Burhan Shahidi | |||||||||
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 Burhan in 1950 | |||||||||
| Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference | |||||||||
| In office 12 September 1980 – 10 April 1988 | |||||||||
| Chairman | Deng Xiaoping Deng Yingchao | ||||||||
| In office 25 December 1954 – 5 January 1965 | |||||||||
| Chairman | Zhou Enlai | ||||||||
| Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Political Consultative Conference | |||||||||
| In office October 1955 – March 1964 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Seypidin Azizi | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wang Enmao | ||||||||
| Chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government | |||||||||
| In office October 1949 – January 1955 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | new position | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Seypidin Azizi(Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Revolutionary Committee) | ||||||||
| Governor ofXinjiang | |||||||||
| In office 30 December 1948 – September 1949 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Masud Sabri | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Yulbars Khan(in exile) | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | 3 October 1894 | ||||||||
| Died | 27 August 1989(1989-08-27) (aged 94) | ||||||||
| Nationality | Chinese | ||||||||
| Political party |
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| Spouse | Reshide Khanum | ||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||
| Allegiance |  Republic of China (until 1949) People's Republic of China (from 1949) | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 包尔汉·沙希迪 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 包爾漢·沙希迪 | ||||||||
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| Uyghur name | |||||||||
| Uyghur | بۇرھان شەھىدى | ||||||||
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| Russian name | |||||||||
| Russian | Бурхан Шахиди | ||||||||
| Tatar name | |||||||||
| Tatar | Борһан Шәһиди Borhan Şähidi | ||||||||
Burhan Shahidi (3 October 1894 – 27 August 1989) was a Chinese politician who occupied several top positions inXinjiang, initially in the government of theRepublic of China (ROC) and then government of thePeople's Republic of China (PRC). Anethnic Tatar originally fromKazan, Russia, he served as the ROC's vice-chairman in theCoalition Government of Xinjiang Province, formed between the ROC and theSecond East Turkestan Republic in 1946. After the coalition government's dissolution the following year and theincorporation of Xinjiang into the PRC in 1949, Burhan joined theChinese Communist Party and was appointed the first and only chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government, before it became the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Government in 1955. He later served as the vice-chairman of the second, third, fifth, and sixth national committees of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was also the founder and inaugural president of theIslamic Association of China.
Burhan Shahidi was born in 1894 in theRussianKazan Governorate to aTatar family. His family was poor and he received little schooling in his early years. In 1912, after theQing dynasty was overthrown, he accompanied Tatar merchants to Dihua (nowÜrümqi) in Xinjiang and worked as an apprentice and store-clerk.[1]
In 1914, he was able to apply and receive Chinese citizenship from theRepublic of China on account of his family's ancestry.[2] He spokeTatar,Uyghur,Mandarin Chinese,Russian,Turkish and someArabic and acted as the interpreter forYang Zengxin, the leader of Xinjiang at the time.[1]Jadid leaderIsmail Gasprinski inspired Burhan.[3]
In 1929, he was sent toWeimar Germany by Xinjiang's next leaderJin Shuren and studied political-economy inBerlin. He returned to Xinjiang in 1933 and held a number of roles in the provincial government including manager of a land development company.[4] He played a key role in the Xinjiang Nationalities Congress of 1934. At this Congress, theethnonymUyghur was adopted to describe the majority Turkic Muslims in the oases of theTarim Basin.[5]
In 1935, he became a member of theXinjiang People's Anti-Imperialist Association,[6] initially serving as deputy minister of the Popular Department, and subsequently as acting vice-chairman of the Association in 1936. During this time, he metYu Xiusong, a CCP member and the chairman of the Association, and began to study the history of the CPC's struggles, as well as its principles and objectives.[7]
In 1937, he was dispatched by the next governor,Sheng Shicai, to theSoviet Union to serve as a consular official in the border district ofZaysan.[4] The following year, he was recalled by Sheng and imprisoned until 1944.[2][8][9] While in prison, Burhan wrote a Uyghur-Chinese-Russian Dictionary and translatedSun Yat-sen'sThree People's Principles into Uyghur.[10]
He was released byWu Zhongxin, the Chinese Nationalist official who replaced Sheng Shicai. In 1946, Burhan became the vice-chairman of a provincial coalition government formed between theChinese Nationalists and the revolutionaries who had founded theSecond East Turkestan Republic (Second ETR) in the"Three Districts".[11] He was considered a political moderate between the Nationalist Chinese and Second ETR members of the coalition.[12]
In 1947, Burhan was transferred toNanjing and became an official in the central government underChiang Kai-shek.[2] Later that year, he led a Xinjiang performance troupe to Taiwan and touredKeelung,Taipei,Taichung, andKaoshiung.[2] The tour came shortly after theFebruary 28 Incident, which left many islanders hostile to mainlanders. Burhan gave speeches that appealed to national unity.[2]
