In the middle of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-west part of China, the province of Xinjiang is the least populated land while it covers near to a sixth from the country's territory. Getting resisted during generations the Han Chinese domination, Xinjiang, or Old Turkistan, fell under the Chinese Han domination in 1949. From then, its population is primarily Uyghurs and Turkish - speaking System.
Islamic above all, the Uyghurs have a strong religious identification which usually, in particular, allowed them to protect a strong difference in opposition to the Chinese enemy. Of course, the Uyghur Kingdom of Mongolia knew a amazing civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.
During their background, the Uyghurs successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before lastly moving to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., thus opening the way to the Islamization of the entire Central Asia.
Under the influence of the religions which they adopted, the Uyghurs used successively, and at times in a competing way, a large number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own graphic system.
The arrival of Islam was a great change mainly because it was supported by the absorption of the Uyghur areas in the immense Turkic and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used today.
If their own writing, their own language and their religion mark a real difference with the tradition of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also are different from their characteristic, so characteristic of Central Asia's people. A matt skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features directing 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, although they represent only 8 million population - a little for this kind of huge country. So, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six ethnic minority groups having been known in an official way by the People's Republic of China.
This particular statute will allow these people a few privileges in a country exactly where their big difference is very often repressed. Thus, Uyghur people escape the "single child policy" and their language is recognized as the second official language in Xinjiang.
The integration of the Uyghurs and their culture in the People's Republic of China, however, looks very illusory. The presence of all natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its area with locations identified as very 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 more significant 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.
Asserting more flexibility, but in particular the acceptance 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 Uyghurs population continues today to proudly continue to keep their identity and their tradition , though they become a minority on their own land.
To get more information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com
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