Uyghur

Hilda Eitzen

Uigur, Uighur, Uygur

In Xinjiang, the Uyghur live primarily in the districts of Hotan, Kashgar, Turpan, Aksu, and Korla, where they occupy oasis land at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert and Tarim Basin. Xinjiang is comprised of two large basins, the Junggar Basin in the north and the larger Tarim Basin in the south. The basins are divided by the massive Tian Shan mountain range. Surrounding the basins are the Karakoram and Kunlun mountain ranges in the south, separating Xinjiang from Kashmir and Tibet, and the Altai mountains in the north, separating the province from Mongolia. Over 300 rivers flow from the mountains into the basins, some forming lakes, and others disappearing in the deserts lying at the center of each basin (the Gurbantünggüt Desert in the Junggar basin and the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin). The region enjoys a continental climate of cold winters and hot summers with the Tarim Basin drier (100-250 mm per year) than the Junggar Basin and the latter colder in winter and spring. Average temperatures are -20° C in winter and 33° C in summer. The region is marked by strong sunshine, large swings between daytime and night-time temperatures, and frequent sandstorms.

The Uyghur are a distinct Central Asian ethnic group of China and the former Soviet Union. Unlike larger Central Asian nationalities (such as Uzbek, Kazakh, or Kyrgyz), they are not identified with an autonomous republic. In 1921 the Uyghur were officially recognized as a Soviet nationality during the All-Uyghur Congress in Tashkent. There is an official Uyghur district in the Almaty Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The largest number of Uyghur live in China's largest province, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where they comprise the largest national minority group among the forty-six living there. “Xinjiang” or “new territory” was the name given to the region by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) after completing their conquest of the region in the nineteenth century.

In Central Asia, the Uyghur reside in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, with a smaller number in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The Uyghur inhabit two main areas of these Central Asian republics: the Almaty Region of southeastern Kazakhstan; and the Fergana Valley area of eastern Uzbekistan, surrounded on three sides by Kyrgyzstan. These areas exhibit a great range of microclimatic variation. In Almaty, sandy deserts to the north and northwest are interspersed with meadows and lush forests along the Ili River. Southeastern foothills give way to hardwood forests, then spruce forests and alpine meadows along the Dzungarian Alatau and the northern slopes of the Tian Shan mountain ranges. In the Fergana area, landscapes vary from desert and oasis to foothills and high mountains with glaciers. Climate tends toward dry and continental, and temperatures vary according to elevation.

In 2010, there were 282,016 Uyghur (up from 173,276 in 1970) living in Central Asia. Most Uyghur live in China, where they comprise over two-fifths of the population of Xinjiang and, with a nationwide population of just over 10,001,000 (2010 census), they are that country’s largest minority.

In earlier decades (1925 to 1959), the Uyghur population in Central Asia actually declined (108,570 to 95,208). This phenomenon resulted from the assimilation of many Uyghur in Uzbekistan into the Uzbek nationality, an ethnic group with a similar language and culture. Although the majority of the Uyghur population lived in rural villages, over 50,000 resided in urban areas: Almaty, 29,618; Frunze, 11,548; and Tashkent, 9,353 (1970 figures). In 2010, 223,100 Uyghur resided in Kazakhstan and 55,220 in Uzbekistan, with smaller enclaves of a few thousand living in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The Uyghur language has been classified as belonging to the Southeastern or Eastern (“Turki”) Subgroup of Turkic languages. The northern dialect has come to represent the official Soviet Uyghur language. The transliteration of Uyghur was changed from modified Arabic script to Romanization in 1928, but as of 1947, Soviet Uyghur was written in Cyrillic. The Chinese government has adopted the Romanized pinyin script for Xinjiang Uyghurs.

The Uyghur were an ancient confederation of Turkic tribes that united in the sixth century (“Uyghur” means “union”), establishing a khanate south of Lake Baikal (Mongolia) in AD 740. It maintained political and military alliances with the Tang dynasty in neighboring China. Trade and marital relations were forged as well, with Uyghur princesses often marrying Chinese rulers. In 840 the Uyghur Kingdom was conquered by the Kyrghyz, another Turkic group. Subsequently, the original Uyghur population dispersed south and west, often mixing with local populations. One group of Uyghur likely was absorbed into the Chinese Empire; another migrated south, becoming directly antecedent to the Yugur (Yellow Uyghur) of China's Gansu Province.

In the early thirteenth century, the Buddhist Uyghur Kingdom to the north voluntarily submitted to Chinggis (Genghis) Khan's rule. Uyghur administrators, advisers, and accountants became influential in the Mongol Empire. During the Chagatai Khanate ruled by Chinggis' offspring (mid-thirteenth century), the entire Tarim Basin area became united and absorbed under the Islamic aegis. The Uyghur name (but not the script or language) virtually disappeared for approximately 500 years. Inhabitants of this oasis region, now known as China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (formerly Eastern Turkistan), referred to themselves by local or regional affiliation: “Turfanlik” (person of Turfan), “Kashgarlik,” “Aqsulik,” “Yarkandlik,” and “Khotanlik,” among others. Alternately, they were known by occupation: “Taranchi” (farmer) or “Sart” (merchant). Starting in the 1600s the Chinese Empire progressively established control of Eastern Turkistan during the Qing (Manchu) dynasty. During rebellions against the Qing in the 1860s, several independent khanates were briefly formed. In 1881 the czarist government annexed the Ili region along the Sino-Russian border from the weakened Qing government. A decade later, when the Ili region was returned to China, thousands of inhabitants of Eastern Turkistan migrated across the Russian border. The czarist government offered them citizenship, land, and a ten-year exemption from taxes. In 1921, during the establishment of the multinational Soviet state, the Uyghur name was revived to unite Kashgarlik, Taranchi, and other groups into a single ethnic identity.

Many Uyghur migrated southwest to oasis regions north of the Tarim Basin. Near Turfan and Kucha they reestablished a kingdom increasingly based on agriculture and trade. Even as Uyghur political power declined, art, music, and religion flourished. The Uyghur established a new script based on the Sogdian writing system (an old Iranian dialect). Buddhism was adopted, along with Nestorian Christianity and Zoroastrianism, but the original state religion of Manicheanism was maintained.

Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, for both strategic and economic reasons the central government has assumed control of the region’s development. The government encouraged Han immigration such that by the end of the twentieth century the Han population was nearly on par with the Uyghur. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has also had a large presence in the region, guarding the international border and developing its abundant natural resources. The strong Han presence has marginalized the Uyghur culturally, politically and economically, resulting in the rise of nationalist movements.

Some Turkic groups, among them possibly Uyghur, settled among the indigenous Iranian population in the Kashgar oasis region, southwest of the Tarim Basin. This area became absorbed into the Islamized Karakhanid domain during the tenth to thirteenth centuries. Kashgar became an important Islamic center of learning, influenced by Arabic and Persian civilizations.

In Kazakhstan, the Uyghur have settled an area that forms an almost uninterrupted belt in the Almaty Region. In Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Uyghur live in scattered areas interspersed among indigenous populations. During the Soviet period, Uyghur kolkhoz (agricultural collective) settlements, often several hundred farmsteads, tended to cluster together according to original Uyghur residence patterns, and quarters or villages were modeled after former settlements in China's Xinjiang Province. Although original village boundaries were retained, former Uyghur kolkhozy have been internally restructured. Formerly, mosques and bazaars dominated the center of town or village. Now administrative buildings, along with farmsteads, clubs, agricultural stores, schools, and other cultural establishments line the streets. In Xinjiang, millennium-old oasis settlements along the rivers and lakes of the great basins each have their own separate identity and polity.

