XAU was founded on 1 August 1952, by the PLA general Wang Zhen under the auspices of Chairman Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.[4] Originally named Xinjiang Eight-One Agriculture College (Chinese: 新疆八一农学院), it was built on the site of a PLA 2nd Infantry Division School. It was renamed Xinjiang Agricultural University on 21 April 1995.[4]