Uygur Nationality and Xingjiang
The Uygur, with a population of 7,21il, 000, have lived at the foot of Tianshan
Mountains for several centuries. Being one of the most populous minority peoples in
China, the Uygur nationality is largely concentrated in the Xthgjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region. Some distribute in Hunan Province. Their language belongs to the Turkic group
of the Altaie language family. The two systems of their writing include Arabic phonetic
letters and a recently developed romanized script. Islam is their religion, which
influences family life, marriages, food, finery and customs. The most important festivals
to the Uygur people are the Corban Festival, Almsgiving Festival, Kaizhai Festival and
Noulu Festival.
Xinjiang was one of the earliest regions opened up in Chinese history known as the
Western Region about 2, 000 years ago. The earliest ancestors of the Uygurs were a tribe
known by various names such as Huige, Gaoche , Tiele, and Huigu in ancient times.
They used to colonize in the north and northwest region of China, suffering from wars
between tribes before migrating to the Western Regions (Xingjiang). They went into
alliance with other tribes to fight against the Turks in the 7'h century. By the mid-9'h
century, most of them moved to the area where they live today. After intermixing over a
long period with other peoples such as the Tubos, Mongolians and Qidans, the
nationality of Uygur was gradually formed. From the 19'h century, the Uygur people
waged repeated struggles against the foreign colonialists' role and the repression of the
Qthg Dynasty. They also displayed no less heroism in fighting the Kuomintang
government before 1949. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established in
1955 with the Uygur as its majority nationality.
It took a long time for the Uygurs to switch from stock breeding to agriculture. The
Uygurs are specialized in growing wheat, maize, paddy, cotton and other crops.
Livestock hreeding and fruit farming are their important sidelines. They are skilled at
growing melons and fruit. For instance, grapes fronl Tupan and watermelons from Hami
have won fame throughout the world.
A lot of historical relics dated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC 220) have testified the
Uygur nationality has contributed to the development of Chinese culture since ancient
times. For instance, the long narrative poems "Knowledge Gives Happiness" and "A
Turl'ic Dictionary", handed down from the 11'~ century are important works. They
provide information of the ancient history, culnlre and language of the Uygur people,
The literature takes varied forms and has a long history and unique styles, tt includes the
folk stories, fables, jokes, poems and proverbs. Avanti's Stories, a very popular work,
describes those repressive imams in humorous terms. The Uygurs are a music-loving
people, and they are well known for singing and dancing. Beautiful, light and brisk in
step, their dances are fast and involve many changes in movement. The traditional
dances such as Balancing Bowls, Big Drum Dance, Iron Ring Dance, Puta Dance and
Sainaimu are popular folk dances that are generally enjoyed. During festivals, people of
all ages turn out in groups to join in the dancing and singing. Their lively dances
demonstrate bravery, diligence, openness and optimism and employ characteristic head
and wrist movements. The instruments encompass more than a dozen types in all. The
popular melodies of The Twelve Mukam, a full length suite of music handed down from
generadon to generation, were rescued from oblivion after 1950. The govermlxent sets
organizations to investigate, record and collect a number of the ancient music of the
Uygurs in the past decades.
Both thales and females am fond of wearing gorgeously coloured floral caps which is
look like an attractive handicraft article. Men like to wear a sort of robe and women wear
long braids, long skirts and a loose-sleeved, brighfly-coloured garments covered with a
black vest.
Among their varied cuisine, there is a sort of wheaten cake called "nang" which is
taken when having milk tea as their staple Ibod. When they have festival dinners or
entertain their guest, one speciality is known as "zhuafan", which is prepared with rice,
mutton, carrot, onion, sheep butter, and raisins. The Uygurs favor beef, mutton,
chicken, duck and fish as the meat in diet, and fruits also play an important role in
people's daily life.
Situated in the westernmost part of China, Xinjiang is hemnled in by a number
of snow-capped mountains such as the Pamirs, the Karakorum and the Altay.
Tiaashan Mountains are traversed in its middle part. Xingjiang boasts some large
basins like Turpan, the Junggar and Tarim. The vast grasslands enable it to be
one of China's major stockbreeding centers. Xingjiang fine-fleeced sheep and Bihorse are well known in China. This area is also an important supply for oil and
coal.
Some new cities emerged in the wilderness in 1950s. The most outstanding example is
Shthezi city. The city includes farms, factories, roads and housing as well as pioneer
projects of 2O modem factories.