The Uyghur traditionally were pastoralists, although the economy had diversified by the tenth century. Some Uyghur were oasis farmers. They developed extensive irrigation systems to facilitate growing grains, cotton, fruits, and melons. During czarist and early Soviet periods the Uyghur played a key role in advancing both agriculture and urbanization in formerly nomadic areas of Kazakhstan. The Uyghur engage in irrigated agriculture in desert regions and dry agriculture in the uplands. Crops include a great variety of grain and produce. In Uzbekistan, cotton has come to dominate much of the local economy, whereas in Kazakhstan animal husbandry has become a key element in the Uyghur economy. Uyghur meals were traditionally spread on the cloth laden with fruit, sweets, nuts, and breads, a repast particularly associated with festive occasions. This was followed by lamb and beef dishes, including pilaf. Xinjiang’s major food crops are wheat, maize and rice. A variety of vegetables is also grown. Many Uyghur are employed in growing cotton. Eighty-four percent of Uyghurs in 1982 were engaged in agriculture and husbandry. Although the Uyghur are heavily involved in manufacturing, mining, oil drilling, trading, and transportation, their pastoralist heritage remains evident in their diet; all meals must contain meat (particularly mutton) to be considered proper meals, and dairy products are consumed daily.

Traditional Uyghur crafts are the legacy of medieval guilds in Central Asia, in which specialists in various applied arts were trained. In the late 1800s, artisans migrating to Russia settled in towns and urban areas such as Panfilov (Kazakhstan) or Andijan and Osh (Fergana Valley). Tailors, hatmakers, cobblers, blacksmiths, jewelers, bakers, and barbers set up workshops quartered in the bazaars. Under the Soviet government, Uyghur artisans of urban areas were united into trade cartels that became the basis for local industry. With the development of light industry, certain crafts and trades (e.g., silk manufacture) diminished in importance. Garments of tie-dyed etles silk, a fashion traditionally popular among both Uyghur and Uzbek women, continue to be produced and sold at state-run stores, but such products are often inferior to traditional handicrafts and goods marketed by local cooperatives.

In addition to developing agriculture, the early Uyghur and other Central Asian peoples became merchants along the Silk Road, which linked Byzantium and Persia to China. Trade continues on a much smaller scale. Although bazaars no longer dominate town centers, as in pre-Soviet days, local open-air markets nevertheless do a flourishing business. In Almaty, periodic trade fairs feature Uyghur crafts, snacks, and musical performances under pastel-colored tents inspired by Kazakh yurts. Their country lying on the famous silk route, Uyghur men have been heavily involved in long-distance trade throughout China, with Uyghur communities found in most major urban areas.

Traditionally, many crafts and trades were monopolized by males, but females engaged in specific industries such as embroidery, making patterned felt, and weaving rugs. In more solidly Islamic Uzbekistan women are surrounded by traditional role models of female propriety, whereas in Kazakhstan Uyghur women are often encouraged to pursue higher education and white-collar jobs.

In oasis areas, water rather than land was traditionally subject to inheritance. After Uyghurs migrated to Russia, until collectivization systems of land tenure and water rights were subject to a great deal of flux. In China, collectivization imposed a feudalistic grip on the peasants. In the reform period that started in the 1980s, peasants were free to hire labor, access land other than that allocated by the collective, and engage in non-agricultural activities. However the state is still very much involved in household agriculture production stipulating which crops, seed varieties, pesticides and farm equipment to be utilized.

As in other Central Asian family systems influenced by Islam, the patrilineal principle of kinship has prevailed. Although polygamy traditionally did occur, monogamy prevailed. Unlike some other groups that follow old Turkic prohibitions against marriage to close kin, Uyghur have often favored vicinal marriage or village endogamy. Among the Uyghur of Uzbekistan, however, a divergent trend of out-marriage to Uzbeks has occurred.

Within the extended family, relationships are often categorized according to relative age group. For instance, older brother (aka) is distinguished from younger brother (uka) and elder sister (aqa) from younger sister (singil). Certain relatives are given terms of respect and endearment in addition to more formal titles: aunt (apa) and uncle (togha) are also called “little mother” (kichik apa) and “little father” (kichik dada).

Soviet attempts to secularize wedding ceremonies evolved into celebrations combining official state ceremony with traditional celebration (music, dance, and feasting).

Older-style farmhouses in the former farming collectives often accommodated extended families, including sons and their wives, who lived in adjoining units around a courtyard. Contemporary apartments with several rooms frequently house a nuclear family, although relatives often live nearby.

Before collectivization, property was equally divided among the sons.

Deference and respect are paid according to relative age-rank in the family. Female roles were made uncertain by often conflicting influences of Islam (traditionally favoring the isolation of women) and Soviet policy.

Unlike Central Asian nomadic and seminomadic groups, the Uyghur have lost all sense of tribal and clan association. Social organization and identity among the former Soviet Uyghur differ according to regional ties (and, to some extent, class affiliation). The northern Uyghur of the Almaty Region of Khazakhstan retain a stronger sense of Uyghur identity. Intellectuals of this region have promoted ethnic unity with the Uyghur across the Chinese border. On the other hand, the southern Uyghur often identify with a Muslim, Turkic, or Turkistani social group rather than a specifically Uyghur one. Such social ties relate to residence patterns, as well as to past affiliations. Whereas southern Uyghur have been assimilated to a large extent by the Uzbeks, northern Uyghur, living in more isolated groups near the Chinese border, retain a stronger sense of ethnic identity. Such divergence may be influenced by older cleavages as well: southern Uyghur were more completely integrated under the Islamic aegis, whereas northern Uyghur retained a separate identity (though closely linked to the Chinese and Mongol empires) for a longer period.

Although the Uyghur are not identified with a national territory (except for Uyghur District, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Xinjiang, China), several official institutions demonstrate evidence of Uyghur autonomy. A Uyghur linguistic department (1949) and Uyghur institute (1969) were established in the Kazakh Academy of Sciences. The Institute for Uyghur Studies was established in Almaty in 1980 as a separate entity. The Uyghur are the only non-titular nationality group in Kazakhstan to be granted a special language school.

The evolution of the Uyghur nationality in the former Soviet Union followed two alternate and sometimes contradictory trajectories, which were promoted at various periods by Soviet policy: merging (sblizhenie, i.e. Russification) and fragmentation. Assimilation among Central Asian groups, as with the Uyghur with Uzbeks, may precipitate pan-Islamicism or pan-Turkism. Alternately, promoting distinct nationalities, while allowing for a “divide-and-rule” program, may engender ethnic separatism or interethnic conflict.

Under the Soviet system the influence of Sharia (Islamic law) and customary law courts were gradually undercut and replaced by Soviet courts. An unofficial system of community coercion operates to sanction social and religious activity, such as persuading young people to participate in Islamic rituals.

Twentieth-century Uyghur history is fraught with border conflict between the Soviet and Chinese governments. During the period of economic and political turmoil of the Chinese Communist “Great Leap Forward” in the late 1950s and early 1960s, thousands of Uyghur fled to the Soviet Union. As Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated in the 1960s, propaganda wars raged on both sides of the border, each attempting to discredit the other's policies while wooing Uyghur and Kazakhs. During uprisings among Soviet Islamic groups in the 1980s-1990s, the Chinese government became increasingly concerned about their influence on its own Uyghur and other Turkic ethnic groups. Thus, the Uyghur minority, despite its small size, remains an important consideration, as the former Soviet republics and China carve out policies with respect to ethnic protest and religious or political conflict. The degree of disaffection among Uyghur and related Turkic or Islamic groups will also be influenced, to some extent, by the policies of Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Turkey and their relation to the former Soviet Central Asian republics. The Uyghur Institute in Almaty is involved in researching moral and political questions that play into conflict within the Middle East as well as the Soviet Union. While eschewing Islamic fundamentalism, it advocates the development of Islamic religious principles among the Uyghur.

Although Manicheanism was practiced by the elite for several centuries, other religions persisted and prevailed among the Uyghur. Shamanism, a religion that calls upon spirits of nature for healing and divine intervention, continued to hold sway among the populace. By the time the Uyghur Kingdom was reestablished in the Turfan oasis region to the southwest, Buddhism had eclipsed Manicheanism as the state religion.

