In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-west part of China, the province of Xinjiang is a very least populated land whereas it covers near to a sixth with the nation's area. Having resisted during centuries the Han Chinese control, Xinjiang, or Old Turkistan, fell under the Chinese Han control in 1949. From then, its population is generally Uyghurs and Turkic - speaking System.
Muslim above all, the Uyghurs have a very good religious identity that, in specific, enabled them to maintain a strong big difference in opposition to the Chinese enemy. Of course, the Uyghur Empire of Mongolia knew a amazing civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.
During their history, the Uyghurs successively taken on Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before lastly changing to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., thus starting the way to the Islamization of the complete Central Asia.
Under the influence of the beliefs which they taken on, the Uyghurs used successively, and sometimes in a competing way, a large number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own graphic system.
The coming of Islam was a great change mainly because it was supported by the absorption of the Uyghur areas in the enormous Turkic and Islamic Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used currently.
If their writing, their language and their religion mark a real big difference with the tradition of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also are different from their aspect, so aspect of Central Asia's people. A shiny skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features pointing out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek roots of these men and these women.
For a few years, China has included the proper identity of these remote people, although they represent only 8 million population - a trifle for this big land. Therefore, the Uyghurs are now part of the 56 ethnic minority groups having been known in an official way by China.
This statute will allow these people a few rights in a country where their difference is very often repressed. Therefore, Uyghur families 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 China, however, appears quite illusory. The presence of all-natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its proximity with countries known as sensitive, clearly 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 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 primarily the acceptance of their true identity, this movement was severely repressed by the power authorities in area 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 population continues today to proudly maintain their identification and their traditions , even though they become a minority on their own territory.
To get more detailed information about the Uyghurs, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com
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