The Uygur People

The vast majority of Uygurs live in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Officially founded by the Chinese government on October 1, 1955, it was previously known to Westerners as Chinese Turkestan, Eastern Turkestan, or Sinkiang. The region covers 635,800 square miles and compromises one-sixth of China's land area. It is bordered on the north by Russia and Kazakhstan, on the northeast by Mongolia, on the east by the Chinese provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, on the west by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and on the south by Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the Chinese province of Xizang (Tibet).

Xinjiang (meaning "New Dominion") was integrated into China proper around 1884 and officially became an autonomous region in 1955. The region contains a vast array of natural resources including oil, coal, iron ore and gold. Geologists believe it may contain more than 5.8 billion barrels of oil. Xinjiang is the sixth largest producer of cotton in China, and its per capita output (20 kgs in 1989) is China's highest. Xinjiang is famous for its wide variety of fruits, which it ships and sells throughout China.

Though the ethnic designation "Uygur" for this people group came into modern usage in the early 20th century, their beginnings reach back to the founding of a Uygur Empire on the Mongolian steppe in the 8th century. This empire was centered at Karabalghasun on the Orkhon River and lasted until 840 A.D. when the Kirghiz conquered it. The majority of Uygurs migrated westward where they settled in scattered oases surrounding the Tarim Basin.

The Uygurs were originally animists. Before they migrated to the Tarim Basin they had come in contact with Manichaeans and adopted their faith. While in the Tarim Basin they encountered Buddhism and many of them adopted this religion. Nestorian Christians had also established churches in this area by 631 A.D. and many Uygurs accepted this faith. Marco Polo reported in his travels through Kashgar in 1271 A.D. that several Nestorian churches still existed. The Uygurs of the western Tarim Basin oases began converting to Islam around 950 A.D. as a result of the Arab influences on the Turks around the Samarkand and Bukhara areas. It was not until the 15th century that the Uygurs of the eastern Tarim Basin (Turpan and Hami) converted wholeheartedly to Islam.

Between the tenth and eighteenth centuries, the Chaghatai Mongols ruled the Xinjiang area and many Uygurs became administrators and scribes. In 1754 the Qing Dynasty forces defeated the Mongol overlords and in 1884 Xinjiang was declared a province of China. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1910 a Uighur republic of East Turkestan was briefly set up around the Ili area. This was crushed by the Communist forces in 1949 and led to the present state of Xinjiang's incorporation into the People's Republic of China.

Primarily, the Uygurs are identified by the language they speak and the area from which their ancestors came. The strong identity that the Uygurs have today is a relatively recent phenomenon. As pointed out, there was a time in their history when they adhered to several faiths, including Christianity. Up until the 1930s, the people of Xinjiang had been identified with the name of the town where they lived; the only over-arching ethnic designation used for them was "Turki" or "Turkistani." The USSR revived the name "Uygur" to designate those emigrants from the Tarim Basin who did not fit under other catagories (e.g. Kazak, Kirgiz, and Uzbek).

Several distinguishing factors have helped to solidify the common identity of those called Uygurs. These include their common Islamic heritage, their strong attachment to the land (as opposed to the nomadic Kazak and Kirgiz) and their Turkic features-specifically their Turkic dialect. The Uygurs of today are quick to identify themselves as Muslims-and to be Uygur, in general, is to be a Muslim. This religious tradition has become an integral part of the Uygur culture. An important part of this tradition is that they do not eat or cook anything related to pork.

The Uygurs of Xinjiang have kept a strong cultural tradition despite the many years of Chinese (and Soviet) influence. Most Uygurs will never eat in a Chinese restaurant or home because those homes have been contaminated with pork. For this reason, at schools where Uygurs and Chinese attend, there are separate cafeterias (and usually dormitories). Uygur literature, music and dance traditions remain strong as well as their traditional religious ceremonies and festivals such as circumcisions, weddings, funerals and holidays. Even though many of the northern Uygurs are nominal and break many of the religious observances (such as Ramadan and the alcohol prohibition), these cultural traditions serve to strongly unite them.

The Uygur language is classified along with Uzbek as belonging to the Karluk division of the Turkic branch of the Uralo-Altaic language family. Farsi has had a great influence on modern Uygur and it is estimated that 30 per cent of Uygur's vocabulary comes directly from Farsi. Historically, there have been two dialects of Uygur: the northern and southern.

Since the 11th century Uygurs have used the Arabic script, though the Chinese unsuccessfully attempted to impose a Latin-based script. Beginning in 1980, the Chinese permitted Uygurs to use a modified Arabic script, which was even further modified in 1987 and is in widespread use today. There is, therefore, considerable difference between the Uygur script of the early 20th century and the one is use today.

