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Uyghurs

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.66.174.4 (talk) at 17:52, 4 December 2006 (→‎Recommendation for the English transcription of the word “ ئۇيغۇر ” /《维吾尔》). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Uyghur (also spelled Uighur; Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; simplified Chinese: 维吾尔; traditional Chinese: 維吾爾; pinyin: Wéiwú'ěr) are one of China's 56 officially recognized nationalities, consisting of 8.4 million people according to the 2000 census. Throughout the history of Central Asia, they left a lasting imprint on both the culture and tradition. Today in China, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known by its controversial term Eastern Turkestan). There are also existing Uyghur communities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Turkey and a smaller one in Taoyuan County of Hunan province in South-central China. Uyghur neighborhoods can also be found in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Uyghur
(ئۇيغۇر)

Uyghur woman in Hotan
Regions with significant populations
China / Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Turkey, Russia
Languages
Uyghur
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Uzbeks, other Turkic peoples

Uyghur was originally written with the Orkhon alphabet, a runiform script derived from or inspired by the Sogdian script, which was ultimately derived from the Aramaic script.

Identity

 
Map of the Western (purple) and Eastern (blue) Göktürk khaganates at their height, c. AD 600. Lighter areas show direct rule; darker areas show spheres of influence.

Historically the term "Uyghur" (meaning "united" or "allied") was applied to a group of Turkic-speaking tribes that lived in what was Mongolia. Along with the so-called Kokturks (also known as Göktürks) the Uyghurs were one of the largest and most enduring Turkic peoples living in Central Asia. According to the Book of Sui (c. 600 AD) volume 84, the Uygurs originated from the Tiele 鐵勒 (Türük) tribes who were in turn descendants of the Huns 匈奴. Tiele was a generic name for the dozens of tribal states across the northern belt of today's western China or East Turkestan. 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.[1] Groups such as Xueyantuo(Syr-Tardush), Basmil (Baximi), Oguz (Wuhu), Uyghur (Weihu), and the northern most Yakut (Guligan) from the Lake Baikal are Tiele tribes. The forebear of the Tiele belonged to those of Huns (Xiongnu) descendants. The Uyghurs existed as a tribal federation ruled by the Juan Juan from 460–545, and then by the Hephthalites from 541–565 before participating the Göktürk empire (Khaganate). At the time of the Northern Wei period (386-534), the Uighur tribe was part of the Gaoche tribe which belonged to the Turkic Tiele grouping. The origin of Gaoche can be traced back to the Chidi and Dingling (Ting-ling) in the third century B.C.[2] Chinese sources of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) called the Turkic-speaking tribes Dingling.[3]

The Chinese compiler of the Tang history Jiu Tangshu [The Old History of the Tang Dynasty] (the 10th century) referred to the Uyghur as Huihe and described them as descendents of the Xiongnu (the Huns).[4] The officers of Huihe served the Tujue (突厥)(the Göktürks).Tang historians also noted that the Huihe were dependents of the Gaoche .Gaoche literally means “high-wheel cart”, and refers to the fact that the people of that tribe used to ride on high-wheel carts.[5]

During the 8th century under Kutluk Bilge Kul Khagan's leadership,they replaced the Göktürks empire by establishing UyghurKhaganate (empire).By changing the ruling tribe, The Uyghur tribe took over the empire's leadership position from rival turkic tribes. Their ethnonym Huihu is the origin of the term Huíhuí (回回) that came to be used for Muslim in Chinese and is now used for the Hui minority in China.

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 often refer to the region as East Turkestan.

Official Recommendation for the English transcription of the word “ئۇيغۇر ” /《维吾尔》

The constant advances of the reform and opening policy and the growing trade and telecommunications exchanges between people in all sectors and the outside world, as well as increased activities in publication, news reporting and international affairs have for some time renewed the need for a uniform and normalized ethnonym for the major nationality of Xinjiang, known in its own language as [ujγur].

At present, there is utter confusion on how to render and use in English the name of that nationality, with no fewer than seven different spellings attested: Uyghur, Uygur, Uighur, Uighuir, Uiguir, Uigur and Weiwuer. This situation causes a number of problems in our work and daily lives. Therefore, the Terminology Normalization Committee for Ethnic Languages of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region based on research and consultations with relevant experts on this issue recommends that the spelling Uyghur, corresponding to the pronunciation [ujγur], be used as the English transcription of the word.

Government organizations and individuals are invited to conform to the present notice.


The Terminology Normalization Committee for Ethnic Languages of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region


October 11, 2006 Ref: http://www.xjyw.gov.cn/han/YWGZDT/wwesiyingwenzhuanxie.htm

History

Before the Uyghur Empire was founded the steppe from Mongolia to Central Asia was ruled by the Turkic Empire. The first Turkic Empire was destroyed by Emperor Li Shi-min of the Tang Dynasty and the second Turkic Empire was rebuilt during the reign of Empress Wu. At the time the Uyghur was a subject tribe under the Turks. In 744 the Uyghur, together with other subject tribes (the Basmil and Kharlukh), defeated the Turkic Empire and its allies and founded the Uyghur Empire at Ötüken. Their empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to Manchuria and lasted from 745 to 840. It was administered from the imperial capital Ordu Baliq.

In 840, following a famine and a civil war, they were 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 north western China, especially modern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region.

Joined by other Turkic tribal groups living in Zungaria and the Tarim Basin, they established the Karakhoja kingdom that lasted until 1209 when they submitted to the Mongols under Genghis Khan. Others, occupying the western Tarim Basin (Kashgariya) and parts of Kazakhstan bordering the Muslim Turco-Tajik Sultanate, converted to Islam before the 11th century and built a federation with Muslim institutions, whose princely dynasties are called Kara-Khanid Khanate by historians. The Karakhoja(Idiqut) Uyghurs, whose empire shared a border with Karakhanids, were Buddhist. As of 999-1000, The Karakhanids' capital was in Balasagun. Together with the Samanids of Samarkand they considered themselves the defenders of Islam against the Buddhist Uyghur Karakhoja Kingdom of Turpan and Qumul and the Buddhist Scythian-Tocharian kingdom of Khotan.

After the rise of the Seljuk Turks in Iran the Kara-Khanids ('black khans dynasty') became nominal vassals of the Seljuks. Later they would serve the dual-suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans to the north and the Seljuks to the south.

In his, now dated, book Empire Of The Steppes René Grousset reports that the Uyghurs took up a settled agricultural lifestyle in the Tarim. They had an opportunity to resume nomadism after the Kirghiz were driven out of Mongolia by other tribes but the Uyghurs chose not to do so.

 
Map of the Uyghur Khaganate and areas under its dominion (in yellow) at its height, c. AD 820.
 
Wall painting of Uyghur Princes, from the Bezeklik caves

A small number of Uyghurs also migrated to what is now the Gansu province in China, around the late 9th century, 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 and are distinct from modern Uyghurs.

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 included Manichaeans, Buddhists and even some Nestorian Christians. Some Uighur scholars claim descent from both the Turkic Uyghurs and the pre-Turkic Tocharians (or Tokharians, whose language was Indo-European). It is probable that, genetically and culturally, modern Uyghurs descend from the nomadic Turkic tribes, many Indo-European-speaking groups who preceded them in the Tarim Basin oasis-cities as well as Mongols 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[6] and Y chromosome[7] lineages.

Currently Turkic and Islamic cultural elements are dominant in the Tarim, which reflects Thousand years of Turkic rule in 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 relationship—politically, militarily with China. Sporadic Chinese rule was, in the remote past in these regions, until 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.

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.

'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.

Uyghurs today

 
The "Kokbayraq" flag. This flag is used by Uyghurs as a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement. The Chinese government prohibits using the flag in the country.

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. 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 organisations such as the East Turkestan Party. The name Xinjiang 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 to general East Turkestan to refer to terrorists.

Uyghur civilization

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 were capturing attention of an interested public around the world. These relics of the Uighur culture constitute today major collections in the museums of Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo, Leningrad (St-Petersburg) and the Museum of Central Asian Antiquities in New Delhi. The manuscripts and documents discovered in Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan) reveal very high degree of civilization attained by the Uyghurs.

Throughout the centuries the Uyghurs used the following scripts:

  1. Confederated with the Göktürks in the 6th and 7th centuries, they used the Orkhon script.
  2. In the 5th century they adopted Sogdian italic script which became known as the Uighur script. This script was used for almost 800 years not only by the Uighurs, but also by other Turkic peoples, the Mongols, and by the Manchus in the early stage of their rule in China.
  3. After embracing Islam in the 10th century the Uyghurs adopted the Arabic alphabet, and its use became common in the 11th century.
  4. The Uyghurs of the former Soviet Union use Cyrillic.
  5. The Uyghurs of Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan) use the Arabic and Latin alphabets and the Uyghurs of Turkey use the Latin alphabet.

Most of the early Uyghur literary works were represented by translations of Buddhist and Manichean religious texts, but there were also narrative, poetic and epic works. Some of these were translated into German, English, Russian and Turkish.

After embracing Islam the Uighurs continued to preserve their cultural dominance in Central Asia. World-renowned Uighur scholars emerged, and Uighur literature flourished. Among hundreds of important works surviving from that era are "Qutatqu Bilik"(Beneficial Lore) by Yusuf Balasaguni (Yüsüp Has Hajip) (1069-70), Kashgarli Mehmud's(Mähmut Qäşqäri's) "Divan-i Lugat-it Türk"Turkish Language Dictionary, and Ähmät Yüknäki's "Atabetul Hakayik".

The Uyghurs had an extensive knowledge of medicine and medical practice. Chinese Song Dynasty (906-960) sources indicate that a Uyghur physician Nanto traveled to China and brought with him many kinds of medicine not known to the Chinese. There are 103 different herbs for use in the Uyghur medicine recorded in a medical compendium by Li Shizhen (1518-1593), a Chinese medical authority. Tartar scholar, professor Rashid Rahmeti Arat in Zur Heilkunde der Uighuren (Medical Practices of the Uighurs) published in 1930 and 1932, in Berlin, discussed the Uighur medicine. Relying on a sketch of a man with an explanation of acupuncture, he and some Western scholars suspect that acupuncture was not a Chinese, but a Uighur discovery. The Uyghurs are known as educated people, they worked in chanceries and embassies of different states, and they were teachers, military officers, and ambassadors in Rome, Istanbul, and Bagdad, scholars in Tebriz. 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 years before Gutenberg invented his printing press. In the 11th century the Uyghurs accepted the Arabic alphabet.

This Uyghur power, prestige and civilization, which dominated the Central Asia for over a thousand years, went into a steep decline since the Manchu invasion to their homeland.

Famous scholar's Statement about Uyghur people

Kashgarli Mehmud: (Kashgarli Mehmud:, Turkish language dictionary, 11th century) Uyghurs are the best among Turks. Their language is called Hakaniye Turkchesi (King's Turkish).

Albert Gruenwedel: (Along the Ancient Silk Routes: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York April 3 - June 20, 1982) "Turfan(Turpan) is without doubt a forgotten Asian city of extraordinary interest. The size of it is remarkable: the inner, holy city, consisting only of temples and palace, measures 7,400 feet at the widest point of the still extant walls. Hundreds of terraced temples and grandiose vaulted edifices cover an extensive area of lane."

Fredinnad de Sassure: "Those who preserved the language and written culture of Central Asia were the Uyghurs."

Albert von Lecoq: (Shuyl Unver, Medicine in Uyghurs, Istanbul 1936. pp. 4,5,6.) "The Uyghur language and script contributed to the enrichment of civilizations of the other peoples in Central Asia. Compared to the Europeans of that time, the Uyghurs were far more advanced. Documents discovered in Uyghur Region prove that an Uigur farmer could write down a contract, using legal terminology. How many European farmers could have done that at that period ? This shows the extent of Uyghur civilization of that time."

Lazlo Rasonyi: (Lazlo Rasonyi, Turkic in History, Ankara 1971, pp. 105, 107) "The Uyghurs knew how to print books centuries before Guetenberg invented his press."

Wolfram Eberhard: (Wolfram Eberhard, History of China, Istanbul 1947, p. 116) "In Middle Ages, the Chinese poetry, literature, theater, music and painting were greatly influenced by the Uyghurs."

G. Sadvakasov, (Brief History of Uyghur Litarature , Almaty, 1983, p. 7.) Russian scholar Pantusov writes that the Uyghurs manufactured their own musical instruments; they had 62 different kinds of musical instruments and in every Uyghur home there used to be an instrument called a "dutar".

Wang Yen De, the Chinese ambassador in the Karakhoja Uyghur Kingdom in 981-984, wrote the following in his memoirs:

I was impressed with the extensive civilization I have found in the Uyghur Kingdom. The beauty of the temples, monasteries, wall paintings, statues, towers, gardens, housings and the palaces built throughout the kingdom cannot be described. The Uyghurs skilfully make things of silver and gold, vases and pitchers. Some say that God has infused this talent into these people only.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Li Tang “A History of Uighur Religious Conversions (5th - 16th Centuries)” ARI Working Paper, No. 44, June 2005, http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/docs/wps/wps05_044.pdf.
  2. ^ Peter Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992): 94.
  3. ^ Sima Qian, Shiji [Records of the Historian] Vol. 110: Xiongnu; and Ban Gu, Han Shu [History of the Han Dynasty], Vol. 94: Xiongnu.
  4. ^ Jiu Tangshu, Vol. 206: Huigu.
  5. ^ Weishu Vol.130: Gaoche.
  6. ^ http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/21/12/2265.pdf
  7. ^ http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/98/18/10244

References

  • Findley, Carter Vaughn. 2005. The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516770-8; 0-19-517726-6 (pbk.)
  • 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

Language

Guantanamo Uyghur FOIA Documents

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