In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the northern-west part of China, the land of Xinjiang is a least populated province while it covers close to a sixth with the country's territory. Having resisted during generations the chinese control, Xinjiang, or Old Eastern Turkestan, fell within the Chinese Han control in 1949. From then, its population is generally Uyghur People and Turkic - speaking System.
Islamic primarily, the Uyghur people have a strong religious identification which usually, in particular, permitted them to protect a solid big difference in opposition to the Chinese invader. Of course, the Uyghur Empire of Mongolia knew a excellent civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.
During their history, the Uyghur People successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before lastly moving to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., therefore starting the way to the Islamization of the entire Central Asia.
Under the effect of the religions which they adopted, the Uyghurs used successively, and at times in a competing way, a great number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own unique graphic system.
The arrival of Islam was a great change simply because it was followed by the absorption of the Uyghur land in the enormous Turkic and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used currently.
If their writing, their own language and their religion mark a real difference with the culture of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also differ from their aspect, so aspect of Central Asia's people. A matt skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features going out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek origins of these men and these women.
For a few years, China has integrated the proper identity of these remote people, although they represent only eight million population - a little for this huge country. Therefore, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six racial minority groups having been known in an official way by the People's Republic of China.
This particular law allows these people a few rights in a land exactly where their big difference is very often repressed. Thus, Uyghur families escape the "single child policy" and their language is accepted as the second official language in Xinjiang.
The integration of the Uyghurs and their culture in China, however, appears quite illusory. The presence of all-natural sources in Xinjiang, and its closeness with nations recognised as very sensitive, clearly urged the government to accelerate the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the greater responsibility work opportunities.
In reaction to this true will to assimilate the Uyghurs into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.
Saying more freedom, but primarily the recognition of their true identity, this movement was severely repressed by the power authorities in location Xinjiang.
The events of September 11, 2001, were the perfect occasion for the Chinese government to justify true reprisals: they declared the "Uyghur freedom fighters" as dangerous terrorists linked to Al Quaida because of their Muslim origins and their proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan... However, the terrible repression which followed did not calm down the anger. The Uyghur peoples population continues today to proudly keep their identification and their civilization , although they become a minority on their own land.
For additional information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com
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