The Second East Turkestan Republic
A Soviet-backed revolt in the Ili valley creates the East Turkestan Republic in Ghulja, which controls three northern districts until it is folded into the People's Republic in 1949.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 — Andrew D. W. Forbes, Cambridge University Press (1986)
- The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land — Gardner Bovingdon, Columbia University Press (2010)
In November 1944, Turkic and other rebels in the Ili valley, armed and advised by the Soviet Union, drove out the Nationalist garrison and proclaimed the East Turkestan Republic in Ghulja (Yining), with the religious scholar Elihan Töre as president. Its army controlled the three northern districts of Ili, Tarbagatai and Altai.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
Under Soviet pressure the republic negotiated with the Nationalists in 1945–46 and joined a short-lived coalition government in Ürümqi, while keeping its own army and administration. Elihan Töre was removed to the Soviet Union, and the younger, Soviet-educated Ahmetjan Qasimi became its leading figure.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
As the Communists won China’s civil war in 1949, Ahmetjan Qasimi and other leaders set off for Beijing to attend the new People’s Political Consultative Conference. In late August their plane crashed in the Soviet Union, killing them all. The news was withheld for months. The surviving leadership accepted the People’s Republic, and the republic’s army became part of the People’s Liberation Army.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
A genuine independent republic of the region's Turkic peoples, which had its own army and government and was betrayed by the Soviets and absorbed by the Chinese Communists after its leaders died in a suspicious crash.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
- The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land — Gardner Bovingdon, Columbia University Press (2010)
The Three Districts Revolution was a progressive uprising against Kuomintang reaction and part of the Chinese people's democratic revolution. Its leaders who died in 1949 were patriots and revolutionary martyrs.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
Linda Benson and James Millward show that the republic began as a local revolt but depended heavily on the Soviet Union, which used it as leverage over the Chinese Nationalists and abandoned its independence once Stalin's interests shifted. No evidence has confirmed foul play in the crash.
- The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 — Linda Benson, M. E. Sharpe (1990)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
Why it matters today
The second republic is remembered by many Uyghurs as the last time they governed themselves, and the plane crash that killed its leaders in 1949 is a long-held source of suspicion. Officially, China honours it as the "Three Districts Revolution", part of the Chinese revolution, while condemning its independence goals. Ghulja, its capital, remains a place of strong Uyghur memory.