Author Description

This book will illuminate Xinjiang studies as never before, publishing for the first time the complete diaries of Liu Zerong, governor of Xinjiang during World War II, illuminating the origin of contemporary policies for smaller ethnic groups in the new China that emerged in 1949. The diaries are introduced with a biographical study of Liu, and a discussion of the historical context of World War II and the post-war situation in Xinjiang, which was divided into rival spheres of KMT control, and the Soviet-aligned East Turkistan Republic. Both in the Moscow embassy, and in the provincial administration of Ürümchi, Liu Zerong was Republican China’s chief Russian-speaking representative, whose task it was to engage on a daily basis with his Soviet counterparts. His extensive diaries therefore offer a unique insight into this tense decade of Sino-Soviet diplomacy, and will be of interest to a wide range of scholars in fields of Chinese and international history. The accompanying set of essays by the world's leading Xinjiang scholars confirm this volume's status as a key text for scholars, policymakers and others seeking to understand Chinese policies in Xinjiang.