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China and the Soviet Union in Xinjiang, 1934-1949

This collection of Soviet records concerns the political and military turmoil in Xinjiang in the 1930s and 1940s. The records provide considerable details on the insurrection led by Ma Zhongying, Governor Sheng Shicai's relationship with Stalin, the establishment of the East Turkestan Republic (1944-1949) in northern Xinjiang, Soviet support for the Chinese Communist Party, and Sino-Soviet relations more generally, among other topics. The majority of the records in the collection were obtained by Jamil Hasanli for his 2015 bookSin'tszyan v orbite sovetskoy politiki: Stalin i musul'manskoye dvizheniye v Vostochnom Turkestane: 1931-1949: monografiya (Xinjiang in the Orbit of Soviet Politics: Stalin and the Muslim Movement in Eastern Turkestan, 1931-1949), later published in English as Soviet Policy in Xinjiang: Stalin and the National Movement in Eastern Turkistan (2021), as well as by Charles Kraus and Sergey Radchenko. See also the Digital Archive collection on "The Yi-Ta Incident, 1962." (Photo: Governor of Xinjiang Sheng Shicai.)

Popular Documents

June 27, 1949

Memorandum of Conversation between Stalin and CCP Delegation

Stalin and the CCP delegation discuss the Soviet loan to China, the specialist the Soviets are to send to China, the occupation of Xinjiang, and the Chinese fleet.

January 22, 1944

Stalin’s Conversation with Choibalsan

Conversations between Joseph Stalin and Khorloogiin Choibalsan about Mongolia and efforts to defend against possible Chinese attacks during World War II.

June 1934

Letter of Governor Shicai Sheng to Cdes. Stalin, Molotov, and Voroshilov

Governor Shicai Sheng expresses his firm belief in Communism, his desire to overthrow the Nanjing Government and construct a Communist state in its place, and the need to establish a Communist Party branch in Xinjiang. Emphasizing his long study of Marxist theory, he requests that Stalin, Molotov, and Voroshilov allow him to join the Communist Party.

September 26, 1949

Cable with Message from Mao Zedong to Stalin

Request for assistance from the Soviet Union with air transport for troops and supplies into Xinjiang.

July 18, 1949

Cable, Liu Shaoqi to Mao Zedong

A committee to write up a preliminary draft for a loan from the USSR to China is created. Stalin meets with a delegation of the CCP and answers several of their questions, including: the CCP's policy towards the Chinese national bourgeoisie, the matter of people's democratic dictatorship, Chinese foreign policy issues, Sino-Soviet relations, Xinjiang, Dalian, a Chinese University in Moscow, a railway from outer Mongolia to Zhangjiakou, and a naval school. Stalin and the CCP delegation also discussed the possibility of a war breaking out between the USSR and the US.