In 1878 China invaded the eastern part of Turkistan with an army under the command of General Tso Tsung-T`ang and placed the area under military rule. Until that time, Turkistan was not a part of the Chinese territory. However an argument between two Chinese groups about whether to integrate Turkistan region into China or not continued for some years. The prevailing opinion seemed to be set against the idea, which was that of General T`ang, integrate Turkistan into China. Thus, military rule over the region was eliminated and in November 18, 1884 Turkistan was officially annexed to China under civil rule. At this time, the strangest thing that China did was to rename Turkistan “Xinjiang”. This was a compound word; one of the words is “xin,” meaning new, while the other one is “jang”, meaning country or land. A leading American expert on East Turkistan, Own Lattimore, has tried to translate the naming with help from linguists and Chinese scholars. And he came to following conclusion in his famous book, “Eastern Turkistan, Pivot of Asia”: This name that was given to Turkistan by the Chinese means “new region” or “new dominion” (new territory).

Without a doubt, there is numerous historical data that certifies that Turkistan was never a part of China. That is to say:

1. On the one hand is the delay in integration of Turkistan into Chinese territory and on the other is the realization that this integration occurred only after profound arguments within the Chinese government.

2. On other hand, the naming of this region as `new` it is also clearly a reference to the fact that it was not part of China. This name serves the purpose of the colonization of Eastern Turkistan by the Chinese government and its identification as a new country.

However, it is not possible to think that this region remained without a name throughout history. If this country had been a part of China, it would not have been reasonable to call it “Xinjiang” during late 19th century. The truth is that the Chinese invaders required a new name for this territory and could find no other name than “Xinjiang” for this region. This name does not carry any historical, geographical or cultural meaning other than that derived from a European style of colonialism. In the early 19th century, with the rise of mechanical age and capitalistic expansionism the way was opened the way for colonialism. In the same way that China dealt with Turkistan by classifying the country that was targeted for exploitation as a ”community without history”, a “primitive community” and a “prehistoric community”, the Europeans used the same terms to open the way for their colonization of Africa and Asia. All these terms were terms fabricated by those who looked upon colonies as “virgin soils” which have secret, valuable treasures and untapped resources, with no colonization or rights of their own. The Chinese also use the same method in its treatment of Eastern Turkistan. In fact, such a name did not merely fall from the heavens. The Chinese had earlier succumbed to the exploitation of western and eastern powers, and was influenced by the culture of colonialism that was introduced to their country by the French, English and Japanese.