In the middle of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-western part of China, the land of Xinjiang is the least populated land whereas it covers close to a sixth of the country's area. Getting resisted while in centuries the Han Chinese control, Xinjiang, or Old Turkistan, fell into under the Chinese Han control in 1949. From then, its population is generally Uyghur People and Turkic - speaking System.
Muslim above all, the Uyghurs have a deep religious identification which, in specific, enabled them to maintain a strong difference in opposition to the Chinese invader. In fact, the Uyghur Kingdom of Mongolia knew a excellent civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.
During their history, the Uyghurs successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before finally converting to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., therefore starting the way to the Islamization of the whole Central Asia.
Under the influence of the beliefs which they adopted, Uyghur People used successively, and at times in a competing way, a large number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own unique graphic system.
The entrance of Islam was a great change mainly because it was followed by the absorption of the Uyghur land in the immense Turkic and Muslim Kingdom. 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 difference with the culture of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also differ 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 roots of these men and these women.
For a few years, China has included the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only 8 million inhabitants - a trifle for this specific big region. Therefore, the Uyghurs are now part of the 56 racial minority groups having been well-known in an official way by the People's Republic of China.
This law allows them a few privileges in a country where their difference is very often repressed. Therefore, Uyghur families escape the "single child policy" and their language is known as the second official language in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The integration of the Uyghurs and their culture in the People's Republic of China, however, seems really illusory. The presence of natural resources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its proximity with nations recognized as sensitive, strongly 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 jobs.
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 freedom, but mainly 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 Uyghur peoples population continues today to proudly continue to keep their identity and their tradition , although 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
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