Establishment of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

From Wiki China org cn

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (also called Xinjiang for short), situated in the border area of northwest China and the hinterland of the Eurasian Continent, occupies an area of 1.6649 million sq km, accounting for one-sixth of Chinese territory. It has a land border of 5,600 km and neighbors eight countries. It was an important section of the ancient Silk Road.

There are 47 ethnic groups in Xinjiang, the main ones being Uygur, Han, Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Kirgiz, Xibe, Tajik, Ozbek, Manchu, Daur, Tatar and Russian.