Steppe and Silk Routes in front of the mirror of Xinjiang’s Autonomous Region of Uyghur. Fluid borders and construction of historical-identity narratives

Abstract

The proposal for this chapter is to analyze how, from the imperial borders established under the Qing government period, the “barbarian”/border populations have been included –more or less forcedly, –in a –more or less broad –definition of “China.” After a succinct historical introduction about the territory, my goal is to begin to emphasize the cultural, linguistic, identity and religious influence of the region that –after its annexation to the Qing Empire –has been renamed Xinjiang, in relation to the surrounding political and social actors, and trying to point out some historical specificities of the region, in a wider Eurasian context.