In the middle of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the northern-western part of China, the land of Xinjiang is a very least populated land whereas it covers near to a sixth from the nation's area. Having resisted during centuries the chinese domination, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Old Eastern Turkestan, fell within the Chinese Han domination in 1949. From then, its population is generally Uyghur People and Turkish - speaking System.
Islamic primarily, the Uyghurs have a strong religious identity which usually, in particular, enabled them to preserve a strong big difference towards the Chinese enemy. Indeed, the Uyghur Empire of Mongolia knew a excellent civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.
While in their history, the Uyghurs successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before finally converting to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., thus beginning the way to the Islamization of the whole Central Asia.
Under the influence of the religions which they taken, Uyghur People taken successively, and sometimes in a competing way, a large number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own unique graphic system.
The arrival of Islam was a great change since it was followed by the absorption of the Uyghur areas in the enormous Turco-Mongolian and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used today.
If their writing, their language and their religion mark a real big difference with the culture of Chinese Han, Uyghur People also are different from their characteristic, so characteristic of Central Asia's people. A shiny skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features going out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek roots of these men and these women.
For a few years, China has integrated the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only 9 million people - a trifle for this kind of large land. Therefore, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six racial minority groups having been recognized in an official way by the People's Republic of China.
This statute allows them a few rights in a country where their difference is very often repressed. Thus, Uyghur people escape the "single child policy" and their language is known as the second official language in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The integration of the Uyghurs and their culture in the People's Republic of China, however, looks quite illusory. The presence of all natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its closeness with countries identified as sensitive, highly motivated the government to speed up the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the greater responsibility job opportunities.
In reaction to this true will to assimilate the Uyghur people into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.
Asserting more flexibility, but especially the recognition of their true identity, this movement was seriously repressed by the power authorities in area 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 Uyghurs population continues today to proudly maintain their identity and their traditions , though they become a minority on their own territory.
To get more information and facts about the Uyghurs, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com
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