Today Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Province (Xinjiang Weiwuer zizhiqu 新疆維吾爾自治區). At the begin of the Qing Dynasty 清 the term xinjiang - "western border regions" was in fact used for the western and southwestern provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan) that were not yet totally incorporated into the empire. Only during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795) Xinjiang became the name of the western region proper. The territory of Xinjiang stretched from the Irtysh River soutwards to the Kunlun Mountains 崑崙山, and from the Balkhash Lake eastwards to the province of Gansu, thus including the Tarim Basin 塔里木盆地 and the Zhunggar Basin 準噶爾盆地, both divided by the Tianshan Range 天山. North of the Tianshan Range was the homeland of the Oirat nomads 厄魯特蒙古, south of the mountain range was the khanate of Yarkand 葉爾羌, ruled by descendants of the Mongol Chagatai Khanate. The Qing government installed in 1759 a military governor (zongtong jiangjun 總統將軍) in Huiyuan 惠遠 (near modern Huocheng 霍城縣). His subordinated officials were the commander-in-chief (dutong 都統) at Ürümqi 烏魯木齊, and two grand minister consultants (canzan dachen 參贊大臣) in Yili 伊犁 (modern Yining 伊寧), Tarbahatai 塔爾巴哈台 (modern Tacheng 塔城) for the northern part, and Kashgar 喀什噶爾 for the eight cities of the southern part of Xinjiang. The chieftains of the Mongol, Kazak and Kirgiz tribes acted as magistrates with hereditary title. In 1851 Russia forced Qing China to allow Russian merchants to market on the soil of Xinjiang, in 1864 China had to cede a great part of northwestern Xinjiang to Russia. During the rebellion of Uighur tribes in the following years, that occupied a large part of Xinjiang, Russia invaded the Yili Basin. It was only in 1881 that China could gain back the city of Yili, but Russia was finally granted important cessions of territory and was allowed to install extraterritorial merchant quarters in the cities of Xinjiang. The suppression of the Muslim rebellion could be finished in 1876. In 1884 the military gouvernement of Xinjiang became province, and the whole territory was regularly administered in prefectures (fu 府), subprefectures (ting 廳), departments (zhou 州), and counties (xian 縣). Only in the region of Yili a military governor was still acting as overseer of the border region.