Xinjiang Province, Republic of China

The province inherited the borders of the Qing dynasty province, bordering Kansu, Tsinghai, the Mongol Area, Tibet Area and the countries Soviet Union, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. The claimed boundaries of the province included all of today's Xinjiang and parts of Mongolia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.[1]

In 1912, the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor of Xinjiang, fled. One of his subordinates, Yang Zengxin, took control of the province and acceded in name to the Republic of China in March of the same year. Through Machiavellian politics and clever balancing of mixed ethnic constituencies, Yang maintained control over Xinjiang until his assassination in 1928 after the Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang.[2]

The Kumul Rebellion and other rebellions arose against his successor Jin Shuren in the early 1930s throughout Xinjiang, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups, and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. Jin drafted White Russians to crush the revolt. In the Kashgar region on November 12, 1933, the short-lived self-proclaimed First East Turkistan Republic was declared.[3][4] The Hui Kuomintang 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) destroyed the army of the First East Turkestan Republic at the Battle of Kashgar (1934), bringing the Republic to an end. The Soviet Union invaded the province in the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang. In the Xinjiang War (1937), the entire province was brought under the control of northeast Manchu warlord Sheng Shicai, who ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with close support from the Soviet Union. In 1944, the President and Premier of China, Chiang Kai-shek, informed by the Soviets of Sheng's intention to join the Soviet Union, decided to shift him out of Xinjiang to Chongqing as the Minister of Agriculture and Forest.[5] More than a decade of Sheng's era had ended. However, a short-lived Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic was established in that year, which lasted until 1949 in what is now Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay Districts) in northern Xinjiang.

During the Ili Rebellion the Soviet Union backed Uyghur separatists to form the Second East Turkistan Republic (2nd ETR) in Ili region while the majority of Xinjiang was under Republic of China Kuomintang control.[3] The People's Liberation Army entered Xinjiang in 1949 and the Kuomintang commander Tao Zhiyue surrendered the province to them.[4] The original provincial government was relocated to Taipei as the Sinkiang Provincial Government Office (新疆省政府辦事處) to symbolize the ROC's claim of sovereignty over the province; it was eventually dissolved in 1992.

  Non-partisan/ unknown   Warlords   People's Anti-Imperialist Association   Kuomintang (Nationalist)

Chairperson of the Provincial Government (Mainland era)

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–death)	Term of office		Political Party
1		Yang Zengxin 楊增新 Yáng Zēngxīn (1864–1928)	1912	July 7, 1928	Xinjiang clique
			Assassinated.
2		Jin Shuren 金樹仁 Jīn Shùrén (1879–1941)	July 7, 1928	April 12, 1933	Xinjiang clique
			Deposed in a coup.
3		Liu Wenlong 劉文龍 Liú Wénlóng (1870–1950)	April 14, 1933	September 1933
			Removed from office and placed under house arrest by Sheng Shicai.
–		Zhu Ruichi 朱瑞墀 Zhū Ruìchí (1862–1934)	September 1933	March 5, 1934
			Figurehead chairman appointed by Sheng Shicai and not recognized by the Central government. Died in office.
4		Li Rong 李溶 Lǐ Róng (1870–1940)	October 1934	March 21, 1940
			Figurehead chairman. Died in office.
5		Sheng Shicai 盛世才 Shèng Shìcái (1895–1970)	April 4, 1940	August 29, 1944	People's Anti-Imperialist Association
			Kuomintang
	Recognized by the Central government only as a duban (military governor), Sheng was de facto ruler of Sinkiang from 1933. In 1940, the Central government recognized him as Provincial chairman. Removed from office.
6		Wu Zhongxin 吳忠信 Wú Zhōngxìn (1884–1959)	August 29, 1944	March 29, 1946	Kuomintang
			Resigned.
7		Zhang Zhizhong 張治中 Zhāng Zhìzhōng (1895–1969)	March 1946	June 1947	Kuomintang
			Removed from office.
8		Masud Sabri 麥斯武德 مەسئۇت سابرى (1887–1952)	June 1947	January 1949	Kuomintang
			First Uighur governor and first non-Han Governor in China during the twentieth century. Appointed during the Ili Rebellion.
9		Burhan Shahidi 包爾漢 بۇرھان شەھىدى (1894–1989)	January 1949	September 26, 1949	Kuomintang
			Surrendered to the People's Liberation Army.

Chairperson of the Provincial Government

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–death)	Term of office		Political party
1		Yulbars Khan 堯樂博士 يۇلبارس خان (1888–1971)	April 11, 1950	July 27, 1971	Kuomintang
			Died in office.