During the Han dynasty, there were Han people in the western regions. The Han people here refer to the Central Plains people. At that time, it was not called Han people, but called "Han people" or "Central Plains people". Han nationality is one of the ancient nationalities in Xinjiang.

After liberation, at the end of 1949, China People's Liberation Army entered Xinjiang. Subsequently, many officers and men of the People's Liberation Army (mostly Han people) changed jobs on the spot and distributed all over Xinjiang, forming the Xinjiang Military Region Production and Construction Corps 10 divisions and 100 farms. This is the first time after liberation that a large number of Han people moved to Xinjiang.

1952, the Corps recruited female soldiers from Shanghai, Hunan, Hubei, Shandong and other places, and sent cadres and their families to Xinjiang. From 1958 to 1959, young people from Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu came to Xinjiang. During the three-year natural disaster, a large number of mainland Han people came to Xinjiang on their own, from 1964 to. From 1969 to 1973, for the sake of border security in Xinjiang, nearly 10,000 mainland Han people entered Xinjiang and set up third-line factories in Xinjiang.

During the period of reform and opening up. Since the 1980s, the country has carried out reform and opening-up and the development of the western region, and the development of Xinjiang has made great progress. Commerce, circulation and science and technology industries have promoted the development of mainland talents in Xinjiang, mainly distributed in cities, corps and local villages, engaged in science and technology, industry and agriculture, circulation and border trade.

By 2004, the population of Han nationality was over 7.8 million, accounting for 39.75% of the total population in Xinjiang.