24 Facts About Nur Bekri

Nur Bekri is a Chinese former politician of Uyghur ethnicity, best known for his term as Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region between 2008 and 2014.

Nur Bekri was born in a village near Kazakhstan in an area under the jurisdiction of Bole, Xinjiang.

Nur Bekri received education in the Chinese language since early childhood and spoke Uyghur and Mandarin Chinese at a native fluency.

Nur Bekri spent only one year in high school before taking the university entrance examinations, and scored highest in his township.

Nur Bekri was sought after as a "minority talent" by the nation's top universities.

Ultimately, Nur Bekri enrolled at Xinjiang University in September 1978 and studied political theory.

Nur Bekri joined the Chinese Communist Party in December 1982.

Between 1993 and 1995 Nur Bekri served in the Kashgar region as an assistant to the local governor.

Between 1994 and 2002 Nur Bekri served in a series of local political roles, including the vice-mayor of Feicheng, Shandong province, the deputy Secretary-General of the Xinjiang regional government, the deputy party secretary and mayor of Urumqi.

Nur Bekri then worked in the Xinjiang regional government beginning in 2000, becoming a member of the Party Committee, then Deputy Party Secretary in January 2005.

Nur Bekri was appointed Chairman of Xinjiang, replacing Ismail Tiliwaldi, who resigned as chairman in December 2007.

At age 46, Nur Bekri became one of the youngest provincial governors in China.

Nur Bekri has been subject to criticism by Uyghur economist and scholar Ilham Tohti, founder of Uyghur Online, a website that criticized the chairman and his policies.

Tohti said that Nur Bekri was "unqualified" for his position and that he "does not care about Uyghurs".

Nur Bekri was transferred to the National Energy Administration under the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, a body with wide jurisdiction over economic development, in December 2014.

Nur Bekri was replaced as Xinjiang Chairman by Shohrat Zakir.

Nur Bekri's first act as leader of the NEA was to crack down on corruption; one of his predecessors Liu Tienan went to jail for corruption in a high-profile case.

Nur Bekri became an outspoken proponent of renewable energy, meeting global industry executives and touting that China was contributing "strength and wisdom" to the transformation of the global energy production.

Nur Bekri was an alternate of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of the 18th Central Committee.

Nur Bekri was the only ethnic Uyghur with full membership on the 18th Central Committee.

Nur Bekri did not gain a seat on the 19th Central Committee despite not having reached retirement age, raising speculation in 2017 that he had fallen out of favor.

Nur Bekri's last public appearance was a visit to Russia with Vice-Premier Han Zheng.

French news agency AFP reported that Nur Bekri had been arrested for graft, citing a statement on 2 April 2019 by national prosecutors; the report did not give a date for the former official's trial.

Nur Bekri said he would not appeal to a higher court.