# Saifuddin Azizi

Saifuddin Azizi (officially transcribed as Seypidin Azizi; 12 March 1915 – 24 November 2003) was a Chinese politician who occupied several top positions in the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), including Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Vice Chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. An ethnic Uyghur, he is best known for serving as the first chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and its regional CCP committee. Before the proclamation of the PRC in 1949, he was a leader of the Ili Rebellion, which sought to establish an independent East Turkestan.

## Biography
### Early activities

Saifuddin Azizi was born in Tacheng to an influential Uyghur trader family originally from Artux (Artush).
He attended school in Xinjiang and then moved to the Soviet Union in 1935, joining the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and studying at the Central Asia Political Institute in Tashkent. He returned to Xinjiang as a Soviet agent, instigating the Soviet-backed Ili Rebellion against the Republic of China government in northwest Xinjiang in 1937. He was deemed a “radical young man” by Sheng Shicai, resulting in his exile to the border city of Tacheng. Following the onset of the Anti-Japanese War, he vigorously advocated for anti-Japanese patriotic ideology and was appointed as the secretary-general and vice-president of the Tacheng Uyghur Culture Promotion Association (Chinese: 塔城维吾尔文化促进会). He was apprehended by the Kuomintang in Tacheng during the celebration of International Labor Day on May 1. He continued his resistance while incarcerated, prompting the Kuomintang regime to free him during a large-scale protest march.

### Three Districts Revolution

In 1944, Saifudin participated in the Three Districts Revolution [zh] that broke out in the Ili, Tacheng and Altay regions of Xinjiang, resolutely opposing the Kuomintang's rule. After the establishment of the Three-Region Revolutionary Provisional Government in 1945, he served as a member of the government and the director of the Department of Education, among other positions. Subsequent to the integration of insurgents from the three districts into the national army, he orchestrated the establishment of the Kashgar and assumed command, commanding the regiment in numerous engagements. He was involved in the establishment of the Revolutionary Youth Organization in the three regions and held the positions of central committee member and head of the publicity department. Following the establishment of the Xinjiang People's Revolutionary Party, he emerged as a principal leader and the head of the Publicity Department, and participated as a member of the delegation in the peace negotiations between the Kuomintang government and the Revolutionary Provisional Government of the Three Regions in October 1945, during which the peace terms were ratified.
Subsequent to the ratification of the Articles of Peace, he founded the Xinjiang Provincial Democratic Coalition Government (Chinese: 新疆省民主联合政府), where he assumed the roles of member and director of the Education Department, as well as chairman of the Democratic Election Supervisory Group. In November 1946, delegates from the three districts approached the representatives of the Chinese Communist Party and formally sought acceptance of CCP leadership. In August 1947, the Xinjiang Democratic League for the Defense of Peace (Chinese: 新疆保卫和平民主同盟) was founded, and he was appointed vice-chairman of the League, head of the Publicity Department, and editor-in-chief of the Forward Newspaper. He subsequently held the positions of Acting Chairman and Chairman of the Xinjiang Democratic League for the Defense of Peace [zh].

### People's Republic of China

In September 1949, Saifuddin attended the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference endorsed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), becoming a member of the new Communist government. On October 15, 1949, Saifuddin filed his application for membership to the Chinese Communist Party, in accordance with recommendation of Mao Zedong himself He joined the CCP on December 27. Simultaneously, he was designated Vice Chairman of the People's Government of Xinjiang Province (Chinese: 新疆省人民政府), Director of the Xinjiang Ethnic Affairs Committee, and Deputy Commander of the Xinjiang Military Region.
From December 1949 through January 1950, Saifuddin accompanied Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in their trip to Moscow to negotiate the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, where he participated in the negotiation, preparation, and signing ceremony. In December 1950, he accompanied Wang Zhen to the Junggar Basin and other desolate areas to identify locations for military reclamation units, thereby establishing the groundwork for the deployment of troops in Xinjiang and the formation and advancement of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
In 1951, Saifuddin was designated as a member of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Branch of the CCP Central Committee, Minister of the Nationalities Department, Minister of the United Front Work Department, and Principal of the Xinjiang Provincial Cadre School. In July 1952, he was designated as the Fourth Secretary of the CCP Central Committee Xinjiang Branch. In September 1952, he was appointed deputy director of the Xinjiang Preparatory Committee for the Implementation of Regional Ethnic Autonomy, and in January 1953, he assumed the role of vice chairman of the Northwest Administrative Committee [zh]. In August 1953, he was appointed as the third secretary of the CCP Committee and deputy commander of the Xinjiang Military Region; in December 1954, he ascended to the position of the second secretary of the CCP Committee and deputy commander of the Xinjiang Military Region.
In February 1955, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Political Consultative Conference was founded, and he assumed the role of chairman. In this year, he was given the rank of Lieutenant General of the PLA. On October 1, he registered with Mao his strong objection to proposals to name Xinjiang the "Xinjiang Autonomous Region", arguing that "autonomy is not given to mountains and rivers. It is given to particular nationalities". The CCP Central Committee endorsed Saifuddin's proposal, leading to the establishment of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. He served as a member of the Northwest Bureau of the CCP Central Committee and held the position of Third Secretary of the CCP Xinjiang Autonomous Region. He advanced land reform in Xinjiang and implemented trial projects in the Kashgar region of southern Xinjiang, with successful outcomes. He participated in directing Xinjiang's three-year national economic recovery efforts and the execution of the nation's inaugural Five-Year Plan, contributing significantly through diligent and meticulous work towards the fulfillment of socialist transformation in Xinjiang and its swift progression to extensive socialist economic development.
In 1958, he assumed the position of second secretary of the CCP Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee. He fervently championed and endorsed the operation of educational institutions, formed Xinjiang classes at the Central Party School, and dispatched foreign students to the Soviet Union, therefore educating a substantial number of cadres for the development of Xinjiang. He founded a flight school that trained the inaugural group of ethnic minority pilots for Xinjiang, and in 1962, during the Yi–Ta incident in the border regions of Xinjiang, he participated in efforts to restore calm and stability as directed by Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai.
Following 1968, he held the positions of deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), deputy head of the core leading group of the Xinjinag Revolutionary Committee. Subsequent to February 1978, Saifuddin commenced employment in the Beijing and held the position of Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh National People's Congresses.
He died in Beijing on November 24, 2003, and was interred at the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery in Urumqi [zh], Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in accordance with Uyghur customs.