Su Beihai

Su Beihai (1915 - May 31, 1999, ), real name Wang Rennan , pen names Su Jiang , Xixin , Jiang Rongjiang , Jiang Xujiang , a native of Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province (present Wuxi, Jiangsu Province), was a scholar primarily engaged in the study of the history of the Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other ethnic groups of northwest China and Central Asia. Moreover, Su Beihai undertook social research in various villages and pastoral regions of Gansu during this time, including an examination of the social history of the Kazakhs who migrated to Gansu and Qinghai. After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Su Beihai changed his name from Wang Rennan to Su Beihai in order to inspire himself with Su Wu and aspire to serve his country.

In 1945, Su Beihai traveled to Dihua (present-day Ürümqi), Xinjiang, to work in the police department of Sheng Shicai's secret archives. In 1946, he began working as a senior senator and director of the research office at the Third Branch of the Central Police School. After Zhang Zhizhong, who was in charge of Xinjiang, set up a special publicity committee, Su Beihai became the head of the Design Guidance Group of the Xinjiang Provincial Publicity Committee and presided over the publicity and publication work in Xinjiang. In 1947, Su Beihai was employed by Xinjiang College (now Xinjiang University) as an associate professor in the Department of Literature and History. From 1947 to 1949, Su Beihai published more than 40 essays on topics such as the history and culture of the Uyghur people and the history and culture of the Kazakh people.

After the incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China, Su Beihai worked as a researcher in the Research Office of the Xinjiang Branch of the CCP Central Committee , during which time he was involved in the publicity of campaigns such as surveys of agricultural and pastoral areas, rent reductions and counter-hegemony, and land reform campaigns, as well as completing works such as Climatic Studies of Xinjiang (unpublished manuscript), and publishing discourses such as The Origins of the Kazakh Ethnic Group. In 1952, he was transferred to the Xinjiang People's Press as an editor. In 1958, Su Beihai was arrested and imprisoned after the Anti-Rightist Movement affected him, and in the early 1960s, while in prison, Su Beihai completed his research on the Sino-Indian, Sino-Arabic, Sino-Soviet, and Sino-Mongolian borders, as well as The General History of the Western Regions (Unpublished Draft).

In 1979, Su Beihai was rehabilitated and went to teach in the history department of Xinjiang University. On May 31, 1999, Su Beihai died in Ürümqi at the age of 84 due to illness.