【正确答案】In the hinterland of Eurasia, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is located in the border area of northwest China with an area of 1. 66 million square kilometers accounting for one sixth of the Chinese territory. As the vital passage of the ancient "Silk Road" , it adjoins eight countries a-long an international border of 5 , 600 kilometers. According to statistics, in the year 2000 Xinjiang had a population of 19. 25 million, including 10. 9696 million people of other ethnic groups than the Han. Since ancient times, Xinjiang has always been a region where a number of races and religions exist side by side. Xinjiang has been an integral part of China, a unitary multinational state, since the Western Han Dynasty(206 B. C. -24 A. D).