Why are other provinces so small and our Xinjiang so big? Why?

In fact, it is mainly caused by historical and environmental factors.

Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia are located in the interior of the frontier, with little precipitation. All belong to temperate arid and semi-arid climate. In ancient times, they mainly lived in nomadic areas, and there was no large-scale farming society in history.

Because the natural environment can't be compared with the mainland, it didn't have the ability to carry a large number of people before. Until the founding of New China, a large number of mainland residents went to the frontier to build aid and stayed in the local area.

Because of the small population, there is no need to divide the administrative areas too fragmented, and it is easier to manage them directly.

For example, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is divided into:

Suiyuan, Chahar, Jehol, Ningxia, Xing 'an, northern Liaoning and Nenjiang provinces.

(The map of the early years of the Republic of China divided the three northeastern provinces after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and established Xing 'an, Liaobei and Nenjiang provinces in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia today. )

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), it was merged into Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for reasons of population, nationality, culture and administration. This not only ensures the autonomy of local Mongolian compatriots, but also simplifies the cumbersome administrative institutions and improves administrative efficiency.

The situation in Xinjiang and Tibet is basically the same, with a vast territory and a vast territory with few people. There is no need to divide it into multiple administrative regions. This is why Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia are so much larger than inland provinces.