CONTRADICTORY RESULTS OF XINJIANG'S DEVELOPMENT China Keywords:, Xinjiang (XUAR), history and politics V. G. GELBRAS Doctor of Historical Sciences In the 1950s, I had to work in Xinjiang. Those were the best and brightest years of my family's life. Half a century has passed since then, and we remember Xinjiang and Kulju with warmth. I try to keep track of the changes in those parts as much as possible. In 2009, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Republic and the 30th anniversary of "reform and Opening up", the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the document "Development and Progress of Xinjiang"1. Official press conferences were held on this region, which occupies the 6th part of the territory of the People's Republic of China. However, it is quite difficult to get information directly from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The information sites of the district government and the Command of the People's Liberation Army's Industrial and Construction Corps (PLA) operate irregularly and selectively. They were blocked during the holidays. Beijing is showing exceptional attention to this region, trying to demonstrate a stable and favorable situation in the XUAR, overshadowed only by the malicious external machinations of the enemies of China and the "Uighur people". The unrest among the Uighur population, particularly in July 2009*, seems to have no real cause, and a series of death sentences against rioters was, according to official reports, the punishment of the initiators of the unrest and the perpetrators. HISTORY IS AN INSTRUMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY In the aforementioned document of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on the XUAR, an extensive description of the district's success in all areas is anticipated by a grandiose introduction. From the very first lines, it is perplexing: "From the first century BC, the Xinjiang region became an important part of China and ... Read more