History of Urumqi
Early period
Although Ürümqi is situated near the northern route of the Silk Road, the present city is a relatively young city – the earliest known settlement in the area can be dated to the 7th century CE, while the current city was not known as Ürümqi until the time of the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th century.
During prehistory, the Jushi or Gushi, a nomadic people who lived on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, inhabited the area.
The oldest known settlement in the area, a village called Urabo (or Wulabo), was located about 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the southern suburbs of present-day Ürümqi. Under the name Luntai, the present city was established near Urabo by the Tang government during the 22nd year of Emperor Taizong’s reign (648 AD), as part of the Protectorate General to Pacify the West that controlled Xinjiang. It was a seat of local government, and collected taxes from the caravans along the northern route of the Silk Road.
After the Tang retreated from the Western Regions, the region came under the control of the Uyghurs of the Khaganate and Gaochang/Qocho. After the Tang until the Qing Dynasty, there was little information about the Ürümqi area, and there appeared to be no permanent settlement here for most of this period. The Mongols referred to the wider area as Bishbalik meaning five cities, referring to the five towns that surrounded the present-day Ürümqi area.
Dzungar period
The Oirats Dzungar tribes that formed the Dzungar Khanate were the last major power to control Ürümqi before the Manchus gained control of Xinjiang, and their language gave Ürümqi its modern-day name. In the Ming dynasty, there was a record of a place at Jiujiawan 5 kilometres (3 miles) to the west of present Ürümqi, which may have been the Dzungar town that was later destroyed during the Qing conquest. The Mongolians also used the area as herding ground in this period.[9] Steppe peoples had used the location, the pass between the Bogda Shan to the east and the Tian Shan to the west, connecting the Dzungar Basin to the north and the Turpan Depression to the south.
Ürümqi remained a small town, and less important than the oasis and Silk Road trade center Turpan 200 km (120 mi) to the southeast. Fighting for the control of Dzungaria led to the Khoshuuts (now classified as Mongols) leaving Ürümqi for Qinghai and Tibet in the 1620s and 1630s.[10] The Uyghurs were introduced into the Ürümqi area in the 18th century by the Dzungars who moved them from the west Tarim region to be taranchis or farmers in Ürümqi.
Qing rule
In the 18th century, the Qing went to war against the Dzungar Khanate. Ürümqi was taken by the Qing in 1755, and the Dzungars of the region were eliminated in the Dzungar genocide. One writer, Wei Yuan, described the resulting desolation in what became northern Xinjiang as “an empty plain for a thousand li, with no trace of man”. A fort was built (either in 1755 or 1758 depending on sources), and the Qing then established garrisons of Manchu and Mongol bannermen and Han Chinese troops at Ürümqi. After 1759, the Qing government established state farms in the under-populated areas around Ürümqi, where there was fertile, well-watered land. The Manchu soldiers also constructed a temple with red walls dedicated to Guandi on Pingding mountain overlooking Ürümqi, which gave Ürümqi its nickname, Red Temple.
The Manchus began to construct a walled city in 1763 to the south of the first fort, and it was completed in 1767. The Qianlong Emperor had named the new settlement “Dihua” (Chinese: 迪化; pinyin: Díhuà; Manchu: Wen de dahabure fu), meaning “to enlighten (the uncivilized people)”. In 1771, another city named Gongning Cheng (鞏寧城) was built nearby to the northwest to house Manchu bannermen, and this would become the seat of government. The bannermen settlement to the west was commonly referred to as Mancheng (滿城; ‘Manchu City’), while Dihua to the east became a Han Chinese town commonly called Hancheng (Han City). The Ürümqi of the early period was therefore a twin-city, with Gongning Cheng the administrative center while Dihua grew into Xinjiang’s commercial and financial center.
Han Chinese from all over China moved into Dihua, as did Chinese Hui Muslims from Gansu and Shaanxi. The origin of Hui in Ürümqi is often indicated by the names of their Mosques. By 1762, more than 500 shops had already been opened by Chinese migrants to the area of modern-day Ürümqi. Those Qing literati who visited Dihua were impressed by its cultural sophistication and similarity to eastern China. The writer Ji Xiaolan compared Dihua to Beijing, in that both had numerous wine shops which offered daily performances of Chinese music and dance.
In 1870, the Battle of Ürümqi took place between the Turkic Muslim forces of Yaqub Beg against the Dungan Muslim forces of Tuo Ming (Daud Khalifa). With the help of Xu Xuegong’s Han Chinese militia, Yaqub Beg’s forces defeated the Dungans. Gongning Cheng was captured, its Qing administrator killed, and the city burnt to the ground and abandoned. The Qing later regained control of Ürümqi. In 1884, the Guangxu Emperor established Xinjiang as a province, with Dihua as its capital.
Republican era
After the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Xinjiang was ruled from Ürümqi by a succession of warlords: Yang Zengxin (1911–1928), Jin Shuren (1928–1933), Sheng Shicai (1933–1942), and Zhang Zhizhong as governor of Xinjiang in 1942–1949. Of these, Yang and Sheng were considered capable rulers.
During the Kumul Rebellion, the Battle of Ürümqi (1933) and the Battle of Ürümqi (1933–34) took place between the forces of Ma Zhongying’s 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) and Jin Shuren and Sheng Shicai’s provincial forces. At the second battle, Ma was assisted by the Han Chinese General Zhang Peiyuan.
People’s Republic era
Following the founding of the People’s Republic of China, on 1 February 1954, the city’s name was officially changed back to its Dzungar Oirat name Ürümqi, meaning “beautiful pasture” in the Oirat language of the Dzungar people.
In the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping relaxed China’s tight control over Xinjiang, and Ürümqi benefited from the development of the oil and gas industry in Xinjiang.
New mosques were built in Ürümqi with financial assistance from the Chinese government. While the Chinese government implemented strict rules on religion in southern Xinjiang, the treatment of the Uyghurs and their religion in Ürümqi were more lax and permissive.
In May 1989, unrest in Ürümqi resulted in 150 injuries. In February 1997, bombings in Ürümqi following the Ghulja incident resulted in 20 deaths and scores of injuries.
July 2009 riots and subsequent unrest
In the largest eruption of ethnic violence in China in decades, there were riots in July 2009 between ethnic Han Chinese and Uyghurs. The New York Times reporter covering the riot described the violence as “clashes with riot police and Uyghurs rampaging through the city and killing Han civilians. Then, for at least three days, bands of Han vigilantes roamed Urumqi, attacking and killing Uyghurs.”[33] Before the riot broke out, young Uyghurs had marched through the city “to protest a case of judicial discrimination”.[33] According to official figures, most of the 197 killed in the riot were Han, a statement disputed by Uyghurs.[33][34]
