yaqub B"g's state and the inclusion of traditional Kashgaria and Junggaria into a new Chinese province The word contrasts with the word Xiyu ( 'region to the west') used in Chinese to designate regions west of Gansu before that date