Uygur
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The Uyghur (also spelled Uighur; Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; Template:Zh-stp) are a Turkic people of Central Asia. Throughout the history of Central Asia, they left a lasting imprint on both the culture and tradition. Today Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known by its controversial name Eastern Turkistan). There are also existing Uyghur communities in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Turkey and a smaller one in Taoyuan County of Hunan province in South-central China.<ref> http://english.people.com.cn/english/200012/28/eng20001228_59085.html</ref>
Uyghur neighbourhoods can also be found in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai,<ref> http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/chinethn.html</ref> as well as in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
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Identity
Template:Islam and China Historically the term "Uyghur" (meaning "united" or "allied") was applied to a group of Turkic-speaking tribes that lived in the Altay Mountains. Along with the Göktürks (Kokturks) the Uyghurs were one of the largest and most enduring Turkic peoples living in Central Asia.
The earliest use of the term 'Uyghur' (Weihu) was during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 CE), in China. At that time the Uyghur were part of the Gaoche later called Tiele people (possibly Turan), a group of Turkic tribes, which also included groups such as Xueyantuo (Syr-Tardush), Basmil (Baximi), Oguz (Wuhu), and Yakut (Guligan) from the Lake Baikal Region. The forebear of the Tiele belonged to those of Hun (Xiongnu) descendants. According to Chinese Turkic scholars Ma Changshou and Cen Zhongmian, the Chinese word Tiele originates from the Turkic Türkler (Turks) which is a plural form of Türk (Turk) and the word Tujue in Chinese comes from the Turkic word Türküt which is a singular of Türk.<ref>[A Historical Collection on the History of the Turks]. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1958): 6-7. </ref> The origin of Gaoche can be traced back to the Dingling peoples c. 200 BCE, contemporary with the Chinese Han Dynasty.<ref>Golden, Peter. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992), 94.</ref><ref>Sima Qian, Shiji [Records of the Historian] Vol. 110: Xiongnu; and Ban Gu, Han Shu [History of the Han Dynasty], Vol. 94: Xiongnu.</ref><ref>Book of Sui, vol. 84 (c. 600 CE).</ref>
The first use of 'Uyghur' as a political nation occurred during the interim period between the First and Second Göktürk Kaganates (630-684 CE). After the collapse of the Uyghur Empire in 840 CE the Uyghur refugees resettled in the Tarim Basin intermarrying with the local people. It is only after this time that 'Uyghur' can be properly used as a true ethnic designation.
Modern usage of the Uyghur ethnonym is used to give an ethnic definition to a traditional Central Asian distinction between nomads and settled farmers. It refers to the descendants of settled Turkic urban oasis-dwelling and agricultural populations of Xinjiang as opposed to those Turkic groups that remained nomadic. It was only after the Communist "liberation" that, in modern history Uyghurs have been called by that name, prior to that they were just called "Tuki" (thus the name Eastern Turkistan). Uyghurs live mainly in Xinjiang, China, where they are the largest ethnic group, together with Han Chinese, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Russians. "Xinjiang" is the Han Chinese name for the (Autonomous) Region meaning "New Frontier." Uyghurs call their region East Turkistan or Uyghurstan.
History
Orkhon Uyghur
Uyghur history can be divided into four distinct phases. Pre-Imperial (300 BCE - 630 CE), Imperial (630-840 CE), Idiqut (840-1225 CE), and Mongol (1225-1600 CE) with perhaps a fifth post-Mongol or modern phase running from the death of the silkroad in 1600 CE until the present. Their history is the story of an obscure nomadic tribe from the Altai Mountains rising to challenge the Chinese Empire and ultimately becoming the diplomatic arm of the Mongol invasion.
Pre-630 CE
The ancestors of the Uyghur includes the nomadic Gaoche People and possibly the Tocharian peoples of the Tarim Basin. Gaoche meaning 'High Cart' was a reference to the distinct high-wheeled, ox-drawn carts used to move yurts. The Gaoche were Altaic pastoralists who lived in the valleys south of Lake Baikal and around the Yenisei River(Yenisei = Ana Say, or "Mother River" in Turkic). They practiced some minor agriculture and were highly developed metalsmiths due to the abundance of easily available iron ore in the Yenisei. They became vassals of the Huns and manufactured their arms. After the Huns they were passed as vassals to the Rouran and Hepthalite States. In 450 CE the Gaoche planned a revolt against the Rouran that was defeated by the TürkTemplate:Dn (another Rouran vassal tribe). This incident marked the beginning of the historic Türk-Tiele animosity that plagued the Göktürk Khanate. When the Göktürk defeated the Rouran/Hepthalite state, they became the new masters of the Tiele (the name "Gaoche" was replaced by "Tiele" in historic records around this time). It was also at this time that the Uyghur tribe was first mentioned in Chinese records as a small tribe of 10,000 yurts in the South Baikal region.