In 1948, he returned to Xinjiang and became the president of the Xinjiang Academy, the precursor to theXinjiang University. He favored Chinese nationalism and disagreed with Turkic nationalist positions ofMuhammad Amin Bughra.[2] In January 1949, he replacedMasud Sabri as the chairman of Xinjiang Provincial Government.[13] Sabri was anti-Soviet and opposed the Soviet-backedEhmetjan Qasimi, who was the vice-chairman of the provincial government.[14] He helped stabilize the province's finances, which was ravaged by the spread of inflation throughout Nationalist China, by restoring the local currency.[15] Anti-Soviet sentiment was espoused byIsa Yusuf Alptekin while Pro Soviet sentiment was espoused by Burhan. The Soviets were angered by Isa.[16]
In September of that year, he negotiated withDeng Liqun, the Chinese Communist representative sent byMao Zedong to the province during the waning days of theChinese Civil War. On 26 September, Burhan joined Nationalist generalTao Zhiyue in announcing the surrender of the province to thePeople's Liberation Army, paving the way for the"peaceful liberation" of Xinjiang.[2] A week later, thePeople's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in Beijing.[17]
On 17 December 1949, the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government was established, and Burhan became the chairman.[2] Seypidin was the deputy chairman. He was introduced to theChinese Communist Party byWang Zhen andXu Liqing at the end of the year.[18][19] In December, he joined the Northwest Military and Political Committee, assumed the role of Chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government, and became President of theXinjiang Academy. He chaired the First Committee of the Whole of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government, which ratified the “Current Policy of Governance of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government Committee.”[20] In 1952, he headed the preparatory committee to create the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).[2]
Burhan was a co-founder and the first chairman of theIslamic Association of China. In this capacity, he became an able diplomat in the PRC's outreach to the Islamic world.[21] In February 1956, he led a cultural and religious delegation on a tour ofEgypt,Sudan,Ethiopia,Syria andLebanon.[2] As a direct result of his diplomatic work, Egypt under PresidentGamal Abdel Nasser in May 1956 became the first country inMiddle East to recognize the PRC and sever ties with the Republic of China on Taiwan.[22] It was the first country to recognize Beijing in six years and the recognition broke the diplomatic blockade imposed by the West.[22] In July, he returned to the region leading China'shajj mission toSaudi Arabia, where he metKing Saud and visitedKing Hussein ofJordan, though neither country had diplomatic relations with the PRC.[22] On the same trip, he also met with PresidentNazim al-Kudsi of Syria and AmirMuhammad al-Badr ofNorth Yemen.[23] Both countries switched their recognition to the PRC in 1956.[22]
On 4 November 1956, Burhan andHu Yaobang,Guo Moruo helped lead a massive public rally and parade inBeijing with over 400,000 people inTiananmen Square to support Egypt and denounce Anglo-French imperialism in theSuez Crisis.[24] In the spring of 1959, he led a delegation toIraq to support Prime MinisterAbd al-Karim Qasim who had overthrown the Iraqi monarchy the previous year and founded a pro-socialist republic.[25][26][27] He assumed the presidency ofXinjiang University in October 1960.[28]
In February 1962, he served as the director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at theChinese Academy of Sciences. In April, he assumed the role of vice-president of theAsian-African Society of China.[29] Following theYi–Ta incident in Xinjiang in June–July, he was instructed to return to Xinjiang to aid theCCP Xinjiang Autonomous Region in managing the incident's repercussions.[30]
Burhan supervised Chinese Muslim participation in the hajj until theCultural Revolution, when he was accused of being a collaborator and a foreigner, and imprisoned for eight years.[22] In January 1980, he assumed the presidency of the China Turkic Language Research Society (Chinese:中国突厥语研究会); in March, he was rehabilitated and reinstated as a CCP member; in April, he was appointed honorary president of theIslamic Association of China; in August, he was elected honorary president of the China Ethnic Ancient Texts and Writings Research Society (Chinese:中国民族古文字研究会);[31] and in September, he was co-opted as a vice-chairman of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),[32] and then served as a vice-chairman of the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee.[33] His memoir,Fifty Years in Xinjiang (Chinese:《新疆五十年》) was published in 1984.[34]
In 1985, to support the return of the critically endangeredPère David's deer to China, Burhan helped found and chair the China Milu Foundation,[35] now known as theChina Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.[36][37][38]
He died on 27 August 1989 inBeijing and is buried inÜrümqi Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, the foothills of theTian Shan in Xinjiang.[39]
Media related toBurhan Shahidi at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by none | Co-Vice Chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial Coalition Government (along withEhmetjan Qasimi) 1946–1947 | Succeeded by Abdul Kerim Han Maksum |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial Coalition Government Jan.–Dec. 1949 | Succeeded by none |
| New title | Chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government Dec. 1949 – 1955 | Next: Seypidin Azizi as Chairman of the XUAR People's Committee |
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