Struggle between Xiongnu and Han China
Traversed by the Silk Road, Western Regions or Xinjiang is the Chinese name for the Tarim and Dzungaria regions of what is now northwest China. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), the region was subservient to the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people based in modern Mongolia. In the 2nd century BC, Han China sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the states in the region, beginning several decades of struggle between the Xiongnu and Han China over dominance of the region, eventually ending in Chinese success. In 60 BC Han China established the Protectorate of the Western Regions (西域都護府) at Wulei (烏壘; near modern Luntai) to oversee the entire region as far west as the Pamir.
During the usurpation of Wang Mang in China, the dependent states of the protectorate rebelled and returned to Xiongnu domination in 13. Over the next century, Han China conducted several expeditions into the region, re-establishing the protectorate from 74-76, 91-107, and from 123 onward. After the fall of the Han Dynasty (AD 220), the protectorate continued to be maintained by Cao Wei (until 265) and the Western Jin Dynasty (from 265 onwards).
A summary of Classical sources on the Seres (Greek and Romain name of China) (essentially Pliny and Ptolemy) gives the following account:
" The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touching on the east the Ocean and the limits of the habitable world, and extending west nearly to Imaus and the confines of Bactria. The people are civilised men, of mild, just, and frugal temper, eschewing collisions with their neighbours, and even shy of close intercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of which raw silk is the staple, but which include also silk stuffs, furs, and iron of remarkable quality." (Henry Yule, "Cathey and the way thither")
A succession of peoples
The Western Jin Dynasty succumbed to successive waves of invasions by nomads from the north at the beginning of the 4th century. The short-lived non-Han Chinese kingdoms that ruled northwestern China one after the other, including Former Liang, Former Qin, Later Liang, and Western Liáng, all attempted to maintain the protectorate, with varying extents and degrees of success. After the final reunification of northern China under the Northern Wei empire, its protectorate controlled what is now the southeastern third of Xinjiang. Local states such as Shule, Yutian, Guizi and Qiemo controlled the western half, while the central region around Turpan was controlled by Gaochang, remnants of a state (Northern Liang) that once ruled part of what is now Gansu province in northwestern China.
Turk Empire
In the late 5th century the Tuyuhun and the Rouran began to assert power in southern and northern Xinjiang, respectively, and the Chinese protectorate was lost again. In the 6th century the Turks began to emerge in the Altay region, subservient to the Rouran. Within a century they had defeated the Rouran and established a vast Turk Empire, stretching over most of Central Asia past both the Aral Sea in the west and Lake Baikal in the east. In 583 the Turks split into western and eastern halves, with Xinjiang coming under the western half. In 609, China under the Sui Dynasty defeated the Tuyuhun, gaining control of southeastern Xinjiang.
The Tang Dynasty and the Khanates
The Tang Dynasty was established in 618, and would prove to be one of the most expansionist dynasties in Chinese history. Starting from the 620's and 630's, Tang China conducted a series of expeditions against the Turks, eventually forcing the surrender of the western Turks in 657. Xinjiang was placed under the Anxi Protectorate (安西都護府; "Protectorate Pacifying the West"). The protectorate did not outlast the decline of Tang China in the 8th century. During the devastating Anshi Rebellion, Tibet invaded Tang China on a wide front from Xinjiang to Yunnan, sacking the Tang capital in 763, and taking control of southern Xinjiang by the end of the century. At the same time, the Uyghur Khaganate took control of northern Xinjiang, as well as much of the rest of Central Asia, including Mongolia, where their empire originated.
Both Tibet and the Uyghur Khaganate declined in the mid-9th century. The Kara-Khanid Khanate, which arose from a confederation of Turkic tribes scattered after the destruction of the Uyghur empire, took control of western Xinjiang in the 10th century and the 11th century. Meanwhile, after the Uyghur khanate in Mongolia had been smashed by the Kirghiz, branches of the Uyghurs established themselves in the area around today's Turfan and Urumchi in 840. This Uyghur state would remain in eastern Xinjiang until the 13th century, though it would be subject to various overlords during that time. Some scholars have argued, that the Kara-Khanids were likewise "Uyghurs," as some of the components in the Kara-Khanid federation were likewise from the ruling clans of the Uyghur empire. The Kara-Khanids converted to Islam, whereas the Uyghur state in eastern Xinjiang remained Manicheaean, while tolerating Buddhism and Christianity.
In 1132, remnants of the Khitan Empire from Manchuria entered Xinjiang, fleeing the onslaught of the Jurchens into north China. They established an exile regime, the Kara-Khitan Khanate, which became overlord over both Kara-Khanid-held and Uyghur-held parts of the Tarim Basin for the next century.
Arrival of the Mongols
After Genghis Khan had unified Mongolia and began his advance west, the Uyghur state in the Turfan-Urumchi area sensibly offered its allegiance to the Mongols in 1209, contributing taxes and troops to the Mongol imperial effort. In return, the Uyghur rulers retained control of their kingdom. By contrast, Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire conquered the Kara-Khitan in 1218. Because the Kara-Khitan had persecuted Islam, the Mongols were met as liberators in the Kashgar area. After the break-up of the Mongol Empire into smaller khanates, Xinjiang, though nominally ruled by the Chagatai Khanate, one of the successor states of the empire, in fact was fought over by successor regimes based in Mongolia and in China. In the 15th century the Chagatai Khanate disintegrated into separate states in Gulja, Yarkand, and Turpan.
In the 17th century, the Dzungars (Oirats, Kalmyks) established an empire over much of the region. Kalmyks controlled a vast area known as Grand Tartary or the Kalmyk Empire to Westerners, which stretched from the Great Wall of China to the Don River, and from the Himalayas to Siberia.
The Manchu Empire
The Qing Empire, established by the Manchus in China, gained control over eastern Xinjiang as a result of a long struggle with the Zunghars (Dzungars) that began in the seventeenth century. In 1755, the Manchu Empire attacked Ghulja, and captured the Zunghar khan. Over the next two years, the Manchus and Mongol armies of the Qing destroyed the remnants of the Zunghar khanate, and attempted to divide the Xinjiang region into four sub-khanates under four chiefs. Similarly, the Qing made members of a clan of sufi shaykhs known as the Khojas, rulers in the western Tarim Basin, south of the Tianshan Mts. In 1758-59, however, rebellions against this arrangement broke out both north and south of the Tian Shan mountains. The Qing was thus forced, contrary to its initial intent, to establish a form of direct military rule over both Zungharia (northern Xinjiang) and the Tarim Basin (southern Xinjiang). The Manchus put the whole region under the rule of a General of Ili (Chinese: 伊犁将军, Yili Jiangjün), headquartered at the fort of Huiyuan (the so-called "Manchu Kuldja", or Yili), 30 km west of Ghulja (Yining).
By the mid-19th century, the Russian Empire was encroaching upon Qing China along its entire northern frontier. The Opium Wars and Taiping and other rebellion's in China proper had severely restricted the dynasty's ability to maintain its garrisons in distant Xinjiang. In 1864 both Chinese Muslims (Hui) and Uyghurs rebelled in Xinjiang cities, following an on-going Chinese Muslim Rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces further east. Qing control of the region was swept away. In 1865, Yaqub Beg, a warlord from the neighbouring Khanate of Kokand, entered Xinjiang via Kashgar, and conquered nearly all of Xinjiang over the next six years. In 1871, Russia took advantage of the chaotic situation and seized the rich Ili River valley, including Gulja. By then, Qing China held onto only a few strongholds, including Tacheng.
