Saifuddin Azizi
Saifuddin Azizi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CCP Committee Secretaryof theXinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office July 1972 – January 1978 (Acting: July 1972 – June 1973) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Long Shujin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wang Feng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Revolutionary Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office October 1955 – January 1967 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Burhan Shahidi (as Governor of Xinjiang) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Long Shujin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 March 1915 Artush,Xinjiang,Qing dynasty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 24 November 2003(aged 88) Beijing,China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party(joined 1949) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)(1935–1949) Democratic Revolutionary Party(1947–1948) East Turkestan Revolutionary Party(1946–1947) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards |  Order of Liberation(First Class) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Rank |  Lieutenant Generalof the PLA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Battles/wars | Ili Rebellion(1944–1946) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Tái phúc đỉnh · ngải tắc tư | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | Tái phúc đỉnh · ngải tắc tư | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Uyghur name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uyghur | سەيپىدىن ئەزىزى | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Russian name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russian | Сайфутдин Азизов | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Romanization | Sayfutdin Azizov | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Saifuddin Azizi(officially transcribed asSeypidin Azizi;[1][2]12 March 1915 – 24 November 2003) was a Chinese politician who occupied several top positions in the government of thePeople's Republic of China(PRC). An ethnicUyghur,he is best known for serving as the first chairman of theXinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regionas well as (to date) the only Communist Party committee secretary for the region who was ethnically Uyghur. Before theproclamation of the PRCin 1949, he served in the government of the breakawaySecond East Turkestan Republic,as Minister of Education.
Biography
[edit]Azizi was born inTachengto an influentialUyghurtrader family originally fromArtux(Artush).[3][4]He attended school in Xinjiang and then moved to theSoviet Union,joining theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union(CPSU) and studying at the Central Asia Political Institute inTashkent.[5]He returned to Xinjiang as a Soviet agent, instigating the Soviet-backedIli Rebellionagainst theRepublic of Chinagovernment in northwest Xinjiang. He served as Minister of Education in theSecond East Turkestan Republicand Commissioner of Education in theZhang ZhizhongIli Rebel-Kuomintangcoalition government from 1945–1948.[3]In September 1949, Saifuddin attended theChinese People's Political Consultative Conferenceendorsed by theChinese Communist Party(CCP), becoming a member of the new Communist government.[6]In October, the1949 Chinese revolutionbrought the Communists to power inXinjiangand in China more generally; at this point, Saifuddin held various posts for Nationalities and Political and Legal Affairs for the new government.[3]
From December 1949 through January 1950, he accompaniedMao Zedongin his trip to Moscow to negotiate theSino-Soviet Treaty of Friendshipand it was there on 27 December 1949 where he quit the CPSU and joined the CCP in accordance with recommendation of Mao himself. In 1955, he was given the rank of Lieutenant General of the PLA. In the same year, 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". As a result, the administrative region would be named "XinjiangUyghurAutonomous Region ".[7]
Uyghur linguistIbrahim Muti'iopposed the Second East Turkestan Republic and was against the Ili Rebellion because it was backed by the Soviets and Stalin. Saifuddin Azizi later apologized to Ibrahim and admitted that his opposition to the East Turkestan Republic was the correct thing to do.[8]
At theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)inBeijing,he secured the role of regional Chairman of Xinjiang, a job he kept from 1955 to 1978, with a brief respite during theCultural Revolution.[9] He was a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the First through SeventhNational People's Congressand an alternate member of thePolitburo of the Chinese Communist Partyof the 10th and 11th CCPCentral Committee.[2]From 1993 to 1998, he served as a vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.[10]He died of illness at the age of 88.[2]
References
[edit]- ^"Yu Zhengsheng attends symposium commemorating Seypidin Azizi".www.cppcc.gov.cn.National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
- ^abc"Noted Uygur leader Seypidin Azizi dies".People's Daily.25 November 2003.
- ^abcMcMillen, Donald H. (1979).Chinese Communist Power and Policy in Xinjiang, 1949-1977.Westview Press. pp.34–36.ISBN978-0-89158-452-0.
- ^Donald W. Klein; Anne B. Clark (1968).Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, 1921-1965.Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press.p.743.ISBN978-0-674-14850-5– viaInternet Archive.
- ^Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland by S. Frederick Starr
- ^Benson, Linda; Ingvar Svanberg (1998).China's last Nomads: the history and culture of China's Kazaks.M.E. Sharpe. p. 100.
- ^Bovingdon, Gardner (2010).The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land.Columbia University Press. p. 199.
- ^Clark, William (2011)."Ibrahim's story"(PDF).Asian Ethnicity.12(2). Taylor & Francis: 213.doi:10.1080/14631369.2010.510877.ISSN1463-1369.S2CID145009760.Retrieved4 August2016.
- ^Dillon, Michael (2004).Xinjiang: China's Muslim far northwest.Routledge. p. 79.
- ^China VitaeAccessed 30 October 2010
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1915 births
- 2003 deaths
- Uyghur politicians
- People from Kizilsu
- People's Republic of China politicians from Xinjiang
- Chinese Communist Party politicians from Xinjiang
- Political office-holders in Xinjiang
- Chinese Muslims
- Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress
- Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference