On April 11, dozens of top Chinese military officers, government and party officials gathered in the frontier city of Urumqi to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Wang Zhen, the man who conquered China’s vast western region for the Communists and in doing so created a unique institution.
In 1954, when the country was barely under Communist control and the non-Chinese residents of its restive frontier were presented with a historic, if slim, chance for independence, Chairman Mao Zedong sent Wang Zhen to found the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp, known in Chinese as Bing Tuan or Army Group, an organization of military settlers with a mission to keep Xinjiang within China.
No related posts.
