The Qing began a process of settling Han, Hui, and Uyghur settlers into Northern Xinjiang (Dzungaria) in the 18th century. At the start of the 19th century, 40 years after the Qing reconquest, there were around 155,000 Han and Hui Chinese in northern Xinjiang and somewhat more than twice that number of Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang.{{sfnp|Millward |2007 |p=306}} A census of Xinjiang under Qing rule in the early 19th century tabulated ethnic shares of the population as 30% Han and 60% Turkic, and it dramatically shifted to 6% Han and 75% Uyghur in the 1953 census. However, a situation similar to the Qing era's demographics with a large number of Han had been restored by 2000, with 40.57% Han and 45.21% Uyghur. Professor Stanley W. Toops noted that today's demographic situation is similar to that of the early Qing period in Xinjiang.{{sfnp|Starr|2004|p=243}} Before 1831, only a few hundred Chinese merchants lived in Southern Xinjiang oases (Tarim Basin), and only a few Uyghurs lived in Northern Xinjiang (Dzungaria).{{sfnp|Millward|2007|p=104}} After 1831, the Qing encouraged Han Chinese migration into the Tarim Basin, in southern Xinjiang, but with very little success, and permanent troops were stationed on the land there as well.{{sfnp|Millward |2007 |p=105}} Political killings and expulsions of non-Uyghur populations during the uprisings in the 1860s{{sfnp|Millward|2007|p=105}} and the 1930s saw them experience a sharp decline as a percentage of the total population{{sfnp|Bellér-Hann|2008|p=52}} though they rose once again in the periods of stability from 1880, which saw Xinjiang increase its population from 1.2 million,{{sfnp|Mesny|1896|p=272}}{{sfnp|Mesny |1899|p=485}} to 1949. From a low of 7% in 1953, the Han began to return to Xinjiang between then and 1964, where they comprised 33% of the population (54% Uyghur), like in Qing times. A decade later, at the beginning of the Chinese economic reform in 1978, the demographic balance was 46% Uyghur and 40% Han, which has not did not change drastically until the last census, in 2000, when the Uyghur population had reduced to 42%. Military personnel are not counted and national minorities are undercounted in the Chinese census, as in most other censuses.{{sfnp|Starr|2004|p=242}} While some of the shift has been attributed to an increased Han presence, Uyghurs have also emigrated to other parts of China, where their numbers have increased steadily. Uyghur independence activists express concern over the Han population changing the Uyghur character of the region though the Han and Hui Chinese mostly live in Northern Xinjiang Dzungaria and are separated from areas of historic Uyghur dominance south of the Tian Shan mountains (Southwestern Xinjiang), where Uyghurs account for about 90% of the population.