The winter of 1996 and spring of 1997 saw a fresh spate of bomb attacks in China's western region of Xinjiang. These attacks have been going on for a number of years. The Chinese authorities have responded with mass arrests, allegedly running into tens of thousands. Xinjiang, sometimes referred to as Chinese Turkestan, is both China and Central Asia, part of both entities. At the present time, however, it is perhaps best conceived as China within Central Asia.
China is in many respects the embodiment of durability and continuity.
Central Asia, on the other hand, is an area of abrupt change and political instability. It has never existed as a state with definite boundaries and has often found itself at the confluence of forces acting beyond its confines. Xinjiang has been under Chinese control since its conquest by the Manchus in 1757-59, but until the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949 its links with Beijing were very loose. The region often found itself virtually independent and its relations with the centre were marked by regular and very violent revolts. Since 1949, however, Xinjiang has been solidly anchored to China.