Early period During prehistory, the site of the future Ürümqi was occupied by a nomadic people known in Chinese accounts as the
Jushi, who lived mainly on the northern slopes of the surrounding
Tianshan Mountains. The Jushi are often regarded as likely precursors of the
Tocharian peoples, who later established city states in the
Tarim Basin, south of the present site of Ürümqi. The oldest known settlement, a town called Urabo, was located about from the southern suburbs of the present-day Ürümqi.
Han Chinese states, located to the east, exerted increasing control of the Tarim Basin. Under the name
Luntai, the city was founded by the
Tang government, in 648 CE, the 22nd year of
Emperor Taizong's reign, as part of the
Protectorate General to Pacify the West. It was a seat of local government and collected taxes from the
caravans along the northern route of the Silk Road. The Ürümqi of the early period was therefore a
twin-city, with Gongning Cheng forming the administrative center while Dihua grew into Xinjiang's commercial and financial center. Han Chinese from all over China moved into Dihua, as did Chinese
Hui Muslims from the areas of
Gansu and
Shaanxi. The origin of Hui in Ürümqi is often indicated by the names of their mosques. By 1762, more than 500 shops had already been opened by Chinese migrants to the area of modern-day Ürümqi. Those Qing literati who visited Dihua were impressed by its cultural sophistication and similarity to eastern China. The writer
Ji Yun compared Dihua to Beijing, in that both had numerous wine shops which offered daily performances of Chinese music and dance. In 1870, the
Battle of Ürümqi took place between the Turkic Muslim forces of
Yaqub Beg against the
Dungan Muslim forces of Tuo Ming (Daud Khalifa). With the help of Xu Xuegong's Han Chinese militia, Yaqub Beg's forces defeated the Dungans. Gongning Cheng was captured, its Qing administrator killed, and the city burnt to the ground and abandoned. The Qing later regained control of Ürümqi. In 1884, the
Guangxu Emperor established
Xinjiang as a province, with Dihua as its capital.
Republican era After the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Xinjiang was ruled from Ürümqi by a succession of warlords:
Yang Zengxin (1911–1928),
Jin Shuren (1928–1933),
Sheng Shicai (1933–1942), and
Zhang Zhizhong (1942–1949) as governor of Xinjiang. Of these, Yang and Sheng were considered capable rulers. During the
Kumul Rebellion, the
First Battle of Ürümqi and the
Second Battle of Ürümqi took place between the forces of
Ma Zhongying's
36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) and
Jin Shuren and
Sheng Shicai's provincial forces. At the second battle, Ma was assisted by the Han Chinese General
Zhang Peiyuan.
People's Republic era On 1 February 1954, following the
founding of the People's Republic of China, the city's name was officially changed back to Ürümqi. The ruling
Chinese Communist Party believed that the name "Dihua", which literally means "to enlighten and civilize", was belittling and
ethnically chauvinist. Ürümqi became the
de facto political and economic capital of Xinjiang in 1962, following protests against Chinese rule in the previous capital
Yining (Ghulja). In what came to be known as the
Yi–Ta incident, 60,000 Chinese citizens left Yining and
Tacheng for the
Soviet Union, prompting the Chinese government to move its administrative buildings and industrial focus from Yining to Ürümqi. The Chinese government also began construction on a railway connecting Ürümqi to
China proper in the east. As a result, Xinjiang was culturally and economically reoriented away from Central Asia and toward China proper. In the late 1970s,
Deng Xiaoping relaxed China's tight control over Xinjiang, and Ürümqi benefited from the development of the oil and gas industry in Xinjiang. New mosques were built in Ürümqi with financial assistance from the Chinese government. While the Chinese government implemented strict rules on religion in southern Xinjiang, the treatment of the Uyghurs and their religion in Ürümqi were more lax and permissive. In May 1989,
unrest in Ürümqi resulted in 150 injuries. In February 1997, bombings in Ürümqi following the
Ghulja incident resulted in 20 deaths and scores of injuries.
July 2009 riots and subsequent unrest In the largest eruption of ethnic violence in China in decades, there were riots in July 2009 between ethnic Han Chinese and Uyghurs. The
New York Times reporter covering the riot described the violence as "clashes with riot police and Uyghurs rampaging through the city and killing Han civilians. Then, for at least three days, bands of Han vigilantes roamed Ürümqi, attacking and killing Uyghurs." Before the riot broke out, young Uyghurs had marched through the city "to protest a case of judicial discrimination". == Geography ==