Several religious traditions influenced the emerging Uyghur Kingdom. Buddhism was introduced into Central Asia during the first century BC. In the following centuries, Zoroastrianism, an Indo-Iranian religion, and Nestorianism, a Gnostic sect of Christianity, spread throughout much of Central Asia. Such religions coexisted in the region for centuries. Manicheanism was adopted as the official state religion of the Uyghur in 762. The Manichean religion combined aspects of Zoroastrian, Nestorian, and Buddhist traditions: like Zoroastrianism, its cosmology centered on the struggle between the dualities of light and dark, associated with good and evil; as in Gnostic Christianity, imprisoned in darkness, the soul sought reunification with the Light; and, as in Buddhism, on this journey the soul traveled through successive stages of reincarnation.

By the tenth century, following the expansion of the Arab Empire, Islam made inroads into eastern Central Asia, and by the fifteenth century Islam had superseded other belief systems or gained a stronghold throughout Central Asia. After the Uyghur migration to the Soviet Union from China, their superficial acceptance of Islam intensified. The majority of Uyghurs are Sunni Muslims, but some are adherents of Sufi sects. Toward the end of the twentieth century, large numbers of Uyghur from the People's Republic of China were making the hajj to Mecca and other sites sacred to Islam. Islamic practices continue to provide a vital link among members of Uyghur communities.

Despite the all-encompassing influence of Islam, pre-Islamic practices persisted under Islam. In fact, the Central Asian cult of saints attests to shamanistic influence. Shamanism, common throughout Inner and Central Asia before the influx of Buddhism and Islam, revered holy places and objects as manifestations of the divine. Among the Uyghur, Islamic mullahs and shamans alike were called upon to perform healing trances. During some pre-Soviet rituals, the shaman circled around a rope suspended from the ceiling while uttering Quranic passages and other chants. Afterward, the healer would beat the patient's body with a dead chicken, in an attempt to transfer the evil spirit to the bird.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet Union conducted widespread campaigns to replace religious celebrations with secular ritual. Muslim celebrations, such as Qurban (Great Sacrifice of Abraham) and Roza Heyt (ending the fast of Ramadan), were downplayed but (sometimes) carried on unofficially. For a period there was a largely unsuccessful attempt to merge the pre-Islamic New Year's holiday of Nowruz with the Soviet secular new-year celebration.

The Uyghur, whether through indirect legacy or direct history, claim a long tradition of achievement in the plastic and performing arts. In the early oasis kingdom near Turfan, cave paintings featured Buddhist deities, princesses, and noblemen. Decorative art prevailed after Islam gained influence and discouraged direct depiction of human and animal figures. Plaster carving and embroidery alike featured geometric forms, arabesques, and plant motifs. Although few examples of Uyghur architecture exist in the former Soviet Union, such delicate decorative work is prevalent in China's Kashgar. Pomegranates, flower buds and vines, and interlaced tendrils carved in panels are among the most popular designs. Blue, aqua, saffron, and white are the most popular hues, rendered on plaster, tile, and wood. A wider range of colors (including bright red) and naturalistic flower and landscape motifs often are attributable to Chinese or Western influences over the past few centuries. Whereas applied arts are minimally developed among the formerly Soviet Uyghur, they flourish in China's Uyghur community of Kashgar. Dozens of embroidery styles on caps formerly varied with locale, but have come to be merely identified with gender: delicate white stitchery on a green background or embroidery of moons and arabesques on black (male caps) contrast with elaborate beadwork on purple velvet, needlework in a multihued patchwork mosaic, and flower designs in metallic fabric (female caps).

The classical tradition of Uyghur literature that developed in the south in the following centuries reflects a strong Islamic influence. Many of these works were written in Chagatay, a medieval Turkic language written in script derived from Arabic. Foremost among such works is Mahmud Kashgari's Dictionary of Turkic Dialects of the eleventh century. Other important works include didactic and ethical poetic writings, including Yusuf Khass Hajib'e Balasaghuni's “Knowledge Which Gives Happiness” of the eleventh century and Iagnaki's “The Gift of Reasons” of the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. Medieval Uyghur literature includes Islamic religious (devotional) works and legends as well: Rabghuzi's Tales of the Prophets of the fourteenth century and Oghuzname (Legend of Oghuz Kagan) of the fifteenth century. In the fifteenth century, the Timurid Turkic poet and philosopher Alishir Nowai, claimed by Uzbeks as well as by Uyghurs, based epic poems on the Irano-Central Asian love stories of Leyla and Majnun, and Farhad and Shirin.

