The long cycle of repression and resistance between Uyghurs and the Chinese state

The first East Turkestan Republic is established.

A second East Turkestan Republic is established, a de facto Soviet-aligned state.

Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong declares the formation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

PRC troops with the People’s Liberation Army march into Ghulja, Xinjiang, a major victory, taking control of the region.

Mao orders several military brigades to re-form themselves into a paramilitary organization tasked with pacifying the region and developing its economy.

The PRC puts down a Uyghur rebellion against Chinese rule in the jade-trading city of Hotan, Xinjiang.

Some 60,000 people, mostly Uyghurs, flee Xinjiang to the Soviet Union.

Uyghurs protesting state birth restrictions in Xinjiang try to break into a county government office. Beijing dispatches 18,000 troops and says Uyghurs kidnapped 10 people and killed six police officers during the standoff.

Uyghurs protest against arrests made under a harsh “strike hard” campaign limiting Uyghur cultural and religious activities, leaving at least seven people dead, according to Chinese authorities. Uyghur activists abroad say hundreds of Uyghur men were arrested afterward, with many sentenced to death.

Violent riots between Han Chinese and Uyghurs erupt in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, after police disperse Uyghurs protesting the beating deaths of two Uyghurs in southern China. China claims the riots were engineered by Uyghurs abroad. Beijing says 197 people died and over 1,700 were injured. Uyghurs say the death toll is actually far higher.

China accuses Uyghurs of driving a car full of tanks of gasoline into Tiananmen Square in central Beijing.

Eight Uyghurs stab passengers at the Kunming Railway Station Square, leaving 31 dead and 141 injured.

Two people, one of whom is identified as Uyghur, try to detonate a bomb inside the Urumqi South Railway Station, just as China’s leader, Xi Jinping, wraps up a tour of the Xinjiang region. One of the attackers stabs passengers with a knife, killing three people and injuring 79 others.

Uyghurs drive an SUV into a crowd in Urumqi, detonating a bomb, killing 39 people and leaving 94 people injured.

The first public reports of China’s mass detention of Uyghurs trickle out of Xinjiang.