Saifuddin Azizi

Saifuddin Azizi (officially transcribed as Seypidin Azizi; 12 March 1915 – 24 November 2003) was a Chinese politician who occupied several top positions in the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC). An ethnic Uyghur, he is best known for serving as the first chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as well as (to date) the only Communist Party committee secretary for the region who was ethnically Uyghur. Before the proclamation of the PRC in 1949, he served in the government of the breakaway Second East Turkestan Republic, as Minister of Education. Provided by Wikipedia