Alternative History
Khaganate of East Turkestan
東突坦汗國
Dōng Tūjué Hàn Guó (Chinese)
سھرقي تركستن خقنلگ
Sherqiy Turkistan Xaqanligi (Chagatayan)
East Turkestan East Turkestan Emblem
Motto
"大西部邊疆"
"Dà Xībù Biānjiāng" (Chinese)
"بيك گربي سھگر"
"Buyuk G'arbiy Chegara" (Chagatayan)
("Great Western Frontier")
EastTurkestanmap(WOIOCG)
CapitalÜrümqi
Official languages Chinese, Chagatayan
Recognised regional languages Uyghur, Kazakh, Uzbek, Mongolian, Russian, Kyrgyzs
Demonym Xinjiangese, East Turkestani
Government Provincial council
 -  Governor Erkin Tuniyaz
Population
 -   census 15,530,000 

OTE: Xinjiang

The Khaganate of East Turkestan (Chinese: 東突坦汗國, Dōng Tūjué Hàn Guó; Chagatayan: سھرقي تركستن خقنلگ, Sherqiy Turkistan Xaqanligi) known in Chinese as the Royal Abode of the Western Yuanhe (Chinese: 西袁紇王府, Xī Yuanhe Wángfǔ) also known as Tujue and East Turkestan is one of the provinces of the Empire of China, and is the westernmost province.

It borders the Kingdom of Tibet to the south, Northern Kingdom to the east, Inner Mongolia to the north and east, as well as West Turkestan and Russia to the north (Volga, Urals and Siberia).

With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, a succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of this territory. The territory came under the rule of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century, which was later replaced by the Republic of China. Since 1949 and the Chinese Civil War, it has been part of the Empire of China. In 1954, the Beifang Company established the Tujue Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to strengthen border defense against the Russian Empire and promote the local economy by settling soldiers into the region. In 1955, Tujue was administratively changed from a province into an autonomous region. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in Tujue and it is currently China's largest natural-gas-producing region.

Because of the fact that in this timeline, the Chinese "get it right" and actually native Uyghurs and encourage Uyghur and Kazakh-owned businesses, the East Turkestan Independence is a dead movement whose goal is regarded as absolutely retarded and pointless. Additionally, to put the icing on the cake, the Imperial Chinese government has also legalized usage of the East Turkestan name among the native Turkic languages and during the period of economic growth, helped native Uyghurs and Kazakhs gain access to the wealth, helping many become powerful CEOs of oil companies.

Currently, Tujue is ruled by members of the Manghit dynasty, specifically hailing from the line of the Emirs of Bukhara, who are today the ruling royal khagans of the neighboring Turkestan. Prince Shahmurad, Emir Alim Khan's second son, was crowned as the 1st Khagan of Tujue by the Chaoxiang Emperor, and in Chinese imperial tradition, they are referred to as the Yuanhe dynasty (in spite of the fact that Shahmurad was not an Uyghur, nor a speaker of Uyghur). Shahmurad's children however, are all of Uyghur descent through him and his Uyghur wife, Khagana Alina.

Name and etymology[]

There are two legal names for the province. In Chinese-language sources, the province is officially known as Tujue (突厥), which is taken from the Ancient Chinese variant Tutkyud which means the same as Turkestan, while in the Turkic languages, it is officially and exclusively known as East Turkestan (Uyghur: تۈركىستان ئاپتونوم رايونى, Sherqiy Turkistan; Kazakh: سھٸ‎عٸ‎س, Şığıs Türkistan), a huge defining aspect that pretty-much killed off any pro-independence separatists as a result of the respect that the democratic, but also Imperial Chinese government gives the Uyghur people. Both of these names are used interchangeably. In Chinese, East Turkestan is rendered as Dōng Tūjué (東突厥).

Chinese East Turkestan is referred to as Tūjué in foreign newspapers in order to distinguish it from the independent country of Turkestan to the west.

In Chinese Imperial naming traditions, the ancient name Yuanhe (袁紇) is used, which is what ancient Chinese records referred to the Uyghur people as. Although the royal family of Tujue are Uyghur-speakers today, the original founder Shahmurad I was of Uzbek and Mongol descent, due to being part of the Manghit, to which the Yuanhe dynasty is a part of. It is to note, that Yuanhe is not associated with the Yuan, which is used for Inner Mongolia and Mongolia, and descendents of the Borodjin clan, that is, descendents of Genghis Khan. Coincidentally however, both the Yuanhe and Yuan dynasties are of Mongol origin (the former being Manghit and the latter being Borodjin), however the Yuanhe's Mongol ancestry is much more distant, and the current Yuanhe dynasty, as well as their counterparts in Turkestan do not consider themselves Mongols.

Economy[]

The GDP of Tujue was about CN¥3.774 trillion (US$4.1 trillion) as of 2022. Economic growth has been fueled by to discovery of the abundant reserves of coal, oil, gas as well as the China Western Development policy introduced by the Imperial State Incentive to boost economic development in Western China. Its per capita GDP for 2022 was CN¥68,552 (US$70,030). Southern Tujue, with 95 percent non-Han population, has an average per capita income half that of Tujue as a whole. XPCC plays an outsized role in Tujue's economy, with the organization producing CN¥350 billion (US$370 billion), or around 19.7% of Tujue's economy, while the per capita GDP was CN¥98,748 (US$100,680).

Economic development of Tujue is a priority for China. In 1979, the government articulated its strategy for developing the western regions of the country, and that plan made Tujue a major focus. Accelerating development in Tujue is intended by China to achieve a number of objectives, including narrowing the economic gap between Tujue and the more developed eastern provinces, as well as alleviating political discontent and security problems by alleviating poverty and raising the standard of living in order to increase stability. From 2014 to 2020, fiscal transfers from China's central government to Tujue grew by an average of 10.4% per year.

Tujue has traditionally been an agricultural region, but is also rich in minerals and oil. Tujue is a major producer of solar panel components due to its large production of the base material polysilicon. In 2020 45 percent of global production of solar-grade polysilicon occurred in Tujue. China's solar association claimed the allegations were baseless and unfairly stigmatized firms with operations there.

Foreign economic ties[]

Much like the economy of the neighboring Inner Mongolia, Tujue maintains strong economic links with Turkestan, or "West Turkestan", as well as Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan in the neighboring Persia (to which Tujue shares only a small border with). In the 1990s, many businessmen from Tujue exploited the rich mineral and oil fields of Central Asia, especially in Kyrgyzstan, which was once the poorest in the former Governorate of Central Asia.

A large exchange of foreign workers often occurs between Tujue and Turkestan.