Yaqub Beg's rule lasted until General Zuo Zongtang (also known as General Tso) reconquered the region between 1875 and 1877 for Qing China. In 1881, Qing China recovered the Gulja region through diplomatic negotiations (Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)). In 1884, Qing China established Xinjiang ("new frontier") as a province, formally applying onto it the political system of China proper.
After the Qing Dynasty
In 1912 the Qing Dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor of Xinjiang, fled away and left the power to one of his subordinate Yang Zengxin (杨增新), who acceded to the Republic of China in March of the same year, and maintained the control of Xinjiang till his death in 1928. Following insurgencies against Governor Jin Shuren (金树仁) in the early 1930s, a rebellion in Kashgar led to the establishment of the short-lived First East Turkistan Republic (1st ETA) in 1933. Xinjiang was eventually brought under the control of Han Chinese warlord Sheng Shicai (盛世才), who ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with close support from the Soviet Union, many of whose ethnic and security policies Sheng instituted in Xinjiang. Sheng even invited a group of Chinese Communists to Xinjiang, including Mao Zedong's brother Mao Zemin. But in 1943, fearing a conspiracy, Sheng killed all communists, including Mao Zemin, in Xinjiang. A Second East Turkistan Republic (2nd ETA, also known as the Three Districts Revolution) existed from 1944-1949 with Soviet support in what is now Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang.
The Second East Turkistan Republic came to an end when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered Xinjiang in 1949. According to the PRC interpretation, the 2nd ETA was Xinjiang's revolution, a positive part of the communist revolution in China; the 2nd ETA acceded to and welcomed the PLA when they entered Xinjiang, a process known as the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang. However independence advocates view the ETA as an effort to establish an independent state, and the subsequent PLA entry as an invasion. The autonomous region of the PRC was established on October 1, 1955, replacing the province. The PRC's first nuclear test was carried out at Lop Nur, Xinjiang, on October 16, 1964.
Continued tensions
There continues to be concern over tensions in the region, centering upon Uyghur aspirations to independence, and resentment towards what Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch describe as repression of non-Han Chinese culture. Conversely, many Han Chinese perceive PRC policies of ethnic autonomy as discriminatory against them (see autonomous entities of China). Independence advocates view Chinese rule in Xinjiang, and policies like the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as Chinese imperialism. Complaints over Chinese policies, and possibly desire by some Uyghurs for independence, have occasionally resulted in major incidents and violent clashes during the PRC period. For example, in 1962 60,000 Uyghur and Kazak refugees fled northern Xinjiang into the Soviet Union, escaping famine and political purges of the Great Leap Forward era; in the 1980s there was a scattering of student demonstrations and riots against police action that took on an ethnic aspect; and the Baren Township riot in April, 1990, an abortive uprising, resulted in more than 50 deaths. A police round-up of suspected separatists during Ramadan resulted in large demonstrations that turned violent in February 1997, and episode known as the Ghulja / Yining Incident and led to in at least 9 deaths [1]. Urumqi bus bombs of February 25, 1997, perhaps a response to the crackdown that followed the Ghulja Incident, killed 9 and injured 68. Despite much talk of separatism and terrorism in Xinjiang, especially after the 9-11 attacks in the United States and the US invasion of Afghanistan, the situation in Xinjiang was quiet from the late nineties through mid-2006, though inter-ethnic tensions no doubt remained.
On January 5 2007 the Chinese Public Security Bureau raided a "terrorist training camp" in the mountains near the Pamir Plateau in southern Xinjiang. According to reports 18 "terrorists" were killed and another 17 captured in a gun battle between the East Turkestan Independence Movement and PRC forces. One Police Officer was killed and "over 1,500 hand grenades... were seized." [2]
2007年9月22日星期六
Economy,Demographics
Xinjiang is known for its fruits and produce, including grapes, melons, pears, cotton, wheat, silk, walnuts and sheep. Xinjiang also has large deposits of minerals and oil.
Xinjiang's nominal GDP was approximately 187 billion RMB (about 23 billion USD) in 2003, and increased to 220 billion RMB (about 28 billion USD) in 2004, due to the China Western Development policy introduced by the State Council to boost economic development in Western China. Its per capita GDP for 2003 was 9,710 RMB (1172 USD).
Oil and gas extraction industry in Aksu and Karamay is booming, with the West-East Gas Pipeline connecting to Shanghai.
Xinjiang's exports amounted to 3.047 billion USD, while import turned out to be 2.589 billion USD in 2004. Most of the overall import/export volume in Xinjiang was directed to and from Kazakhstan through Ala Pass [1]. China's first border free trade zone (Horgos Free Trade Zone) was located at the Xinjiang-Kazakhstan border city of Horgos [2]. Horgos is the largest land port in China's western region and it has easy access to the Central Asian market. Xinjiang will also open its second border trade market to Kazakhstan in March 2006, the Jeminay Border Trade Zone. [3]
Xinjiang is home to several Muslim Turkic groups including the Uyghurs and the Kazakhs. Other PRC minority ethnic groups include Hui Chinese, the Kirghiz, the Mongols, the Russians, the Xibes, the Tajik, the Uzbek, the Tatars, and the Manchus.
The percentage of ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang has grown from 6 percent in 1949[citation needed] to an official tally of over 40 percent at present. This figure does not include military personnel or their families, or the many unregistered migrant workers. Much of this transformation can be attributed to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a semi-military organization of settlers that has built farms, towns, and cities over scattered parts of Xinjiang. The demographic transformation is held by Uyghur independence advocates as a threat to Uyghurs and other non-Han ethnicities in maintaining their culture, similar to the case of Tibet.While at the same time, the minorities of Xinjiang were exempted from the One-Child Policy and many Uyghur people emigrated out of Xinjiang to other parts of China, the percentage of Uyghur people in the total population of China increase steadily.
Xinjiang's nominal GDP was approximately 187 billion RMB (about 23 billion USD) in 2003, and increased to 220 billion RMB (about 28 billion USD) in 2004, due to the China Western Development policy introduced by the State Council to boost economic development in Western China. Its per capita GDP for 2003 was 9,710 RMB (1172 USD).
Oil and gas extraction industry in Aksu and Karamay is booming, with the West-East Gas Pipeline connecting to Shanghai.
Xinjiang's exports amounted to 3.047 billion USD, while import turned out to be 2.589 billion USD in 2004. Most of the overall import/export volume in Xinjiang was directed to and from Kazakhstan through Ala Pass [1]. China's first border free trade zone (Horgos Free Trade Zone) was located at the Xinjiang-Kazakhstan border city of Horgos [2]. Horgos is the largest land port in China's western region and it has easy access to the Central Asian market. Xinjiang will also open its second border trade market to Kazakhstan in March 2006, the Jeminay Border Trade Zone. [3]
Xinjiang is home to several Muslim Turkic groups including the Uyghurs and the Kazakhs. Other PRC minority ethnic groups include Hui Chinese, the Kirghiz, the Mongols, the Russians, the Xibes, the Tajik, the Uzbek, the Tatars, and the Manchus.