The Uyghur participated in a coalition of Tiele under the leadership of the Syr-Tardush tribe which allied with the Chinese Sui Empire in 603 CE to defeat Tardu Khan and win their independence. This alliance existed with varying degrees of autonomy from 603 CE until 630 CE when the Göktürk Khanate was decisively defeated by the Emperor Tang Taizong. During this time the Uyghur occupied second position after the Syr-Tardush in the alliance. In the interregnum between the first and second Göktürk Khanates (630-683 CE) the Uyghur toppled the Syr-Tardush and declared their independence. Then a second Göktürk Khanate was established during the reign of Empress Wu. The Uyghurs , again joined with other nomadic Turkic tribes, participated Gokturk empire. After Bilge Khan's death in 734, the empire declined. After a series of revolts coordinated with their Chinese allies, the Uyghur emerged as the leaders of a new coalition force called the "Toquz Oghuz". In 744 CE the Uyghur, together with other related subject tribes (the Basmil and Qarluq), defeated the Göktürk Khanate and founded the Uyghur Empire at Mount Ötüken.
745 CE-840 CE
Properly called the On- Uyghur (ten Uyghurs) and Toquz-Oghuz (nine tribes) Orkhon Khanate, the Uyghur Empire stretched from the Caspian SeaTemplate:Fact to Manchuria and lasted from 745 to 840. It was administered from the imperial capital Ordu Baliq, the first city built in Mongolia. During the imperial phase 'Uyghur' came to mean any citizen of the Uyghur Empire, and not just a member of the Uyghur tribe. After the An Shi Rebellion, although they considered the conquest of the Tang Empire, they chose instead to use an exploitative trade policy to drain off the wealth of China without actually destroying it. In return, they policed the borders and quelled internal rebellions. Large numbers of Sogdian refugees came to Ordu Baliq to escape the Islamic Jihad in their homeland. It was from them the Uyghur were converted from Buddhism to Manichaeanism. The Uyghurs thus inherited the legacy of Sogdian Culture. In 840 CE, following a famine and a civil war, the Uyghur Empire was overrun by the Kirghiz, another Turkic people. The result was that the majority of tribal groups formerly under the umbrella of the Uyghurs migrated to what is now northwestern China, especially modern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region.
Modern Uyghur
840 CE-1600 CE
The Uyghur refugees who fled south-west, west and further west established three states in Gansu, in present day Xinjiang and in the Valley of Chu River in the West Tian Shan ( Tengri-Tag) Mountains , respectively. Those who fled west together with other Turkic tribal groups living in Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin, established Beshbalik-Turpan-Kucha state in the Tarim Basin, Turfan Depression and Dzungaria, merging with the local populations of Tocharians (or Tokharians, whose language was Indo-European). It is probable that, genetically and culturally, modern Uyghurs descend from the nomadic Turkic tribes and the Indo-European-speaking groups, who preceded them in the Tarim Basin oasis-cities, as well as Uyghurs from Mongolia . Today one can still see Uyghurs with light-coloured skin and hair. Modern studies have found that modern Uyghur populations represent an admixture of eastern and western Eurasian mtDNA<ref> http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/21/12/2265.pdf</ref> and Y chromosome<ref> http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/98/18/10244</ref> lineages. It is at this time 'Uyghur' can be used as an ethnic designation.
Yugor The eastern most of the three states was Ganzhou Kingdom (870- 1036) with capital near present Zhangye city in the Gansu province of China, where they converted from Manicheism to Lamaism (Tibetan and Mongol Buddhism). Unlike other Turkic peoples further west they did not later convert to Islam. Thus they are unusual among Turkic peoples. Their descendants live there to this day, they are now known as Yugurs ( self identification- Yogir, Yugor, known also as Sary Uyghurs- Yellow Uyghurs, i.e. yellow- haired uyghurs ) and are distinct from modern Uyghurs. In 1028-1036 CE the Yugors were forcibly absorbed into the Tangut kingdom, being defeated in the bloody war.
