Definition of "Yining"

The Uighurs yearn for reestablishment of the once independent Central Asian republic that was called Eastern Turkestan and had its capital in Yining 50 years ago.

1997 February 23, Steven Mufson, “ETHNIC TURMOIL ROILS WESTERN CHINA”, in The Washington Post‎, archived from the original on 28 August 2017‎

Relations between the Uighurs and the Chinese have always been bad, but in the last few years they’ve gotten even worse, especially since early 1997, when fighting flared in Yining, the capital of the short-lived East Turkestan Republic. Details are sketchy because the central government cordoned off Xinjiang from the rest of the world, but it appears that unrest — and subsequent executions — left several hundred dead, perhaps more.

2001, Gordon G. Chang, “Lake of Gasoline: The Discontent of the People Is Explosive”, in The Coming Collapse of China‎ (Business/Current Affairs), New York: Random House, page 29

This summer, Yining, a city in the Xinjiang region of far-western China, celebrated a boom of Chinese tourists seeking a sunny respite from Covid worries in their hometowns. Now Yining is under its own grueling, weekslong pandemic lockdown, with residents calling for help over limited food, difficulty getting medicines and drastic shortages of sanitary pads for women.

2022 September 11, Chris Buckley, “Just Bread and Noodles: China’s Covid Lockdown Distress Hits Xinjiang”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 2022-09-11, ASIA PACIFIC‎