The percentage of ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang has grown from 6 percent in 1949[citation needed] to an official tally of over 40 percent at present. This figure does not include military personnel or their families, or the many unregistered migrant workers. Much of this transformation can be attributed to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a semi-military organization of settlers that has built farms, towns, and cities over scattered parts of Xinjiang. The demographic transformation is held by Uyghur independence advocates as a threat to Uyghurs and other non-Han ethnicities in maintaining their culture, similar to the case of Tibet.While at the same time, the minorities of Xinjiang were exempted from the One-Child Policy and many Uyghur people emigrated out of Xinjiang to other parts of China, the percentage of Uyghur people in the total population of China increase steadily.
xinjiang Geography and geology
Xinjiang is the largest political subdivision of China - it accounts for more than one sixth of China's total territory and a quarter of its boundary length. It is divided into two basins by Mount Tianshan. Dzungarian Basin is in the north, and Tarim Basin is in the south. Xinjiang's lowest point is the Turfan Depression, 155 metres below sea level (lowest point in the PRC as well). Its highest peak, K2, is 8611 metres above sea level, on the border with Kashmir.
Most of Xinjiang is young geologically, having been formed from the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate, forming the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, and Pamir mountain ranges. Consequently, Xinjiang is a major earthquake zone. Older geological formations occur principally in the far north where the Junggar Block is geologically part of Kazakhstan, and in the east which is part of the North China Craton.
Xinjiang has within its borders the point of land remotest from the sea (Lat. 46 degrees 16.8 minutes N, Long. 86 degrees 40.2 minutes E) in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, 1,645 miles (2648 km) from the nearest coastline (straight-line distance).
The Tian Shan mountain range marks the Xinjiang-Kyrgyzstan border at the Torugart Pass (3752 m). The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass.
The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility, the point on land farthest from any ocean, is located approximately 320 km (200 mi) from the city of Urumqi, within the boundary of Xinjiang.
Most of Xinjiang is young geologically, having been formed from the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate, forming the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, and Pamir mountain ranges. Consequently, Xinjiang is a major earthquake zone. Older geological formations occur principally in the far north where the Junggar Block is geologically part of Kazakhstan, and in the east which is part of the North China Craton.
Xinjiang has within its borders the point of land remotest from the sea (Lat. 46 degrees 16.8 minutes N, Long. 86 degrees 40.2 minutes E) in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert, 1,645 miles (2648 km) from the nearest coastline (straight-line distance).
The Tian Shan mountain range marks the Xinjiang-Kyrgyzstan border at the Torugart Pass (3752 m). The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass.
The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility, the point on land farthest from any ocean, is located approximately 320 km (200 mi) from the city of Urumqi, within the boundary of Xinjiang.
Xinjiang Uygur
Xinjiang (shĭn'jyäng') or Sinkiang (shĭn'jyäng', sĭn'kyăng) [Chinese,=new frontier], officially Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Mandarin Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu), autonomous region (1994 est. pop. 16,050,000), c.637,000 sq mi (1,650,257 sq km), NW China. It is also called Chinese Turkistan or Eastern Turkistan. Xinjiang is bordered by Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan on the west and north, by the Republic of Mongolia, Gansu, and Qinghai on the east, and by Tibet and India on the south. The capital is Ürümqi (Urumchi). Other important cities are Yining (Gulja), Kashi (Kashgar), Hotan (Khotan), and Aksu.
Land and People
The great Altai, Tian Shan, and Kunlun mountain ranges enclose the region on the north, west, and south, respectively; a barren plateau lies to the west. Xinjiang's rivers, including the Tarim, Yarkant, Ili, Manas, and Hotan, rise in the mountains and flow from east to west. The level land, divided by the Tian Shan in central Xinjiang, comprises Dzungaria, a grazing region to the north, and the Tarim basin (Taklimakan), a vast desert to the south. Lop Nur, a largely dried-up salt lake in the Tarim basin, is the site of Chinese nuclear test explosions. Xinjiang has a dry continental climate with great extremes of winter and summer temperature. Rainfall is scant, seldom exceeding 10 in. (30 cm) annually.
Xinjiang is ethnically diverse, with mainly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uigurs making up nearly half the population. There are also Hui, Mongolians, Manchu, dozens of other minority groups, and a growing Chinese population. Most people live along the borders of the Dzungaria and the Tarim basin. Xinjiang Univ. is in Ürümqi.
Economy
In the most populated areas cotton and silk (both locally spun and woven) are produced and wheat, rice, millet, potatoes, sorghum, sugar beets, and fruit are grown. Uigurs have traditionally excelled in building the intricate systems of canals and wells that supply water to the fields. The Manas irrigation project in S Dzungaria is one of several extensive modern government attempts to expand the area under cultivation. Although extensive areas of grazing land have been converted to raising wheat, large-scale animal husbandry remains important, and the number of livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels) is increasing. Many of the Kazakh and Mongol stock-herders are still at least seminomadic.
Although Xinjiang is predominantly agricultural and pastoral, it has rich mineral resources. The vast oil fields at Karamay (served by both highways and an airline) are among the largest in China, and there are extensive deposits of coal, silver, copper, lead, nitrates, gold, and zinc. New mines as well as associated industry, such as refineries, ironworks, steelworks, and chemical plants, have been established. Other industries include textile (the region produces large quantities of cotton and wool) and cement production and sugar refining.
The region is linked to the Chinese rail network by line from Lanzhou, Gansu, to Ürümqi (completed 1963). West and south of Ürümqi transportation is mainly by highways built along two ancient roads: the north road, which skirts the southern edge of the Dzungaria and connects Ürümqi with the Turkistan-Siberia rail line, and the south road, encircling the Tarim basin. The camel remains an important means of transport, but the use of trucks continues to increase.
History
Early History to 1949
Xinjiang has had a turbulent history. It first passed under Chinese rule in the 1st cent. B.C., when the emperor Wu Ti sent a Chinese army to defeat the Huns and occupy the region. In the 2d cent. A.D., China lost Xinjiang to the Uzbek Confederation but reoccupied it in the mid-7th cent. It was conquered (8th cent.) by the Tibetans, overrun by the Uigurs, who established a kingdom there, and subsequently invaded (10th cent.) by the Arabs. Xinjiang passed to the Mongols in the 13th cent. An anarchic period followed until the Manchus established (1756) loose control.
The subsequent relations between China and Xinjiang were marked by cultural and religious conflict, bloody rebellions, and tribal dissensions. In the 19th cent., this unrest was encouraged by Great Britain and czarist Russia to protect India and Siberia, respectively. Xinjiang became a Chinese province in 1881, but even as late as the establishment of the Chinese republic in 1912 it remained more or less independent of the central government. Rebellions in 1936, 1937, and 1944 further eased Chinese rule.
Chinese Communist Rule
Late in 1949, Xinjiang capitulated to the Chinese Communists without a struggle, but there was a Uigur uprising in Hotan in 1954. On the basis of the 1953 census, which showed the Uigurs to comprise 74% of the population, Xinjiang prov. was reconstituted (1955) an autonomous region. Autonomous districts were created as well for the Kazakhs, Mongols, Hui, and Kyrgyz. In the 1950s and 1960s, the central government sent massive numbers of Chinese to Xinjiang to help develop water-conservancy and mineral-exploitation schemes. This has drastically altered the population balance, and the Chinese are approaching numerical parity with the Uigurs. National defense has also been a consideration in the strategic and sensitive region. In 1969, frontier incidents led to fighting between Soviet and Chinese forces along the border.
