Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang, Revised and Updated

by James Millward

Since antiquity, the vast Central Eurasian region of Xinjiang, or Eastern Turkestan, has stood at the crossroads of China, India, the Middle East, and Europe, playing a pivotal role in the social, cultural, and political histories of Asia and the world. Today, it comprises one-sixth of the territory of the People's Republic of China and borders India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia.



Eurasian Crossroads is an engaging and comprehensive account of Xinjiang's history and people from earliest times to the present day. Drawing on primary sources in several Asian and European languages, James A. Millward surveys Xinjiang's rich environmental and cultural heritage as well as its historical and contemporary geopolitical significance. Xinjiang was once the hub of the Silk Road and the conduit through which Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam entered China. It was also a fulcrum where Sinic, steppe nomadic, Tibetan, and Islamic imperial realms engaged and struggled. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the Han-dominated Chinese Communist Party has failed to include Xinjiang's diverse indigenous Central Asian peoples. Its nationalistic visions have spurred domestic troubles that now affect the PRC's foreign affairs and global ambitions.

This revised and updated edition features new empirically grounded and balanced analysis of the latest developments in the region, focusing on the circumstances of the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Xinjiang peoples in the face of policies implemented by the Chinese Communist Party.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Asia, Politics, Cultural, Islam

716 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 24, 2006

Reviews

[Josh Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have any interest in the history of Xinjiang and the Chinese Silk Road, this is a great book. Confusing at first, but by far the most comprehensive, unbiased representation of the region's history.

There's another great review of Eurasian Crossroads that I recommend that includes quotes from the author himself.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasnt the point of the book, of course, but you know me...I would have loved to see a larger proportion on the premodern history as the overall package.

Still, this technically counts as a re-read as I previously engaged with this book about a decade ago. It is definitely worth your time if you want to explore either Chinese-Central Asian interactions or the region of Xinjiang specifically. It does, however, not yet have to a version that catches up to the eventful modern day that I know of.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely well-researched and in depth books about the region of Xinjiang. The author covers everything from the Stone Age to the early 2000s. The level of detail is really astounding, almost overwhelming in some ways. It's designed as an introduction to the history of Xinjiang, and in a way it is, because it's a comprehensive look at all of Xinjiang's history. However, it is so dense and so complicated that it would be difficult for a complete beginner to get into. The history was fascinating, but I really struggled reading it at points. It's almost impossible to keep track of all the changing groups in the region without taking notes. If I had to rate this book on scholarship alone, I would give it a 5, but I really can't say that it's very readable.

[Stephen Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of Xinjiang and ergo the study thereof is fraught with many difficulties particularly relating to pre 1800. The first difficulty is the nomenclature. As a "cross road" as the title implies we have to deal with so many different names for the same thing. We are dealing with Chinese, Turkic, Russian, English and several other languages. And it is not only the languages but also the spelling differences even within the languages. For the beginner this is extremely challenging but it helps to be forwarned.

The second difficulty is that, unlike for example the history of Greece or Rome, things in central Asia were incredibly fluid. A tribe may become ascendant, carve out an "empire" only to be overtaken sometimes within decades, not centuries, as with Rome or Greece. For example the Uyghurs, or that group who are generally referred to as the "Uyghurs" carved out an impressive empire that only lasted a hundred or so years. To follow the ebbs and flows of these highly fluid polities is taxing to say the least.

The third difficulty is identifying what constitutes an ethnic group. What is an Uyghur, for example? Unlike the Tibetans and the Han Chinese Uyghurs are an amalgam and many are called Uyghurs today that do not have their ethnic roots with the "Uyghur tribes of very early times. You only have to look at photos of today's Uyghurs from say Hotan compared with those from Urumqi to see striking differences in appearance. This leads to many questions about nationalistic, separatist and terrorist issues and is vital in understanding them. No author to my knowledge has explored this to any degree but it goes to the very heart of the matter in understanding the Uyghurs and Xinjiang.

The last difficulty is that most academic work known easily to us in the English speaking west is American but Russia, Sweden japan and the UK have great scholarship on Xinjiang and Central Asia that we casual observers do not get to see.

My critisims of the book is firstly in the nomenclature as I do not thing that Millward has chosen one that is a "best fit", but my opinion only and perhaps not that germane to the quality overall of the offering.

Again and it is only my opinion that the ethnicity of the Uyghurs was not more fully examined

Notwithstanding the foregoing Millward's book is very good. Read it and you will be as competent as most on the history of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs.

[Great Famine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good introduction to the modern politics of Xinjiang from a perspective of treating it as a "foreign" non Han region of China, but judging by its tittle, I thought it'll be a concise summary of the complex history with frequent interchanging of rulers. I thought this book would investigate how the region became Turkified in the Tang dynasty from when it used to be Iranian, how it was Islamized during Kara Khanid Khanate, how the Mongol conquers dealt with the Turkic speaking populace in Moghulistan, how the Qing incorporated Xinjiang, how the modern Uyghur nationalism began and popularized etc.
This book is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the history of Xinjiang, but be mindful that the content it provides might not be what you wish for. Perhaps utilize the bibliography may help readers better understand this region and its history.

[Adam Grode]

Millward is Mr. Xinjiang

[Kit Condill · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like this sort of thing, this book is really great. Millward lays it all out there, from the beginning of time to the 2000s.

[Missy J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indeed a very informative read about Xinjiang. The author does his best not to be biased and providing different sides to the story. For that I truly applaud Millward. This book has enhanced my knowledge of Xinjiang's complex history and China's relationship with the frontier province. I didn't know that the PRC government implements a lot of Qing dynasty policies from the past to govern Xinjiang. There are black and white pictures in the book, which are tastefully selected by the author and provides the reader more insight into this mysterious place.

[Winston B-S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book that is a little narrow for my tastes.

Rushes from 10000 BC to the end of the Qing Empire in about 130 pages. Millward only discusses Xinjiang society deeply in the post-1900 chapters. I would have liked to learn more about how the people in this region lived, how they worked, more about their political organization and so on. Instead we get a high-level political history until 1900 and a mixture of political and social history from then on.

The stuff that is here is very good and very interesting. It would be curious to see how Millward would revise this book in light of the last 20 years.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting and very topical

An extremely interesting book about a part of the world that is relatively unknown, but has a fascinating history. It is also becoming increasingly relevant as the Chinese authorities are de facto implementing a policy of genocide against the non-Han population.

[Logan Borges · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good intro to what is already a crucial region to understand in contemporary international politics. I feel much better informed about China both internationally and particularly in relation to Xinjiang's Uyghur population after having read it, despite it being over 15 years old now.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important contemporary book. I admire James for his bravery to tell this history of the Xinjiang region, and his committed investigation to uncover the truth - particularly the history of the Uyghur people over the last few decades. The international community needs to take note.

[Minam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the only book in English that attempts to trace the entire history of this region, from ancient civilisations to the genocide happening now. So kudos to that.

It also treats Uyghurs and other native people as actual human beings with agency, unlike some other extremely dismissive and patronising works published in the past.

I would recommend reading this alongside other material though, particularly ones that uitilise more source materials from locals and historians who are from the region. Considering the scope of the book, it naturally glosses over certain really interesting parts of history - but it serves well to hit on these points for the reader to go out and look for other books that focus on the particular subjects.

There are parts that Millward gets a bit wrong or that he could have consulted with more experts, for example in the cultural or linguistic areas. So it makes me wonder if there are other parts of the book that I’m less familiar with that he gets wrong. I also don’t agree with some of his comments, conclusions or suggestions (although other comments I really appreciate).

In general though it is a very thorough introduction, he presents the various and often opposing viewpoints of what might have happened, puts them into context of other world events, and I really enjoyed reading it even though it was extremely depressing T_T


PS. I haven’t read the previous version, but this one is updated with the last 20 years so I’m guessing it puts a lot of the history before that into a very different perspective. I think the increasing scholarship of historians who are using Uyghur source materials for their research, as well as Uyghur historians in diaspora, is very exciting though and will bring a lot more interesting perspectives to the table.

Also I want to reiterate how annoying older historians are about describing Uyghurs as petty no brain backwards pawns (and so sad to see Uyghurs think of themselves like that too)

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Millward does an amazing job threading together the disjointed and war-torn history of one of Asia's most intriguing frontiers. I'm amazed he was able to piece together a coherent narrative from all the various sources in several different languages, despite frequent gaps and periodic destructions, all while pointing out common historical trends. The book is highly readable, and is the perfect book to start with on the region, and has references to almost any topic related to Xinjiang. Definitely glad I read this to get some context on my current home :)

[Jane Chu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great balanced history of Xinjiang. Super interesting to learn of the region's ambiguous role as China's hinterland through the centuries, the mutable nature (and Soviet origins) of China's ethnic minority designations, the impact of seemingly unrelated global events on daily life of Uyghurs, the shifting landscape of Western Development and counter terrorism propaganda... Worth a read.