In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the northern-west part of China, the province of Xinjiang is a very least populated land while it covers near to a sixth of the nation's territory. Having resisted while in hundreds of years the chinese domination, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Old Turkestan, fell within the Chinese Han domination in 1949. From then, its population is primarily Uyghur People and Turkic - speaking System.
Islamic most importantly, the Uyghur people have a very good religious identity that, in specific, allowed them to protect a strong difference towards the Chinese invader. Certainly, 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 finally converting to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., thus opening the way to the Islamization of the complete Central Asia.
Under the effect of the religions which they taken on, Uyghur People taken successively, and at times in a competing way, a great number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own unique graphic system.
The entrance of Islam was a great change because it was supported by the absorption of the Uyghur land in the enormous Turco-Mongolian and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan progressively replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used at present.
If their writing, their own language and their religion mark a real difference with the tradition of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also differ from their aspect, so aspect 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 origins of these men and these women.
For a few years, China has integrated the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only eight million population - a trifle for this kind of big country. So, 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 law will allow them a few privileges in a land 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 Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The integration of the Uyghur people and their culture in the People's Republic of China, however, seems really illusory. The presence of natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its area with locations recognized as 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 more significant 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.
Asserting more freedom, but mainly the acceptance of their true identity, this movement was severely repressed by the power authorities in place Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
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 Uyghur peoples population continues today to proudly continue to keep their identity and their traditions , although they become a minority on their own land.
To get more detailed information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com
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