In the 1990s, the Turkic peoples of Xinjiang grew increasingly discontented with Chinese rule, and rioting by proindependence Muslims broke out in 1997. China subsequently increased the number of troops in the region, and has instituted a harsh crackdown on political dissent and Turkic separatists. Orthodox Islamic practices have been discouraged or suppressed by the government for fear that they will become a focus of Uigur nationalism.
Land and People
The great Altai, Tian Shan, and Kunlun mountain ranges enclose the region on the north, west, and south, respectively; a barren plateau lies to the west. Xinjiang's rivers, including the Tarim, Yarkant, Ili, Manas, and Hotan, rise in the mountains and flow from east to west. The level land, divided by the Tian Shan in central Xinjiang, comprises Dzungaria, a grazing region to the north, and the Tarim basin (Taklimakan), a vast desert to the south. Lop Nur, a largely dried-up salt lake in the Tarim basin, is the site of Chinese nuclear test explosions. Xinjiang has a dry continental climate with great extremes of winter and summer temperature. Rainfall is scant, seldom exceeding 10 in. (30 cm) annually.
Xinjiang is ethnically diverse, with mainly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uigurs making up nearly half the population. There are also Hui, Mongolians, Manchu, dozens of other minority groups, and a growing Chinese population. Most people live along the borders of the Dzungaria and the Tarim basin. Xinjiang Univ. is in Ürümqi.
Economy
In the most populated areas cotton and silk (both locally spun and woven) are produced and wheat, rice, millet, potatoes, sorghum, sugar beets, and fruit are grown. Uigurs have traditionally excelled in building the intricate systems of canals and wells that supply water to the fields. The Manas irrigation project in S Dzungaria is one of several extensive modern government attempts to expand the area under cultivation. Although extensive areas of grazing land have been converted to raising wheat, large-scale animal husbandry remains important, and the number of livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels) is increasing. Many of the Kazakh and Mongol stock-herders are still at least seminomadic.
Although Xinjiang is predominantly agricultural and pastoral, it has rich mineral resources. The vast oil fields at Karamay (served by both highways and an airline) are among the largest in China, and there are extensive deposits of coal, silver, copper, lead, nitrates, gold, and zinc. New mines as well as associated industry, such as refineries, ironworks, steelworks, and chemical plants, have been established. Other industries include textile (the region produces large quantities of cotton and wool) and cement production and sugar refining.
The region is linked to the Chinese rail network by line from Lanzhou, Gansu, to Ürümqi (completed 1963). West and south of Ürümqi transportation is mainly by highways built along two ancient roads: the north road, which skirts the southern edge of the Dzungaria and connects Ürümqi with the Turkistan-Siberia rail line, and the south road, encircling the Tarim basin. The camel remains an important means of transport, but the use of trucks continues to increase.
History
Early History to 1949
Xinjiang has had a turbulent history. It first passed under Chinese rule in the 1st cent. B.C., when the emperor Wu Ti sent a Chinese army to defeat the Huns and occupy the region. In the 2d cent. A.D., China lost Xinjiang to the Uzbek Confederation but reoccupied it in the mid-7th cent. It was conquered (8th cent.) by the Tibetans, overrun by the Uigurs, who established a kingdom there, and subsequently invaded (10th cent.) by the Arabs. Xinjiang passed to the Mongols in the 13th cent. An anarchic period followed until the Manchus established (1756) loose control.
The subsequent relations between China and Xinjiang were marked by cultural and religious conflict, bloody rebellions, and tribal dissensions. In the 19th cent., this unrest was encouraged by Great Britain and czarist Russia to protect India and Siberia, respectively. Xinjiang became a Chinese province in 1881, but even as late as the establishment of the Chinese republic in 1912 it remained more or less independent of the central government. Rebellions in 1936, 1937, and 1944 further eased Chinese rule.
Chinese Communist Rule
Late in 1949, Xinjiang capitulated to the Chinese Communists without a struggle, but there was a Uigur uprising in Hotan in 1954. On the basis of the 1953 census, which showed the Uigurs to comprise 74% of the population, Xinjiang prov. was reconstituted (1955) an autonomous region. Autonomous districts were created as well for the Kazakhs, Mongols, Hui, and Kyrgyz. In the 1950s and 1960s, the central government sent massive numbers of Chinese to Xinjiang to help develop water-conservancy and mineral-exploitation schemes. This has drastically altered the population balance, and the Chinese are approaching numerical parity with the Uigurs. National defense has also been a consideration in the strategic and sensitive region. In 1969, frontier incidents led to fighting between Soviet and Chinese forces along the border.
In the 1990s, the Turkic peoples of Xinjiang grew increasingly discontented with Chinese rule, and rioting by proindependence Muslims broke out in 1997. China subsequently increased the number of troops in the region, and has instituted a harsh crackdown on political dissent and Turkic separatists. Orthodox Islamic practices have been discouraged or suppressed by the government for fear that they will become a focus of Uigur nationalism.
Uyghur American Association
The Uyghur American Association (UAA) is a Washington-based advocacy organization. It was established in 1998 by a group of Uyghur scholars to raise the public awareness of the Uyghur people in East Turkistan and the other parts of the world.
UAA works to promote the preservation and flourishing of a rich, humanistic and diverse Uyghur culture, and to support the right of the Uyghur people to use peaceful, democratic means to determine their own political future.
UAA is currently undertaking the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) for the purpose of promoting improved human rights conditions for Uyghurs and other indigenous groups in East Turkistan (also known as China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), on the premise that the assurance of basic human rights will facilitate the realization of the community's democratic aspirations.
UAA receives $215,000.00 annually from the National Endowment for Democracy for the human rights research and advocacy projects.
UAA's former president is Nury Turkel, and former prisoner of conscience Rebiya Kadeer now is the new president since May 29, 2006.
UAA works to promote the preservation and flourishing of a rich, humanistic and diverse Uyghur culture, and to support the right of the Uyghur people to use peaceful, democratic means to determine their own political future.
UAA is currently undertaking the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) for the purpose of promoting improved human rights conditions for Uyghurs and other indigenous groups in East Turkistan (also known as China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), on the premise that the assurance of basic human rights will facilitate the realization of the community's democratic aspirations.
UAA receives $215,000.00 annually from the National Endowment for Democracy for the human rights research and advocacy projects.
UAA's former president is Nury Turkel, and former prisoner of conscience Rebiya Kadeer now is the new president since May 29, 2006.
Wuerkaixi
student leader in the Tiananmen protests of 1989. He achieved prominence while studying at Beijing Normal University as a hunger striker who rebuked the Chinese Premier, Li Peng, on national television.
He fled to France and then studied at Harvard University in the United States. Afterward he emigrated to Taiwan, where he has started a family and continues to host radio programs. He also appears frequently on television programmes as a political commentator, who supports the idea of "One China Under Democracy" (that is, the reunification of mainland China and Taiwan under a democratic political system, which has been touted by the Pan-Blue Coalition in the past). He reportedly expressed his hope of taking part in Legislative Yuan elections as a representative of Kuomintang, but was not nominated as one of the party's candidates.
