2015/10/01 by Judd C. Kinzley · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance #Diaspora, migration, transnational identity #Economic Zones and Regional Development
paper · doi:10.1179/1521538515z.00000000067
openalex publication_date 2015/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Beginning in the 1930s, Soviet geologists, engineers, and economic planners began laying the infrastructure of informal empire in China's westernmost province of Xinjiang. Seeking to gain access to its rich petroleum wealth in particular, these Soviet state agents helped create a blueprint for state investment and development in Xinjiang that continues to resonate today. Confronting the substantial Soviet investment in the province and driven by a border policy intent on minimizing capital expenditures for distant peripheries, economic planners in the Republic of China and the People's Republic alike relied heavily on Soviet reports, technology, and infrastructure in their own economic development plans. In the end, the efforts of Chinese and Soviet planners, often working in collaboration, helped create an enduring pattern of state investment in Xinjiang. Focusing on oil extraction, processing, and transport operations in Xinjiang, this work reveals the long-term resonances of informal empire in Chinese border regions.