The East Turkestan Independence Movement, 1930s to 1940s - by Ke Wang (Hardcover)

About the Book

Based on rare firsthand historical data, Wang Ke presents an analysis of East Turkestan from the perspective of Islamic social structure, the origin and evolution of thoughts on national revolution, the internal structure of the independence movement, and the power structure of the republic, international relations, and international politics.

Book Synopsis

Based on rare firsthand historical data, Wang Ke presents an analysis of East Turkestan from the perspective of Islamic social structure, the origin and evolution of thoughts on national revolution, the power structure of the Republic, and international politics. The original Japanese edition of this book has been recognized as the most authoritative research work on the independence movement of East Turkestan. This revised, enriched English edition provides valuable references for the prominent issues of Xinjiang today.

Review Quotes

Wang uses original documents in many languages to bring the current crisis into historical focus.-- "Foreign Affairs"

Wang Ke's East Turkestan Independence Movement is therefore extremely timely.--Bill Weinberg "New Politics"

For those intrigued by the modern history of China's Xinjiang region, this detailed study of the 1940s invites the reader to explore a tempestuous decade marked by conflict and turmoil as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic groups sought to form an independent state, the East Turkestan Republic. Understanding the complex involvement of powerful outside forces, a brutal world war, and an opportunity for groups that saw a chance at independence requires careful examination, and Professor Wang's book does an admirable job in doing so. His exceptionally well-written book offers numerous insights, many based on materials that range from diaries and documents to memoirs and personal interviews. Altogether, Wang's recently translated account strengthens our understanding of Xinjiang's mid-twentieth-century conundrum.--Linda Benson, professor emerita, Oakland University

The history of efforts to build an independent East Turkestan in the 1930s and 1940s is complex and controversial. Wang Ke's detailed reading of twentieth-century Chinese and Uyghur sources, complemented by Japanese secondary materials, informs a valuable account of the Sheng Shicai era in Xinjiang, the short-lived Eastern Turkestan movement of 1933-1934 and especially of the Eastern Turkestan Republic that governed northern Xinjiang from 1944 to 1949, a state whose influence is still felt today despite efforts to erase it from official narratives. This research, now available in English, is an important addition to the growing library of work on modern Xinjiang and Uyghur history.--James Millward, Georgetown University

About the Author

Wang Ke is professor at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Japan. His major research interests include ethnic and religious problems in contemporary China, and modern Chinese political thought. Wang's recent books are The Disappeared Nationals: Discourse on Nation and National Identity of Ethnic Minorities in Modern China (2017); China, from Tianxia to the Nation State (2017); Nationalism and Modern Sino-Japanese Relations: Nation State, Borderland, and Historical Knowledge (2015); and The East Turkestan Independence Movement: 1930s-1940s (2013) in Chinese editions. Selected titles in Japanese include Nation Building and Ethnic Identity in Twentieth-Century China (2006) and A Study of the East Turkestan Republic: Muslims and the National Problem in China (1995). He won the 18th Suntory Academic Award of Japan.

Carissa Fletcher specializes in historical translation. She received an MA degree in Mandarin and English translation from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.