Who Are the Uyghurs?

The Uyghurs (or Uighurs, Uygurs) are ethically and culturally Turkic people native to East Turkistan, currently occupied by China.They mostly live in the far north-western border region which is the hub of the Eurasian Crossroads. Manchu Empire annexed the region to China proper in the second half of the 18th century and had ruled the local inhabitants through indirect means till 1884 when Xinjiang (CH. New dominion) province was established [1].

     According to the 2017 national statistics, their population in China is more than 11 million [2]. Yet, the Uyghur diaspora regards this number is problematic and sees the Uyghur population is between 25-30 million. East Turkestan (aka. Xinjiang) occupies one sixth of the total Chinese landmass and possesses China's most abundant resource of oil and gas. Uyghurs are ethnically Turkic and since as early as 10th century they have been following the moderate form of Sunni Islam which is organically mingled with their local traditions and ancient worldviews [3]. They regard being Muslim as one of the most crucial aspects of Uyghur collective identity [4]. The Uyghurs had been able to gain their independence twice during the 1930s and 1940s. One of those states was East Turkestan Islamic Republic (1933-1934), while the other being East Turkestan Republic (1944-1949) [5]. As those state names indicate, Islam is a core marker of Uyghur nationhood.

       The ethnonym “Uyghur” can be traced back to the ancient Uyghurs - one of the various Turkic tribes who built the Uyghur Khanate (Kingdom) stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mongolian Steppe in 744 AD. After the demise of the Khanate by the Kyrgyz invasion in 840 AD, some of the Uyghur tribes migrated to the eastern part of Central Asia and mingled with the local Indo-European peoples. After that great migration, the Uyghurs established Qochu Uyghur Kingdom (843-1209) in Turpan region and converted from Manicheism to Buddhism [6]. After the Buddhist Uyghurs in that region accepted Islam in the 15th century, the name Uyghur had become nearly obsolete till the early 20th century, because the locals started to address themselves as Muslim (Muslims) or using the local place names [7]. Some other Turkic tribes like Karluks, Yagmas, and Chigils established Kara-Khanid Khanate (840-1212) in Kashgar region in East Turkestan and converted to Islam in the 10th century [8]. Kara-Khanid Khanate together with Qochu Uyghur Khanate became the subjects of the Mongol empire in the 13th century and underwent several Turko-Mongolian dynasties that all would embrace Islam in the subsequent centuries [9].

       With the Islamization of Central Asia, the whole tribal or ethnic names including the ethnonym “Uyghur” had been submerged by a pan-Islamic identity that had unified all different groups of people under one overarching and generic Muslim identity [10]. Meanwhile, there existed a political agenda devised by Russia to “divide and rule” the local Turkic peoples who had strong cultural and linguistic affinities with one another [11].

       The Uyghurs have used a number of scripts over the last two thousand years. During the 8-10th centuries AD the Uyghurs along with Gokturks and other Turkic Khaganates, used Old Turkic Script (also known as Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script, Turkic runes) [12]. After the establishment of Qochu Uyghur Kingdom in the 9th century, the Uyghurs began to use old Uyghur script. This script had been used till the 17th century in Central Asia [13]. Along with the Islamization of Central Asia, the Uyghurs adopted the Arabic script (also known as the Chagatay alphabet or Kona Yëziq). Political changes in the 20th century brought numerous other writing scripts, such as Cyrillic-based Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet, a Latin Uyghur New Script and a reformed Uyghur Arabic alphabet (reformed Kona Yëziq), which is currently used by the Uyghurs. A new Uyghur Latin alphabet was introduced in early 2000s, but this has been rather unofficial.

        Uyghur classic literature has a long history. Two typical works are Kutadgu Bilig (Wisdom of Royal Glory) by Yusuf Khass Hajib (1069–70), and Mahmud al-Kashgari's  Dīwānu l-Luġat al-Turk , (A Dictionary of Turkic Dialects) (1072) [14]. Uyghur 12 Muqams are the national oral epic of the Uyghurs and have been designated by UNESCO as part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The 12 Muqams are constituted of classic and folk poetry; it takes approximately 24 hours to finish a round of 12 Muqam performance [15]. Uyghur dance is famous for its richness and beauty as well. One typical genre is Sanam which is very popular among Uyghurs [16].

         Along with two Islamic Eid celebrations, the Uyghurs, like other Turkic peoples in Central Asia, celebrate Noruz (Nowruz), on the 21st of March each year. However, since 2016, all of these traditions have been outlawed, while Chinese ethnic / traditional celebrations are forced upon the local Uyghurs in East Turkestan. Whoever resists would be sent to the so-called re-education camps continuously thriving under the name of countering religious extremism [17].

References

[1] Millward, JA (2007) Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang . New York: Columbia University Press.
[2] This is according to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Bureau of Statistics.
[3] Waite, E. (2007) The emergence of Muslim reformism in contemporary Xinjiang; Implications for the Uyghurs' positioning between a Central Asian and Chinese context. In I. Bellér-Hann., C. Cesaro, R. Harris & J. Smith (Eds.), Situating the Uyghurs between China and Central Asia , (pp. 56-78). Ashgate Press: Aldershot .; Millward, JA (2007) Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang . New York: Columbia University Press.
[4] Brophy, D. (2016). Uyghur Nation: Reform and Revolution on the Russia-China Frontier. Harvard University Press.
[5] These two independent states were established by the local Turkic peoples lead by the Uyghur elites. The advent of the communist China to the region ended the short independence of the Uyghurs. For more information see Bovingdon, G. (2010). The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land. New York: Columbia University Press. [6] Millward, JA & Perdue, PC (2004). Chapter 2: Political and cultural history of the Xinjiang region through the late nineteenth century. In S. Frederick Starr (Ed.), Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland, (pp. 40–41). ME Sharpe .; Millward, JA (2007) Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang . [7] Thum, R. (2014). The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History. 

Harvard University Press.
[8] Hansen, V. (2012). The Silk Road: A New History . Oxford University Press .; Golden, PB (1990). The Karakhanids and Early Islam. In D. Sinor (Ed.). The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (pp. 343-370), Cambridge University Press.
[9] Millward, JA (2007) Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang .
[10] Thum, R. (2014). The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History. [11] Conquest, R. (1962).  The Last Empire, London: Ampersand Books. P. 28.
[12] Scharlipp, Wolfgang (2000). An Introduction to the Old Turkish Runic Inscriptions . Verlag auf dem Ruffel, Engelschoff.
[13] Sinor, D. (1998), "Chapter 13 - Language situation and scripts", in Asimov, MS; Bosworth, CE (eds.),  History of Civilizations of Central Asia , 4 part II, UNESCO Publishing, p. 333.
[14] Thum, R. (2014). The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History. Harvard University Press.
[15] "UNESCO Culture Sector - Intangible Heritage - 2003 Convention". Unesco.org. 
[16] Bellér-Hann, Ildikó (2002). "Temperamental Neighbors: Uighur-Han Relations in Xinjiang, Northwest China". In Schlee, Günther (ed.). Imagined Differences: Hatred and the Construction of Identity . BED Verlag Münster. p. 66.
[17] Joanne Smith Finley (2018): The Wang Lixiong prophecy: 'Palestineization' in Xinjiang and the consequences of Chinese state securitization of religion, Central Asian Survey ; Zenz, A. (2019, July 16). You Can't Force People to Assimilate. So Why Is China at It Again? The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/07/16/opinion/china-Xinjiang-repression-uighurs-minorities-backfire.html ;