Geopolitics, Ideology, and the Frontier: Understanding the Continuity in Motivations behind Conquest and Administrative Policy in Xinjiang, 1688-Present

Abstract

. . . By attempting to trace the origins of the ideological and geopolitical motives behind the Chinese administration in Xinjiang throughout the Qing period and the Communist era, this paper will attempt to answer several questions framed by the main argument of the thesis. . . . These three main questions, presented in chronological order, are 1) Why did Xinjiang matter to the Qing, 2) Why and when did the initial motives behind the Qing administration and conquest shift during the Qing era, and 3) Why did Xinjiang matter to the CCP after 1949? . . . [From Introduction]