Northwest China
Northwest China () is a statistical region of China which includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai. It has an area of 3,107,900 km. The region is characterized by a (semi-)arid continental climate. It has a diverse population including significant minorities such as Hui, Uyghurs and Tibetans. Culturally, the region has historically been influenced by the Silk Road. Outer Northwest China. Outer Northwest China () refers to the portions of territories of the Qing dynasty that were later annexed by the Russian Empire through the Convention of Peking, Treaty of Tarbagatai , Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881) and other unequal treaties referred by Chinese interpretation. During Qing rule, the territories formed parts of far-western Xinjiang and far-northwestern Outer Mongolia. Tuva, at the time a part of the larger Tannu Uriankhai region in northwestern Outer Mongolia, is sometimes also included as it is now part of Russia and share a land border (thus geographically contiguous) with the territories that was ceded through the aforementioned unequal treaties, however this inclusion is somewhat uncommon and does not conform to stricter definitions of Outer Northwest China as Tuva was not ceded to the Russian  Empire during the Qing Dynasty but was annexed during Soviet times after more than three decades of de facto independence from China following the Qing's collapse. Prior to Qing rule, Outer Northwest China was part of the Dzungar Khanate but the region was annexed into the Qing Empire in the aftermath of the Dzungar–Qing Wars. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the region is now divided among four successor states of the Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia.