Inner Asia

Map of Inner Asia, showing the extent of the area studied by the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, located at Indiana University in the USA

Map of Inner Asia, showing the extent of the area studied by the CIAS at the University of Toronto.

Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of "Central Asia", mostly the historical ones, but certain regions that are often included in Inner Asia, such as Manchuria, are not a part of Central Asia by any of its definitions. Inner Asia may be regarded as the western and northern "frontier" of China proper and as being bounded by East Asia proper, which consists of China proper, Japan and Korea.^[1]

The extent of Inner Asia has been understood differently in different periods. "Inner Asia" is sometimes contrasted to "China proper", that is, the territories originally unified under the Qin dynasty with majority Han populations. In 1800, Chinese Inner Asia consisted of four main areas, namely Manchuria (modern Northeast China and Outer Manchuria), the Mongolian Plateau (Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia), Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan or East Turkestan), and Tibet. Many of these areas had been only recently conquered by the Qing dynasty of China and, during most of the Qing period, they were governed through administrative structures different from those of the older Chinese provinces.^[2] A Qing government agency, the Lifan Yuan, supervised the empire's Inner Asian regions, also known as Chinese Tartary. The frontier regions of China proper—Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan—are also sometimes included as part of Inner Asia.^[3][4]

"Inner Asia" today has a range of definitions and usages.^[5] Denis Sinor, for example, used "Inner Asia" in contrast to agricultural civilizations, noting its changing borders, such as when a Roman province was taken by the Huns, areas of North China were occupied by the Mongols, or Anatolia came under Turkish influence, eradicating Hellenistic culture.^[6]

Scholars or historians of the Qing dynasty, such as those who compiled the New Qing History, often use the term "Inner Asia" when studying Qing interests or reigns outside China proper,^[7] although previous Chinese dynasties like the Han dynasty, Tang dynasty and Ming dynasty also expanded their realms and influences into Inner Asia.

According to Morris Rossabi, Inner Asia is composed not only of the five Central Asian countries, which includes Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, but also includes Afghanistan, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of Iran.^[8]

The Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies of Harvard University defines Inner Asia as a region consisting of West Turkestan, East Turkestan (i.e., Xinjiang), Eastern Iran, Northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and northwestern Yunnan.^[3]

The Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge defines Inner Asia as "an area centred on Mongolia and extending across the region of the great steppes to the Himalayas", including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, East Turkestan, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Altai, Tuva, Buryatia and Chita.^[4]

In French, Asie centrale can mean either "Central Asia" or "Inner Asia", while Mongolia and Tibet are grouped as Haute Asie (lit. 'Upper Asia').^[9]

The terms meaning "Inner Asia" in the languages of Inner Asia itself are all modern translations of terms in European languages, mostly Russian.^[9]

"Central Asia" normally denotes the western part of Inner Asia; that is, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan sometimes also included as part of Central Asia. However, The Library of Congress subject classification system treats "Central Asia" and Inner Asia as synonymous.^[9]

According to Morris Rossabi, the term "Inner Asia" is the well-established term for the area in the literature. However, because of its deficiencies, including the implication of an "Outer Asia" that does not exist, Denis Sinor has proposed the neologism "Central Eurasia", which emphasizes the role of the area in intercontinental exchange.^[10] According to Sinor:^[11]

The definition that can be given of Central Eurasia in space is negative. It is that part of the continent of Eurasia that lies beyond the borders of the great sedentary civilizations.... Although the area of Central Eurasia is subject to fluctuations, the general trend is that of diminution. With the territorial growth of the sedentary civilizations, their borderline extends and offers a larger surface on which new layers of barbarians will be deposited.

Central Europe is the birthplace of Inner Asian studies in the West. Hungarian explorers and scholars of the early 19th century travelled to Inner Asia with an attempt to find their own national origins. Sándor Kőrösi Csoma was the first among these explorers, who became the founder of Tibetology. The Hungarian count Béla Széchenyi led a scientific expedition to Inner Asia in 1877–1880 and subsequently founded the journal Turán in 1913. The term "Inner Asian studies" (Hungarian: belső-ázsiai kutatások; German: innerasiatische Studien) first appeared in the masthead of Turán.^[9]

Aurel Stein's discoveries of Inner Asian antiquities contributed significantly to the knowledge of the civilizations of this region. In 1928, he published his 4-volume work entitled Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran, Carried Out and Described under the Orders of H.M. Indian Government. In 1940, the first academic chair for Inner Asian studies was established by Lajos Ligeti at the University of Budapest.^[9]

• The Association for Asian Studies (AAS): The China and Inner Asia Council (CIAC). Archived 2021-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Indiana University at Bloomington: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies (RIFIAS).
• University of Cambridge: Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU).