Little about the Uyghurs

In the middle of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-western part of China, the province of Xinjiang is a very least populated land whereas it covers near to a sixth from the nation's territory. Getting resisted during centuries the chinese domination, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Old Turkestan, fell into within the Chinese Han domination in 1949. From then, its population is primarily Uyghur People and Turkish - speaking System.

Muslim mainly, the Uyghurs have a very good religious identity that, in particular, enabled them to protect a solid difference in opposition to the Chinese invader. Certainly, the Uyghur Empire of Mongolia knew a great civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.

During their own history, the Uyghurs successively taken on Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before lastly moving to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., as a result starting the way to the Islamization of the entire Central Asia.

Under the effect of the religions which they taken, Uyghur People used successively, and at times in a competing way, a great number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own graphic system.

The coming of Islam was a great change simply because it was followed by the assimilation of the Uyghur areas in the enormous Turco-Mongolian and Islamic Kingdom. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used presently.

If their writing, their own language and their religion mark a real difference with the culture of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also are different from their aspect, so characteristic of Central Asia's people. A matt skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features pointing 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 8 million people - a little for this kind of large area. Thus, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six racial minority groups having been well-known in an official way by the People's Republic of China.

This particular statute will allow them a few privileges in a land where their big difference is very often repressed. Therefore, 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 pretty illusory. The presence of natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its proximity with nations identified as very sensitive, highly urged the government to increase the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the larger responsibility job opportunities.

In response 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.

Saying more flexibility, but especially the recognition of their true identity, this movement was severely repressed by the power authorities in place Xinjiang.

The situations 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 up their identity and their traditions , despite the fact that they become a minority on their own territory.

For further information about the Uyghurs, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com