Karakhoja The central state (created during 856-866 ) was the Karakhoja kingdom, also called the Idiqut (" Holy Wealth, Glory ") state, was based around the cities of Turfan (winter capital) , Beshbalik (summer capital), Kumul and Kucha. Also a Buddhist state with a state sponsored Buddhism and Manichaeism it can be considered the epicentre of Uyghur culture. The Idiquts (title of the Karakhoja rulers) ruled independently until 1209 when they submitted to the Mongols under Genghis Khan and as vassal rulers existed until 1335.
Kara-Khanids or The Karahans (Great Khans Dynasty) . The Karahans (Karakhanliks) originated from uyghur tribes settled in Valley of Chu River after 840 and ruled between 940-1212 in Turkistan and Maveraünnehir. They converted to Islam in 934 under ruling of Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan (920-956) and after taking power over Qarluks in 940 built a federation with Muslim institutions. Together with the Samanids of Samarkand they considered themselves the defenders of Islam against the Buddhist Uyghur Idiqut and the Buddhist Scythian-Tocharian kingdom of Khotan. The first capital of karakhanliks was established in the city of Balasagun in Chu River Valley and later was moved to Kashgar.
The reign of the Karahans is especially significant from the point of view of Turkic culture and art history. It is during this period that mosques, schools, bridges and caravanserais were constructed in the cities. Kashgar, Bukhara and Samarkand became centres of learning. In the period, the Turkish language found the means to develop. Among the most important works of the period is Kutadgu Bilig (translated as "The Knowledge That Gives Happiness") written by Yusuf Balasaghuni, between the years 1069-1070.
Both the Idiqut and the Kara-Khanid states submitted to the KaraKhitans. After the rise of the Seljuk Turks in Iran the Kara-Khanids became nominal vassals of the Seljuks also. Later they would serve the dual-suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans to the north and the Seljuks to the south. Finally all three states became vassals to Chingis Khan in 1209.
Most inhabitants in the Besh Balik and Turfan regions did not convert to Islam until the 15th century expansion of the Yarkand Khanate, a Turko-Mongol successor state based in the western Tarim.
Before converting to Islam, Uyghurs were Manichaeans, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, or Nestorian Christians.
Post 1600 CE
The Manchus, nomads from present day Northeast China, vastly expanded the Qing empire which they founded in 1644 to include most of Inner Asia: much of Mongolia, East Turkistan, and Tibet. The Manchus invaded East Turkistan in 1759 and dominated it until 1864. During this period the Uyghurs revolted 42 times against the Manchu rule with the purpose of regaining their independence. In the last revolt of 1864, the Uyghurs were successful in expelling the Manchus from their motherland, and founded an independent Kashgaria kingdom under the leadership of Yakub Beg. This kingdom was recognized by the Ottoman Empire, Tsarist Russia and Great Britain. But for fear of Tsarist expansion into Eastern Turkestan, Great Britain supported the Manchu court to conquer East Turkestan. The money for the Manchu invasion forces was granted by British banks.
Large forces under the overall command of General Zuo Zhong Tang attacked Eastern Turkestan in 1876. After this invasion, Eastern Turkestan was given the name Xinjiang or Sinkiang which means "New Dominion" or "New Territory" and it was annexed into the territory of the Manchu empire on 18 November 1884.
In 1911, the Nationalist Chinese, under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, overthrew Manchu rule and established a republic.
The Uyghurs, who also wanted to free themselves from foreign domination, staged several uprisings against the Nationalist Chinese rule during this period. Twice, in 1933 and 1944, the Uyghurs were successful in setting up an independent Islamic Eastern Turkestan republic. But these independent Islamic Republics were overthrown by the military intervention and political intrigues of the Soviet Union. It was in fact the Soviet Union that proved a deterrent to the Uyghur independence movement throughout this period.
In 1949 the Nationalist Chinese were defeated by the Chinese communists. After that, East Turkestan fell under Chinese rule.
Currently Turkic and Islamic cultural elements are dominant in the Tarim, which reflects a thousand years of Turkic rule in the region and resulted in the replacement of previous religious traditions by Islam. This has had an effect on modern politics because of a very long off-and-on political and military relationship with China. In the remote past in these regions, China ruled sporadically until the Battle of Talas in Tang dynasty. This history goes a long way to explain the troubled relationship with past and present Chinese institutions and with the dominant ethnic group in China, the Han Chinese.
'Uyghur' is widely credited as having been used for the first time in 1921 with the establishment of the Organization of Revolutionary Uyghur (Inqilawi Uyghur Itipaqi), a Communist nationalist group with intellectual and organizational ties to the Soviet Union. There is some evidence that Uyghur students and merchants living in Russia had already embraced the name prior this date, drawing on Russian studies that claimed a linkage between the historical khanate and Xinjiang's current inhabitants.
Official recognition of the Uyghurs came under the rule of Sheng Shicai who deviated from the official Kuomintang five races of China stance in favor of a Stalinist policy of delineating fourteen distinct ethnic nationalities in Xinjiang.
Separatism
Following 9/11, China stated its support to the United States of America in the war on terror and many human rights organizations are concerned that this is being used as a pretext to crack down on ethnic Uyghurs. The Chinese government has often called Uyghur nationalists terrorists, but have gotten more global support since 9/11. Most Uyghur exile groups today claim their cultural rights are being suppressed by the Chinese government and that the PRC responds to Uyghur expressions of their culture, religion or demands for independence with human rights violations. A large proportion of the Uyghur diaspora supports Pan-Turkic groups and there are several organizations such as the East Turkestan Party. The name Xinjiang (which means "new dominion" in Chinese) is considered offensive by many advocates of independence who prefer to use historical or ethnic names such as Chinese Turkestan, East Turkestan (with Turkestan sometimes spelled as Turkistan) or Uyghurstan.
Though most Uyghur separatists support peaceful, secular Uyghur nationalism, there are some radical Islamic militant groups (such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and East Turkestan Liberation Organization) vying for independence as well. This has caused much confusion with regard to names and belief of Uyghur political groups. Often the Chinese government refers generally to East Turkestan and to 'terrorists'
Executions, and imprisonment of Uyghur nationalists is not uncommon.<ref>China 'crushing Muslim Uighurs' BBC News Online, 2007-04-21. Retrieved 2007-04-21.</ref> On 9 February 2007 Ismail Semed was executed by the Peoples Republic of China for "attempting to split the motherland"<ref>http://www.rfa.org/english/news/breaking_news/2007/02/08/uyghur_execute/</ref>. In March 2006, Huseyin Celil, a Canadian Muslim religious leader was arrested and later convicted for “separatist activities” because of his alleged links to groups seeking independence for Xinjiang.
Culture
Toward the end of the 19th century and into the first decades of the 20th, scientific and archaeological expeditions to the region of Eastern Turkestan’s Silk Road discovered numerous cave temples, monastery ruins, wall paintings, as well as valuable miniatures, books and documents. Explorers from Europe, America and even Japan were amazed by the art treasures found there, and soon their reports caught the attention of an interested public around the world. These relics of the Uyghur culture constitute today major collections in the museums of Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo, St. Petersburg and New Delhi. The manuscripts and documents discovered in Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan) reveal the very high degree of civilization attained by the Uyghurs. This Uyghur power, prestige and civilization, which dominated the Central Asia for over a thousand years, went into a steep decline after the Manchu invasion of their homeland.
The local Uyghur people operate on "Xinjiang time", the time of the sun. The Han Chinese operate on "Beijing time", like the rest of the country. This can sometimes cause confusion when arranging meetings.
Literature
The Uyghurs are known as an educated people. They have worked in chancelleries and embassies of different states, and have been teachers, military officers, and ambassadors in Rome, Istanbul, and Baghdad, scholars in Tabriz. There are hundreds of famous Uyghur scholars and the Uyghur literature is vast. Some Uyghur books have been translated into different western languages. The Uyghurs had been printing their books for hundreds of years before Gutenberg invented his printing press. In the 11th century the Uyghurs accepted the Arabic alphabet.
Most of the early Uyghur literary works were translations of Buddhist and Manichean religious texts, but there were also narrative, poetic and epic works. Some of these have been translated into German, English, Russian and Turkish. After embracing Islam, the Uyghur continued to preserve their cultural dominance in Central Asia. World-renowned Uyghur scholars emerged, and Uyghur literature flourished. Among hundreds of important works surviving from that era are Qutatqu Bilik (Beneficial Lore) by Yusuf Balasaguni (Yüsüp Has Hajip) (1069-70), Mähmut Qäşqäri's Divan-i Lugat-it Türk- Turkic Languages Dictionary (1072), and Ähmät Yüknäki's Atabetul Hakayik.
Perhaps the most famous and well loved pieces of modern Uyghur literature are Abdurahim Otkur's Iz, Oyghanghan Zimin, and Zordun Sabir's Anayurt.
Holy Books
Aside from the Quran, Sufi verse, and a host of exegetical and legal texts of the Islamic tradition, all of which have long been the main religious texts in the Arabic, Persian, Chaghatai and Uyghur languages, foreign Christian missionaries have also worked to translate Christian texts into Uyghur. These activities can be seen at least as early as the beginning of the 20th century, when Swedish missionaries printed translations of the New Testament in Kashgar. In 2006 a translation of the Injil or New Testament was completed in both the Arabic and Cyrillic scripts. Along with the first two books of the Torah. Work is being done now on the Rest of the Mukaddes Kitap (Old Testament).
