The Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China ruled over Xinjiang from the late 1750s to 1912. In the history of Xinjiang, the Qing rule was established in the final phase of the Dzungar–Qing Wars when the Dzungar Khanate was conquered by the Qing dynasty, and lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. The post of General of Ili was established to govern the whole of Xinjiang and reported to the Lifan Yuan, a Qing government agency that oversaw the empire's frontier regions. Xinjiang was turned into a province in 1884.
Terminology
Xinjiang
The name "Xinjiang" () was introduced during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796) as "Xiyu Xinjiang" (). Xinjiang became the common designation for the region under the General of Ili Songyun in the late 18th century. It was split between Zhunbu (Dzungaria) in the north, also known as Tianshan Beilu (Northern March), Huibu (Muslim Region) in the south, also known as Tianshan Nanlu (Southern March) or Huijiang (Muslim frontier), and Tianshan Donglu (Eastern March) in the east, also known as "Little Suzhou-Hangzhou" for its large number of merchants. In European and Central Asian sources, southern Xinjiang has been called the Tarim Basin (after the river), Chinese Turkestan, Bukharia, Little Bukharia, Kashgaria, and East Turkestan. The Uyghur word for southern Xinjiang is Altishahr, which means "six cities", but "four cities" (Dorben shahr) or "seven cities" (Yeti shahr) have also been used.
Uyghur
There was no unified ethnonym for the people now known as the Uyghurs during the Qing period. Prior to the Qing, the term "Uyghur" had been used to refer to non-Muslim inhabitants of Qocho, mainly Buddhists, who resisted conversion to Islam until the 16th century. The term fell out of use afterward and was not used to refer to the modern Uyghur people until 1921. Prior to this, the oasis inhabitants of Xinjiang were called Sart by foreigners. Sart originally meant "merchant" and was used by Turkic and Mongolic speaking groups to refer to Iranian people they ruled over. In the post-Mongol Empire Central Asia, Sart meant sedentary. Foreigners also called them Tartars. The Chinese called the oasis peoples chantou, meaning "turban head," but this was used for the modern Hui people (Dungan people) in Xinjiang as well. Huihu (Uyghur) was used in 1779 by the Qing to refer to rebel leaders in Xinjiang. However the Qing did not draw any specific connection between the Huihu and oasis peoples but with Chinese-speaking Muslims and Xinjiang Muslims in general, both of whom were called Hui. In northern Xinjiang they were known as Taranchi, a Mongolian term for "farmer", because they were relocated from the oases to northern Xinjiang by the Dzungar Khanate as bondservants.
The locals identified as inhabitants of their cities, such as Kashgaris, Khotanese, Kucheans, and so on. They used musulman to distinguish themselves from the non-Muslim population and the Dungans. Muslim oasis dwellers could also refer to anyone Muslim as locals.
Dungan
Chinese-speaking Muslims in the northwest were called the Dungans, transcribed as Tungan, Dungan, or Donggan. They were also called hanhui in Qing documents. The oasis peoples of Xinjiang referred to themselves as musulman to distinguish themselves from the Dungans.
Background
Dzungar-Qing wars
Prior to Qing rule, Xinjiang was ruled by the Oirat Mongols of the Dzungar Khanate based in northern Xinjiang, an area known as Dzungaria. The Dzungars lived in an area from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia (most of which is located in present-day Xinjiang). They were the last nomadic empire to threaten China, waging war on the Qing dynasty and their subjects in the middle of the 18th century.