One of the earliest student leaders to flee from China, he has earned the nickname "Wuerkailiu (吾爾開溜)", with "kailiu" meaning "to sneak off" in Chinese (as "Kaixi" means "to open hope").
Wuerkaixi enjoyed a great popularity in China. During the night of the protest, he successfully prevented a greater number of students from dying in Tiananmen Square by negotiating with the army commander, thereby preventing the situation from further escalating. The other protest leader, Chai Ling, indirectly caused unnecessary casualties by asking her follow protesters to stay and stand against army's tanks and APCs. (Later, she left her fellow protesters behind and fled abroad.)[
He fled to France and then studied at Harvard University in the United States. Afterward he emigrated to Taiwan, where he has started a family and continues to host radio programs. He also appears frequently on television programmes as a political commentator, who supports the idea of "One China Under Democracy" (that is, the reunification of mainland China and Taiwan under a democratic political system, which has been touted by the Pan-Blue Coalition in the past). He reportedly expressed his hope of taking part in Legislative Yuan elections as a representative of Kuomintang, but was not nominated as one of the party's candidates.
One of the earliest student leaders to flee from China, he has earned the nickname "Wuerkailiu (吾爾開溜)", with "kailiu" meaning "to sneak off" in Chinese (as "Kaixi" means "to open hope").
Wuerkaixi enjoyed a great popularity in China. During the night of the protest, he successfully prevented a greater number of students from dying in Tiananmen Square by negotiating with the army commander, thereby preventing the situation from further escalating. The other protest leader, Chai Ling, indirectly caused unnecessary casualties by asking her follow protesters to stay and stand against army's tanks and APCs. (Later, she left her fellow protesters behind and fled abroad.)[
Abakh Khoja
Abakh Khoja, Apak Khoja, or more properly[1] &>56;fāq Khwāja (? - 1693/94) was a religious and political leader in Kashgaria (in modern-day southern Xinjiang). He was also known as Khwāja Hidāyat Allāh (Hidayetullah Khoja).
Name spelling
In Chinese, Afaq Khoja's name is usually written as 阿帕克霍加 (Apake Huojia) or 阿帕尔霍加 (Apa'er Huojia), occasionally just 阿帕霍加 (Apa Huojia); khoja may also appear as 和卓 (huozhuo).
Life of Afaq Khoja
Afaq Khoja was a great-grandson of the famous Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani (? - 1534) (also known as Makhdūm-i`Azam, 'the Great Master'), and was revered as a Sufi teacher in his own right. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a sayid, who is a relative of the prophet Muhammad.
Afaq Khoja seized power from the Chagatay dynasty of Yarkand by inviting Dzungar invaders through the secret diplomacy of the Dalai Lama. Afaq Khoja was a powerful ruler, controlling East Turkistan including Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar.
As a result of the conflict with Iskhaki khojas, Afaq khoja was at one point expelled from Kashgaria, and is said to have invited the Dzungars in 1678. The Dzungars, led by Galdan Boshughtu Khan (1670-1697) then made Afaq and his descendants only nominal ruler of Kashgaria.
Afaq Khoja and Islam in China
Afaq Khoja's influence spread far outside of Xinjiang. From 1671-72, he was preaching in Gansu (which then included parts of modern Qinghai province), where his father Muhammad Yusuf had preached before. On that tour, he visited Xining (today's Qinghai province), Lintao, and Hezhou (now Linxia), and was said to convert some Hui and many Salars there to Naqshbandi Sufism. According to the Chinese (Hui) followers of the Qadiriyya Sufi school, when Afāq Khoja was in Xining in 1672, he gave his blessing to 16-year-old Qing Jingyi (later also known as Hilal al-Din, or Qi Daozu (1656-1719)), who was then to introduce Qadiriyya into China proper. His two other spiritual descendants, Ma Laichi and Ma Mingxin, went to study in Central Asia and Arabia, and upon return to China founded two other Naqshbandi menhuans (brotherhoods) there: the Khufiyya and the Jahriyya, respectively.[2]
The Afaqis
Main article: Aq Tagh
Khoja Afaq's descendants, known as the &>56;fāqi khojas, or the Aq Taghliqs, i.e. 'White Mountaineers', played an important part in East Turkestan's politics for almost two centuries after Afāq's death. They first ruled Kashgaria as Dzungars' vassals, but after the death of Dzungars' Galdan Khan managed to gain independence for a while.
The next strong Dzungar ruler, Tsewang Rabtan (1697-1727), subjugated Kashgaria again; to stay on the safe side, Dzungars this time were now to keep the Afaqi Khojas as hostages in the Ili region, and rule Kashgarian cities through Afaqis' rivals, the Ishaqi khojas.
In the 1750s, two Afaqi Khoja descendents- brothers, Burhān al-Dīn and Khwāja-i Jahān, who had been held by Dzungars as hostages in Ili, aided the Manchu Qing emperor Kangxi in annihilating the Dzungars and establishing Qing hegemony over Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin. However, as the two khojas sought more independence for themselves, they soon came into conflict with the Qing power. Having lost Yarkand and Kashgar to the Qing armies in 1759, they fled to Badakhshan, where they were promptly killed by the local ruler, Sultān Shāh, who sent their heads to the Qing.
Accoridng to a legend, Iparhan, granddaughter of Apak Khoja was given to emperor Qianlong as concubine. Under Qing auspice, Khojijan rulers of city states often fell out of favor of the hegemonic power and had to flee to Uzbek protection in the Khanate of Kokand.
By 19th century, prominent Afaqi Khojas (Khojijans) in exile in Kokand sought to influence their former domains through preaching or allying with new imperialist powers of Russia and Great Britain. It was during the 1800s that two major attempts were launched from Kokand to claim the "Six City State of Tarim Basin" from Qing domination. These were the British-supported Jihangir Rebellion (1826-1827) and the usurpation of Kashgaria by Kokand retainer Yaqub Beg (1864-1877) who recognized Ottoman suzerainty.
Well into 20th century, there were still local princely families of Khojijan descent. Chinese warlord and Governor of Sinkiang Sheng Shicai (April,1933- August,1944) restored the status of several of these local rulers to facilitate his rule.
Afāq Khoja Mausoleum
Afāq Khoja's mausoleum is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. It is located at 39°29′26″N, 76°1′23″E in Haohan Village (浩罕村), a northeastern suburb some 5 km from the city centre of Kashgar. First built ca. 1640, initially as Muhammad Yusuf tomb, the beautiful tiled mausoleum contains the tombs of five generations of the Afāqi family, providing resting places for its 72 members, both men and women.
Footnotes
^ Khwāja &>56;fāq, or Khoja Afaq, is a spelling preferred by modern schlars, e.g. Kim (2004) or Gladney (1999)
^ Gladney (1999)
Literature
Kim Hodong, "Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877". Stanford University Press (March 2004). ISBN 0804748845. (Searchable text available on Amazon.com)
Dru C. Gladney (1999), "The Salafiyya Movement in Northwest China: Islamic Fundamentalism among the Muslim Chinese?" Originally published in "Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts". Leif Manger, Ed. Surrey: Curzon Press. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, No 26. Pp. 102-149.
