UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Staking Claims to China’s Borderland: Oil, Ores and State- building in Xinjiang Province, 1893-1964 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Judd Creighton Kinzley Committee in charge: Professor Joseph Esherick, Co-chair Professor Paul Pickowicz, Co-chair Professor Barry Naughton Professor Jeremy Prestholdt Professor Sarah Schneewind 2012 Copyright Judd Creighton Kinzley, 2012 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Judd Creighton Kinzley is approved and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-chair Co- chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Vita ..................................................................................................................................... ix Abstract ................................................................................................................................x Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Toward a New History of State Building in China’s West ..................................................1 Natural Resources and the Making of Modern China ....................................................11 Methodology and Organization .....................................................................................22 Sources and Methodology .....................................................................................22 Organization ..........................................................................................................28 Chapter 1: Ores and the Financing of Empire, 1893-1912 ...............................................33 The Obstacles to Empire ...............................................................................................33 Mining and Late Qing Xinjiang ....................................................................................37 The Transformative Power of Crisis .............................................................................47 A Tale of Two Mines ....................................................................................................54 Integrating the Northwest .............................................................................................67 Merchants, Mandates and Return to Minerals ..............................................................74 A Gusher in the Northwest ...........................................................................................82 Chapter 2: The Rise and Fall of an Economic Borderland, 1912-1928 .............................88 Planning a New Xinjiang ..............................................................................................89 Into the Financial Wilderness .......................................................................................95 The Pursuit of Revenue ...............................................................................................102 Mining and War ..........................................................................................................107 Holding Beijing at Arms Length.................................................................................121 Chapter 3: A Soviet Hinterland in Chinese Turkestan, 1921-1936 .................................132 Out of the Ashes and Back into Central Asia .............................................................133 iv Fiscal Crisis and a Turn Toward the East ...................................................................148 Drifting into the Soviet Orbit ......................................................................................165 Sketching out a New Soviet Hinterland ......................................................................180 Chapter 4: Behind Front Lines: Xinjiang and Wartime in China and the Soviet Union, 1937-1945 .................................................................................................189 The Sino-Soviet Supply Corridor ...............................................................................191 Repairing Xinjiang’s Tattered Finances .....................................................................204 Centralizing Control Over Xinjiang’s Minerals .........................................................222 Wrangling Over Resources .........................................................................................237 Chapter 5: A Tale of Two Hinterlands, 1942-1946 .........................................................254 Integrating Xinjiang ...................................................................................................256 Sealing off Xinjiang ...................................................................................................273 Ripping Out Soviet Roots ...........................................................................................285 The Soviet Empire Strikes Back .................................................................................297 Chapter 6: Transnational State Building and the Making of a Chinese Xinjiang, 1946- 1964..................................................................................................................................312 Negotiating with the Enemy .......................................................................................313 Sino-Soviet Cooperation .............................................................................................330 Non-Ferrous Metals and Rare Minerals ..............................................................333 Oil and Petroleum Products ................................................................................336 The Xinjiang Oil Boom ..............................................................................................346 Integrating Xinjiang’s Mineral Wealth into the Nation ..............................................358 Chapter 7: Conclusion and Epilogue ...............................................................................369 Epilogue .....................................................................................................................382 References ........................................................................................................................390 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To complete this project I received financial support from the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award, a grant from the All California Group in Economic History, funds from the Association of Asian Studies, and two travel grants from the University of California San Diego’s (UCSD) Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies. In addition, UCSD’s Modern Chinese History program has been extremely generous in providing me the support I needed as a graduate student. Acquiring the material to complete this dissertation was not always an easy process. Luckily for me, I had a number of supporters in China who were instrumental in helping me access various libraries and archives. I am deeply indebted to Li Sheng and all of the researchers at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Border History and Geography. A-di-li and Xu Jianying in the Xinjiang Office were very helpful in introducing me to their friends and colleagues in Xinjiang and giving me suggestions about various document collections and libraries to consult. I would like to thank Jia Jianfei in particular who not only gave me a considerable amount of help and support, but who was also my primary contact, liaison, and friend at the Institute. In Taiwan, I would like to thank Mike Shi-yung Liu at the Academia Sinica, who has been extremely supportive at every step of my graduate career. I am also indebted to Ethan Zheng, whose generosity and friendship has helped me both as an M.A. student in St. Louis as well as in Taiwan. I would like to thank Shen Zhihua at East China Normal University who introduced me to a number of extremely helpful contacts in Xinjiang and gave me access to materials that were central to this project. In Xinjiang, I am grateful to Meng Nan at vi Xinjiang University for helping me gain access to the university library and giving me some much needed advice about my project. Cao Meng at Xinjiang Normal University showed me around Urumqi, gave me access to a number of sources, and was a real source of support and encouragement during my time out west. I would also like to thank the staff at the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Archives, and in particular Liu Xiangjun who did all she could to give me access the materials I needed to complete this project. I feel honored to have been a part of the UCSD Modern Chinese Program and family. The seminars I took during coursework played a critical role in helping mold this project and I have benefitted greatly from the comments of all of my colleagues and friends in the program, most especially Emily Baum, David Cheng Chang, Ellen Huang, Justin Jacobs, Matthew Johnson, and Zheng Xiaowei. I would also like to thank Suzanne Cahill, Lu Weijing, and all