Medicine
The Uyghurs had an extensive knowledge of medicine and medical practice. Chinese Song Dynasty (906-960) sources indicate that a Uyghur physician named Nanto traveled to China and brought with him many kinds of medicine unknown to the Chinese. There were 103 different herbs for use in Uyghur medicine recorded in a medical compendium by Li Shizhen (1518-1593), a Chinese medical authority. Some scholars believe that acupuncture was originally a Uyghur discovery, not a Chinese discovery.<ref>Professor Rashid Rahmeti Arat, Zur Heilkunde der Uighuren (Medical Practices of the Uygurs), Berlin (1930 and 1932)</ref>
Traditional Uyghur medicine today is still found at street stands. Similar to other traditional Chinese medicine, diagnosis is usually made through checking the pulse, symptoms and disease history, and then the pharmacist pounds up different dried herbs, making personalized medicines according to the prescription. Some medicines are pre-made, but most are made on the street. Modern Uyghur medical hospitals not only adopted the Western medicine system, but also applied advanced western pharmaceutical technologies to purify and produce traditional medicine that is considered effective for a few chronic and rare diseases.
Art
The cave paintings at Bezeklik and Kizil.
Music
Uyghurs have over 62 different kinds of musical instruments; most Uyghur homes have a dutar. The 12 Muqam is perhaps the Uyghurs' most well known music. They Uyghur music has close ties with the Persian music
Orthography
Throughout the centuries, the Uyghurs have used the following scripts:
- Confederated with the Göktürks in the 6th and 7th centuries, they used the Orkhon script.
- In the 5th century, they adopted Sogdian italic script which became known as the Uyghur script. This script was used for almost 800 years, not only by the Uyghurs, but also by other Turkic peoples, by the Mongols, and by the Manchus in the early stage of their rule in China.
- After embracing Islam in the 10th century, the Uyghurs adopted the Arabic alphabet, and its use became common in the 11th century.
- During a short period of time (1969-1987), Uyghurs in China used a Latin script (yengi yazik).
- Today the Uyghurs of the former Soviet Union use Cyrillic, the Uyghurs of Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan) use a modified Arabic script, and the Uyghurs of Turkey use the Latin alphabet.
See also
- List of Uyghurs
- Uyghur language
- East Turkestan/Uyghurstan
- Kushan Empire
- Uyghur detainees in Guantanamo
- Uyghur timeline
References
- http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/chinethn.html
- Findley, Carter Vaughn. 2005. The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516770-8; 0-19-517726-6 (pbk.)
- Human Rights in China: China, Minority Exclusion, Marginalization and Rising Tensions, London, Minority Rights Group International, 2007
- Mackerras, Colin. Ed. and trans. 1972. The Uighur Empire according to the T'ang Dynastic Histories: a study in Sino-Uyghur relations 744–840. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-279-6
- Rall, Ted. "Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?" New York: NBM Publishing, 2006.
- Millward, James A. and Nabijan Tursun, "Political History and Strategies of Control, 1884–1978" in Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland (ISBN 0-7656-1318-2).
- Rudelson, Justin Ben-Adam, Oasis identities: Uyghur nationalism along China's Silk Road, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
External links
- Lost Nation: Stories from the Uyghur diaspora An introduction to the Uyghur Diaspora and links to resources
- Lost Nation: Stories from the Uyghur diaspora A documentary film in which five Uyghurs from five cities around the world tell their personal story of migration.
- The World Uyghur Congress
- Unintended Uiyghurs
- The “New T’ang History” (Hsin T’ang-shu) on the History of the Uighurs Translated and annotated by Colin Mackerras
- The Uyghur Human Rights Project
- The Uyghur American Association
- East Turkistan Information
- Introduction to Uyghur Culture and History Links to cultural and historical background, current news, research materials and photographs.
- East Turkestan Culture and Solidarity Association, Kayseri, Turkey Information website by Uyghur diaspora in living in Turkey
- The Uighurs Independent Tripod Site
- Uyghur News Site
Language
- Online UyghurWikipedia
- Online English-Uighur Dictionary
- An Uyghur-English Multiscript Dictionary
- UighurLanguage.com
- Online Uyghur-English Dictionary
- Uyghur Language Discussion Group
- English-Uyghur Online Dictionary
- Uyghur Email Groups