Abakh Khoja Tomb
Name spelling
In Chinese, Afaq Khoja's name is usually written as 阿帕克霍加 (Apake Huojia) or 阿帕尔霍加 (Apa'er Huojia), occasionally just 阿帕霍加 (Apa Huojia); khoja may also appear as 和卓 (huozhuo).
Life of Afaq Khoja
Afaq Khoja was a great-grandson of the famous Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani (? - 1534) (also known as Makhdūm-i`Azam, 'the Great Master'), and was revered as a Sufi teacher in his own right. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a sayid, who is a relative of the prophet Muhammad.
Afaq Khoja seized power from the Chagatay dynasty of Yarkand by inviting Dzungar invaders through the secret diplomacy of the Dalai Lama. Afaq Khoja was a powerful ruler, controlling East Turkistan including Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar.
As a result of the conflict with Iskhaki khojas, Afaq khoja was at one point expelled from Kashgaria, and is said to have invited the Dzungars in 1678. The Dzungars, led by Galdan Boshughtu Khan (1670-1697) then made Afaq and his descendants only nominal ruler of Kashgaria.
Afaq Khoja and Islam in China
Afaq Khoja's influence spread far outside of Xinjiang. From 1671-72, he was preaching in Gansu (which then included parts of modern Qinghai province), where his father Muhammad Yusuf had preached before. On that tour, he visited Xining (today's Qinghai province), Lintao, and Hezhou (now Linxia), and was said to convert some Hui and many Salars there to Naqshbandi Sufism. According to the Chinese (Hui) followers of the Qadiriyya Sufi school, when Afāq Khoja was in Xining in 1672, he gave his blessing to 16-year-old Qing Jingyi (later also known as Hilal al-Din, or Qi Daozu (1656-1719)), who was then to introduce Qadiriyya into China proper. His two other spiritual descendants, Ma Laichi and Ma Mingxin, went to study in Central Asia and Arabia, and upon return to China founded two other Naqshbandi menhuans (brotherhoods) there: the Khufiyya and the Jahriyya, respectively.[2]
The Afaqis
Main article: Aq Tagh
Khoja Afaq's descendants, known as the &>56;fāqi khojas, or the Aq Taghliqs, i.e. 'White Mountaineers', played an important part in East Turkestan's politics for almost two centuries after Afāq's death. They first ruled Kashgaria as Dzungars' vassals, but after the death of Dzungars' Galdan Khan managed to gain independence for a while.
The next strong Dzungar ruler, Tsewang Rabtan (1697-1727), subjugated Kashgaria again; to stay on the safe side, Dzungars this time were now to keep the Afaqi Khojas as hostages in the Ili region, and rule Kashgarian cities through Afaqis' rivals, the Ishaqi khojas.
In the 1750s, two Afaqi Khoja descendents- brothers, Burhān al-Dīn and Khwāja-i Jahān, who had been held by Dzungars as hostages in Ili, aided the Manchu Qing emperor Kangxi in annihilating the Dzungars and establishing Qing hegemony over Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin. However, as the two khojas sought more independence for themselves, they soon came into conflict with the Qing power. Having lost Yarkand and Kashgar to the Qing armies in 1759, they fled to Badakhshan, where they were promptly killed by the local ruler, Sultān Shāh, who sent their heads to the Qing.
Accoridng to a legend, Iparhan, granddaughter of Apak Khoja was given to emperor Qianlong as concubine. Under Qing auspice, Khojijan rulers of city states often fell out of favor of the hegemonic power and had to flee to Uzbek protection in the Khanate of Kokand.
By 19th century, prominent Afaqi Khojas (Khojijans) in exile in Kokand sought to influence their former domains through preaching or allying with new imperialist powers of Russia and Great Britain. It was during the 1800s that two major attempts were launched from Kokand to claim the "Six City State of Tarim Basin" from Qing domination. These were the British-supported Jihangir Rebellion (1826-1827) and the usurpation of Kashgaria by Kokand retainer Yaqub Beg (1864-1877) who recognized Ottoman suzerainty.
Well into 20th century, there were still local princely families of Khojijan descent. Chinese warlord and Governor of Sinkiang Sheng Shicai (April,1933- August,1944) restored the status of several of these local rulers to facilitate his rule.
Afāq Khoja Mausoleum
Afāq Khoja's mausoleum is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. It is located at 39°29′26″N, 76°1′23″E in Haohan Village (浩罕村), a northeastern suburb some 5 km from the city centre of Kashgar. First built ca. 1640, initially as Muhammad Yusuf tomb, the beautiful tiled mausoleum contains the tombs of five generations of the Afāqi family, providing resting places for its 72 members, both men and women.
Footnotes
^ Khwāja &>56;fāq, or Khoja Afaq, is a spelling preferred by modern schlars, e.g. Kim (2004) or Gladney (1999)
^ Gladney (1999)
Literature
Kim Hodong, "Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877". Stanford University Press (March 2004). ISBN 0804748845. (Searchable text available on Amazon.com)
Dru C. Gladney (1999), "The Salafiyya Movement in Northwest China: Islamic Fundamentalism among the Muslim Chinese?" Originally published in "Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts". Leif Manger, Ed. Surrey: Curzon Press. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, No 26. Pp. 102-149.
Abakh Khoja Tomb
Ehmetjan Qasimi
Ehmetjan Qasimi (1914-1949) (also transliterated as Ahmetjan Khasim or Ahmetcan Kasimi) was a political leader of the Second East Turkestan Republic, which existed from November 12 1944 to October 1 1949.
Ehmetjan was born in Ghulja in 1914. He studied in a Moscow Eastern Socialist Labor University in 1936. In August 1949 Ehmetjan Qasimi [President of the ETR, Uyghur], Abdulkerim Abbas [Minister of Foreign Affairs, Uyghur], Ishaq Beg Munonov [General-Lieutenant, Chief of National Army, Kyrgyz], Dalelkhan Sugirbayev [General-Major, Vice-Chief of National Army, Kazakh], Rakhimjan Sabirhajiev [Minister of Internal Affairs, Uyghur] and Luo Zhi boarded a plane in Alma-ata, former capital of Kazakhstan headed for Beijing. On September 3, the Soviet Union informed the Chinese government that the plane had crashed killing all on-board. After collapsing of Soviet Union in 1991 some former KGB leaders revealed information that five top ETR leaders were killed by Stalin in Moscow late August, 1949, according to his dealing with China's communist leader Mao Zedong.
Not long before his death Ehmetjan Qasimi declared: " Sinkiang certainly should become Uyghurstan - it's a desire not only of uyghurs, but the all inhabitants and nationalities that live in Eastern Turkestan".
Ehmetjan was born in Ghulja in 1914. He studied in a Moscow Eastern Socialist Labor University in 1936. In August 1949 Ehmetjan Qasimi [President of the ETR, Uyghur], Abdulkerim Abbas [Minister of Foreign Affairs, Uyghur], Ishaq Beg Munonov [General-Lieutenant, Chief of National Army, Kyrgyz], Dalelkhan Sugirbayev [General-Major, Vice-Chief of National Army, Kazakh], Rakhimjan Sabirhajiev [Minister of Internal Affairs, Uyghur] and Luo Zhi boarded a plane in Alma-ata, former capital of Kazakhstan headed for Beijing. On September 3, the Soviet Union informed the Chinese government that the plane had crashed killing all on-board. After collapsing of Soviet Union in 1991 some former KGB leaders revealed information that five top ETR leaders were killed by Stalin in Moscow late August, 1949, according to his dealing with China's communist leader Mao Zedong.
