Annexation of East Turkestan and Tibet

April 12, 2005 8:19 AM

I am looking for a book that explains the history of how the Western Chinese regions of Xinjiang and Tibet came to be viewed as part of China and the process of their annexation. Any Chinese history mefites out there?

Websites would probably also be helpful, however I have found them to be general and not very rigorous.

posted by scazza to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

There's a summary of 19th-century events in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia (believe it or not), online here: "After the Mohammedan rebellion had been crushed, the territory was organized in 1878 and was called Sin-Kiang or New Dominion, the names Eastern Turkestan and Chinese Turkestan being also used." As for books, there's an excellent bibliography at the end of this page. Good luck -- it's a fascinating subject!
posted by languagehat at 11:37 AM on April 12, 2005

Tsering Shakya's Dragon in the Land of the Snows is quite good on the history of Tibet. I think you're likely to find a good deal more on Tibet than on Xinxiang; other often-cited works include Mel Goldstein's History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951 (good on the period before the annexation). W.D. Shakabpa's Tibet: A Political History is the shortest and very readable.
posted by Polonius at 11:46 AM on April 12, 2005

The issue has a long history, so if you want to go for earlier central Asian history, try: Christopher Beckwith, The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia, Princeton UP.
posted by carter at 12:13 PM on April 12, 2005

Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 Barbara Tuchman won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel. It's written from an American perspective, but it does provide an interesting take on China's history over this period and the effects of world politics what was happening in this area of the world. (Skip the Stilwell biography in the front and go right to the good stuff.)
posted by jeanmari at 12:54 PM on April 12, 2005

Best answer: An absolutely expansive list of English-language books covering every topic about China is available here (pdf file). It's the Spring 2005 edition of the list and remains fairly up to date. A great resource for anyone doing research about China. Unfortunately I don't have a specific recommendation on this topic, but the list may be useful.
posted by swank6 at 4:21 PM on April 12, 2005

Response by poster: Thank you all!

carter, I have a background in Central Asian history so I know the ancient history of the region. I am more concerned with the history of this specific issue, how these two non-Chinese regions came to be viewed as part of China, and I have no knowledge of Chinese history.

Everyone, I will check out all of these suggestions!
posted by scazza at 8:31 AM on April 17, 2005