Northwestern China

Northwestern China is a geographical region of China which includes three provinces (Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai) and two autonomous regions (Xinjiang and Ningxia).

The region is characterized by a (semi-)arid continental climate. It has a diverse population including significant minorities such as Hui, Uyghurs and Tibetans. Culturally, the region has historically been influenced by the Silk Road.

Historic security considerations
Chinese dynasties from the Qin (221 BC to 207 BC) to the Qing period (1644 CE to 1911 CE) placed high priority on maintaining stability and security in the region, motivated by concerns about potential threats from the Northwest.

Security concerns have continued under modern governments. During the Republic of China period, the government was only able to exercise loose control in the Northwest. In 1933, Pan-Islamic and Pan-Turkic separatists declared an Islamic Republic of East Turkestan based on constitutionally-enshrined Sharia law. The short-lived separatist Islamic Republic was not recognized by any other countries and was suppressed after three months of existence.

With Soviet Union backing, separatists declared a second short-lived East Turkestan Republic in 1944 based in Yining. The Soviet Union withdrew its support in June 1946. A separatist movement drawing on the legacy of the short-lived East Turkestan Republics continues today.

Northwestern China during land reform movement
During China's land reform movement (which began after the defeat of the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War and continued in the early years of the People's Republic of China), the Communist Party encouraged rural women in achieving a "double fanshen" - a revolutionary transformation as both a peasant and a feminist awakening as a woman. The progress of Hui women in Northwestern China was promoted as by the Party as an example of such a success. Through the rural movement, Hui women were said to have not just received land, but also "freedom over their own bodies." Hui women embraced political participation and the rural revolution. The land reform movement succeeded among Hui people because activists first won over elder generations.