Uyghur classical music, influenced by Persian and Arabic musical theory (e.g. that of al-Farabi), features the Twelve Muqam, an elaborate suite of over 120 songs, interludes, and so forth. Folk music varies according to occasion, and varied folk genres are associated with the meshrep (informal gatherings of music and activity, often held during the evening), weddings, and other celebrations. Official and informal organizations alike promote musical and dance performances. Young people who receive training from specialists in Tashkent join the Uyghur Musical (Comic) Drama Theater in Kazakhstan and smaller ensembles. In Almaty, “Uyghur Cultural Days,” attended by Uyghur, Kazakhs, and Russians alike, feature musical performances and staged events. The Uyghur Theater in Almaty offers performances of Western dramas translated into Uyghur (including plays by Shakespeare and Molière), as well as time-honored Central Asian and Persian classics (e.g. the tale of Laila and Majnun). Weekly Uyghur television programs aired in Almaty include comic vignettes and musical performances by Uyghur pop singers. Such song-and-dance numbers, which feature bucolic scenes and coy lovers, borrow heavily from Indian musical cinema, which is popular in Uzbekistan.

Modern Uyghur literature ranges from short stories, essays, and love poetry to epic folk legends, historical-heroic songs and oral narratives to proverbs and riddles. Drama is a flourishing genre as well, with a separate Uyghur theater housed in Almaty, where musical (or dance-drama) and spoken plays are performed. The Uyghur trace the beginnings of their literary tradition to the seventh to eighth centuries, with the runic inscriptions of the Orkhon texts in southern Siberia. These ancient Turkic epigraphs include the Moyun-Churu text, which mentions the emergence of the ancient Uyghur state.

In the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, in spite of political decline throughout Central Asia, lyric genres such as the ghazal and qasida flourished. In addition to themes of heroism, romantic imagery was popular. Motifs of the lover and beloved alternately expressed earthly love and divine union, a Sufistic theme. Famous poetic works of these centuries include “Muhabbatnama we Mihnetkame” (Love and Bitterness Intertwined) by Hirkit, “Wandering” by Nowbit, “Gul we Bulbul” (The Rose and the Nightingale) by Shah Yari, and “Muhbbatnama” (Love Letter) by Molla Abdureyim. Uyghur literature of the nineteenth century included songs of resistance as well as tales of love.

Uyghur literary tradition combines two separate historical trajectories/legacies. The northern oasis area of eastern Central Asia, adjacent to the Chinese Empire and Mongol region, was heavily influenced by Buddhism, Manicheanism, and Nestorianism. In the tenth century, Buddhist writings such as the Sutras of the Golden Luster were translated from Sanskrit into the old Uyghur script, which was derived from Sogdian (an ancient language of eastern Iran). Poetry, narrative plays, and the epic Oghuzname, a tale common in northwestern Turkic-speaking areas, were also prevalent.

Classical medicine was influenced not only by folk cures, but by Islamic and Greek philosophy and science. In the seventeenth century, Imaddidin Kashgari and his disciples advanced surgery, skin and eye treatment, and medical research.

Traditional Uyghur beliefs about death and afterlife have been influenced to a large extent by Islam. After a death, Quranic prayers are chanted, and the body is cleansed and wrapped in white gauze. The tombs of Islamic holy men are revered as sacred places.

This culture summary is based on the article “Uighur,” by Hilda Eitzen, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 6, Russia and Eurasia/China, Paul Friedrich and Norma Diamond, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. 1994. Ian Skoggard added information about the Uyghurs in China and updated population figures in April, 2015.

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