Not long before his death Ehmetjan Qasimi declared: " Sinkiang certainly should become Uyghurstan - it's a desire not only of uyghurs, but the all inhabitants and nationalities that live in Eastern Turkestan".
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire (c. 1st–3rd centuries) was a state that at its height, about 105–250, stretched from what is now Tajikistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and down into the Ganges river valley in northern India. The empire was created by the Kushan tribe of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European people from the eastern Tarim Basin, China, possibly related to the Tocharians. They had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and China, and for several centuries were at the center of exchange between the East and the West.
Origins
Chinese sources describe the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜), i.e. the "Kushans", as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi, also spelled Yueh-chi,[1] (Ch: 月氏), a loose confederation of Indo-European peoples. The Yuezhi are also generally considered as the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages, who had been living in the arid grasslands of eastern Central Asia, in modern-day Xinjiang and Gansu, possibly speaking versions of the Tocharian language, until they were driven west by the Xiongnu in 176–160 BCE. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiūmì (Ch: 休密), Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜), Shuangmi (Ch: 雙靡), Xidun (Ch: 肸頓), and Dūmì (Ch: 都密).
The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria, in the Bactrian territory (northernmost Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135 BCE, and displaced the Greek dynasties there, who resettled in Indus basin (in present day Pakistan) in the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
Early Kushans
Head of a Kushan prince (Khalchayan palace, Uzbekistan).
Silver tetradrachm of the first known self-declared "Kushan" ("Kossano" on his coins) ruler Heraios (1–30).
Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushan in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-I-Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and in the palace of Khalchayan. Various sculptures and friezes are known, representing horse-riding archers[2], and significantly men with artificially deformed skulls, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan[3] (a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia). On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler was Heraios. He calls himself a "Tyrant" on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.
A multi-cultural Empire
In the following century, the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under yabgu (Commander) Kujula Kadphises. The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi.
A Buddhist devotee in Kushan dress, Mathura, 2nd century. The Kushan dress is generally depicted as quite stiff, and it is thought it was often made of leather (Francine Tissot, "Gandhara").
Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (An area lying primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar, and Northwest Frontier Provinces region but going in an arc to include Kabul valley and part of Qandahar in Afghanistan) and established twin capitals near present-day Kabul and Peshawar then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively.
The Kushan writing system used the Greek alphabet, with the addition of the letter Sho (here in majuscule and minuscule), used to represent the Kushan sound "Sh".
The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adapted the Greek alphabet (often corrupted) to suit their own language (with the additional development of the letter Þ "sh", as in "Kushan") and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the Kharoshthi script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After that date, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek script) and legends in Pali (Kharoshthi script).
The Kushans are believed to have been predominantly Zoroastrian and later Buddhist as well. However, from the time of Wima Takto, many Kushans started adopting aspects of Indian culture like the other nomadic groups who had invaded India, principally the Royal clans of Gujjars. Like the Macedonians and Egyptians they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek Culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly Hellenised. The first great Kushan emperor Wima Kadphises may have embraced Saivism, as surmised by coins minted during the period. The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and possibly Saivism.
The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilized Indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely oversaw a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan into northern India.
The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers.
Territorial expansion
Terracotta of a spear-throwing foreign soldier, Later Han, Three Kingdoms, 3rd century CE, China.
In heartland India, Kushan rule extended along the valley of the Ganges, with their winter capital being in Mathura. Their summer capital is thought to have been at Begram, in the Hindu Kush. The lines 4 to 7 of the Rabatak inscription[4] describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka, among which six names are identifiable: Ujjain, Kundina, Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Champa (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it).[5][6][7]
Northward, in the 2nd century CE, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin, seemingly the original ground of their ancestors the Yuezhi, where they had various contacts with the Chinese.
Main Kushan rulers
Kujula Kadphises (30-80)
According to the Hou Hanshu: "the prince (xihou) of Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), named Kujula Kadphises (Ch:丘就却, "Qiujiuque") attacked and exterminated the four other princes (xihou). He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang."[8]
Tetradrachm of Kujula Kadphises (30-80 CE) in the style of Hermaeus.
He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu (Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda, and Jibin (Kapisha-Gandhara). Qiujiuque (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died."
These conquests probably took place sometime between 45 and 60, and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which was rapidly expanded by his descendants.
Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two sons, Sada&s779;ka&s751;a (who is known from only two inscriptions, especially the Rabatak inscription, and apparently never have ruled), and seemingly Vima Taktu.
Kujula Kadphises was the great grandfather of Kanishka.
Vima Taktu (80-105)
Bronze coin of Vima Takto. Corrupted Greek legend ΒΑ&<017;ΙΛΕΥ ΒΑ&<017;ΙΛΕΥΩΝ &<017;ΩΤΗΡ [ΓΗΕ.] "Basileu[s] Basileuōn Sōtēr [Megas?]": "The King of Kings, [Great?] Saviour".
Vima Takt[u] (or Tak[to]) is not mentioned in the Rabatak inscription (Sadashkana is instead. See also the reference to Sims-William's article below). He was the predecessor of Vima Kadphises, and Kanishka I. He expanded the Kushan Empire into the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. The Hou Hanshu says:
"His [Kujula Kadphises'] son, Yangaozhen (Vima Taktu), became king in his place. He conquered Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi."[9]
Vima Kadphises (105-127)
Vima Kadphises.
Vima Kadphises (Kushan language:ΟΟΗΜΟ ΚΑΔΦΙ&<017;Η&<017;, Ancient Chinese:阎膏珍) was a Kushan emperor from around 90-100 CE, the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of Kujula Kadphises, and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by the Rabatak inscription.
Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Afghanistan and north-west India. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions. He was the first to introduce gold coinage in India, in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage.
Kanishka I (127-147)
Kanishka I.
The rule of Kanishka I (&>325;&>344;&>367;&>358;&>381;&>325;), the second great Kushan emperor, fifth Kushan king, who flourished for at least 28 years from c. 127. Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription:
"In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundinya< Kundina) and the city of Ozeno (Ozene, Ujjain) and the city of Zageda (Saketa) and the city of Kozambo (Kausambi) and the city of Palabotro (Pataliputra) and so long unto (i.e. as far as) the city of Ziri-tambo (Sri-Champa)." Rabatak inscription, Lines 4-6.
The Qila Mubarak fort at Bathinda was built by Kanishka.
His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in northern Pakistan) and Mathura, in northern India. He is also credited (along with Raja Dab) for building the massive, ancient Fort at Bathinda (Qila Mubarak), in the modern city of Bathinda, Indian Punjab.
The Kushans also had a summer capital in Bagram (then known as Kapisa), where the "Begram Treasure", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found. According to the Rabatak inscription, Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises, the grandson of Sadashkana, and the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises. Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research.[10][11] Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.
Vāsishka
Vāsishka was a Kushan emperor, who seems to have a short reign following Kanishka. His rule is recorded as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (The Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana"-i.e. Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (The Sanchi inscription of Vasaska-i.e. Vasishka) of the Kanishka era.
Huvishka.