The Chinese government has several reasons to be on its guard concerning Xinjiang and the Uygur population. Xinjiang has historically been a strategic border area-China's western buffer zone-and has been heatedly contested for by the Russian and British Indian empires. Another reason for Chinese attention to Xinjiang is that the indigenous population has never taken kindly to the increasingly large Chinese presence and has several times openly rebelled. There have been armed revolts by Uygurs around Kashgar in recent times, the latest incident occurring in April 1990.

Though Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region governed by leaders drawn from its own people, the Chinese Communist Party continues to keep a tight and centralized rein on its day-to-day life. The "Law of Regional Autonomy for Minority Nationalities" does give the Uygurs the right to use their native language, develop their own culture, educate their children in their native language and practice their own religion. Though Uygur students can gain entrance into a university through exams in their own language, they must spend their first year studying Chinese, putting them a year behind both Chinese students and those Uygurs whose parents elected for their children to be educated in Chinese from the beginning.

The Uygurs are a colorful people. Men in most villages wear bright, embroidered skullcaps (doppa) and women wear brightly colored scarves and dresses, often made out of uniquely patterned silk material with as many as fifty colors and motifs. Though Muslim, most women do not wear veils and do not dress as conservatively as their Middle Eastern Muslim counterparts. In a big southern city like Kashgar, one will see women with veiled heads, though this veil is often lifted from their face. Most Uygurs wear clothes resembling Western dress though there has also been much Chinese influence.

Uygurs are relatively tall (compared to Chinese and East Asians) and have Caucasian features: brown or black hair, hazel eyes, aquiline noses and light skin. Young men are clean-shaven; older men have moustaches and beards. The Uygurs are great meat eaters and love to cook and consume fatty foods. Every conceivable part of a sheep is consumed-boiled lungs and intestines are delicacies. They also enjoy boiled flour noodles with a meat and vegetable topping and a raisin and carrot rice pilaf. Bazaars are full of vendors selling mutton kebabs and flat round bread called nan. Their food, in general, is liberally spiced and accompanied by garlic and onions. Hot tea, served in bowls with crystallized sugar lumps or cubes, is drunk in great quantities.

Important Uygur celebrations include circumcisions and weddings. These call for elaborate parties with several hundreds of people invited. Snacks, drinks and a prepared meal is provided for each guest while traditional Uygur music is played live or blared over a sound system. Following any formal presentations or announcements, the dancing begins and continues on late into the night. Alcohol is generally consumed in great quantities throughout these festivities despite the Islamic prohibition.

Uygurs are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. They began to convert to Islam in the 10th century though the process was not complete until sometime in the 15th. Tradition says that the first Uygurs, from Kashgar, became Muslims under the leadership of Sultan Sutuq Bughrakhan in 950 A.D. Arab Muslim armies had been in the area since the beginning of the 8th century and it was their influence in the Turkic strongholds of Samarkand and Bukhara that eventually brought Islam further eastward into the Tarim Basin.

Over the past few centuries, Islam has been thoroughly worked into the fabric of Uygur culture. Being born a Uygur means being a Muslim, and children are taught from an early age about their religious heritage. Today there are over 15,000 mosques open throughout Xinjiang. A theological training school in the capital city of Urumqi opened in 1987 and has some 60 candidates for the position of Islamic clergy (mullah). The southern half of Xinjiang remains a stronghold of Islam among the Uygurs for it has not been overwhelmed with Chinese as has the northern half of the province.

Kashgar and its Id Kah mosque remain the Uygur religious and cultural center. On traditional Islamic feast days thousands gather at the mosque and spill out to completely fill the city's center square. Mosques are frequented, Islamic education is available and religious observances in general are adhered to within these communities. Islamic literature is quite visible and families tend to be very conservative.

The religious climate in the northern part of the region, especially in the large urban center of Urumqi, is less conservative. Uygurs here are typically nominal, and many of the young educated people have little interest in Islam and never attend the mosque (except possibly for a marriage blessing). The young people have been influenced by the materialistic Chinese perspective and believe that science means progress. They are interested in a good education and job so they can purchase amenities, which are becoming increasingly more available and affordable. For many, the Islamic holidays and festivals mean good food and drink as well as a chance to dance and meet other young people. They do not put much hope in religion, but neither do they see much that is desirable in the Chinese perspective of life. The Uygur people are one of the most unreached people groups in the world. Of the 100 least evangelized people groups in the world, the Uygur stand at number 58, though only one people group in the list has a greater total population.