Huvishka (140-183)
Huvishka (Kushan: ΟΟΗ&<015;ΚΙ, "Ooishki") was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 140 CE) until the succession of Vasudeva I about forty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.
Vasudeva I (191-225)
Gold coin of Vasudeva I.
Vasudeva I (Kushan: ΒΑΖΟΔΗΟ "Bazodeo", Chinese: 波調 "Bodiao") was the last of the "Great Kushans." Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least 191 to 225 CE. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sassanids as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the Indo-Sassanids or Kushanshahs from around 240 CE.
The Kushans and Buddhism
Kushan devotee in the traditional costume with tunic and boots, 2nd century, Gandhara.
Stupas under the Kushan became less decorative and were rather roughly built compared to their predecessors (see Indo-Scythian stupas). They were modified so as to allow circambulation around roughly positionned narrative Buddhist friezes. Butkara stupa, Swat.[12]
Cultural exchanges also flourished, encouraging the development of Greco-Buddhism, a fusion of Hellenistic and Buddhist cultural elements, that was to expand into central and northern Asia as Mahayana Buddhism.
Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or Prakrit, Buddhist texts translated into the language of Sanskrit. Along with the Indian emperors Ashoka and Harsha Vardhana and the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda), Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.
An early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd-3rd century, Gandhara.
Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara
The art and culture of Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara, where they are represented with a tunic, belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha, as well as the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya.
In the iconography, they are never associated however with the very Hellenistic "Standing Buddha" statues (See image), which might therefore correspond to an earlier historical period. The style of these friezes incorporating Kushan devotees is already strongly Indianized, quite remote from earlier Hellenistic depictions of the Buddha:
Gold coin of Kanishka I, with a depiction of the Buddha, with the legend "Boddo" in Greek script.
Kushan costume.
Detail of the face of a Kushan devotee.
Flaming Buddha with Kushan devotees around Maitreya.
Maitreya, with Kushan devotee couple. 2nd century Gandhara.
Detail of Kushan devotee.
Maitreya, with Kushan devotees, left and right. 2nd century Gandhara.
Maitreya, with Indian (left) and Kushan (right) devotees.
Kushans worshipping the Buddha's bowl. 2nd century Gandhara.
The "Kanishka casket", with the Buddha surrounded by Brahma and Indra, and Kanishka on the lower part, 127.
Buddha triad and kneeling Kushan devotee couple. 3rd century.
Depictions of the Buddha in the coinage of Kanishka.
Stucco head of a Kushan man. Gandhara.
Contacts with Rome
A Greco-Roman gladiator on a glass vessel, Begram, 2nd century.
Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.
Historia Augusta, speaking of Emperor Hadrian (117–138) tells:
"Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt"
"The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."
Also in 138, according to Aurelius Victor (Epitome&S218; XV, 4), and Appian (Praef., 7), Antoninus Pius, successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian (Kushan) and Hyrcanian ambassadors.
The Chinese Historical Chronicle of the Hou Hanshu also describes the exchange of goods between northwestern India and the Roman Empire at that time: "To the west (Tiazhu, northwestern India) communicates with Da Qin (the Roman Empire). Precious things from Da Qin can be found there, as well as fine cotton cloths, excellent wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, sugar loaves, pepper, ginger, and black salt."
The summer capital of the Kushan in Begram has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire, in particular various types of glassware.
Contacts with China
The Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema, first known translator of Buddhist Mahayana scriptures into Chinese, circa 170.
During the 1st and 2nd century, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin, their original grounds, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they collaborated with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turfan, east of the Tarim Basin.
In recognition for their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested, but were denied, a Han princess, even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70,000, but, exhausted by the expedition, were finally defeated by the smaller Chinese force. The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of the Chinese emperor Han He (89–106).
Later, around 116, the Kushans under Kanishka established a kingdom centered on Kashgar, also taking control of Khotan and Yarkand, which were Chinese dependencies in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang. They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and expanded the influence of Greco-Buddhist art which developed into Serindian art.
The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158–159 during the reign of the Chinese emperor Han Huan.
Following these interactions, cultural exhanges further increased, and Kushan Buddhist missionaries, such as Lokaksema, became active in the Chinese capital cities of Loyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China, greatly contributing to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.
Decline
Gold dinar of Kushan king Kanishka II (200–220)
Late Kushan ruler Shaka I (325-345).
From the 3rd century the Kushan empire began to fragment.
Around 225 Vasudeva I died and the Kushan empire was divided into western and eastern halves. Around 224–240, the Sassanids invaded Bactria and Northern India, where they are known as the Indo-Sassanids.
Around 270, the Kushans lost their territories on the Gangetic plain, where the Gupta Empire was established around 320 and to the Sassanids during Shapur II's reign, notably the area that comprises Afghanistan.
During the middle of the 4th century a Kushan vassal, named Kidara, rose to power and overthrew the old Kushan dynasty. He created a kingdom known as the Kidarite Kingdom, although he probably considered himself a Kushan, as indicated by the Kushan style of his coins. The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous, although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors.
These remnants of the Kushan empire were ultimately wiped out in the 5th century by the invasions of the White Huns, and later the expansion of Islam.
In fiction
The Kushan Empire was used to represent a dystopian demonic empire within the hugely popular Berserk manga. Its culture is based on that of ancient and medieval India, which was the cultural centre of the real Kushan Empire, including Indian weapons such as chakrams, katars and urumis, and martial arts similar to Kalarippayattu, but adapted for the nihilistic setting. In this fictional setting it is ruled by the Emperor Ganishka, a name based upon the real Kushan Emperor Kanishka.
Origins
Chinese sources describe the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜), i.e. the "Kushans", as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi, also spelled Yueh-chi,[1] (Ch: 月氏), a loose confederation of Indo-European peoples. The Yuezhi are also generally considered as the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages, who had been living in the arid grasslands of eastern Central Asia, in modern-day Xinjiang and Gansu, possibly speaking versions of the Tocharian language, until they were driven west by the Xiongnu in 176–160 BCE. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiūmì (Ch: 休密), Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜), Shuangmi (Ch: 雙靡), Xidun (Ch: 肸頓), and Dūmì (Ch: 都密).
The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria, in the Bactrian territory (northernmost Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135 BCE, and displaced the Greek dynasties there, who resettled in Indus basin (in present day Pakistan) in the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
Early Kushans
Head of a Kushan prince (Khalchayan palace, Uzbekistan).
Silver tetradrachm of the first known self-declared "Kushan" ("Kossano" on his coins) ruler Heraios (1–30).
Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushan in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-I-Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and in the palace of Khalchayan. Various sculptures and friezes are known, representing horse-riding archers[2], and significantly men with artificially deformed skulls, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan[3] (a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia). On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler was Heraios. He calls himself a "Tyrant" on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.
A multi-cultural Empire
In the following century, the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under yabgu (Commander) Kujula Kadphises. The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi.
A Buddhist devotee in Kushan dress, Mathura, 2nd century. The Kushan dress is generally depicted as quite stiff, and it is thought it was often made of leather (Francine Tissot, "Gandhara").
Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (An area lying primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar, and Northwest Frontier Provinces region but going in an arc to include Kabul valley and part of Qandahar in Afghanistan) and established twin capitals near present-day Kabul and Peshawar then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively.
The Kushan writing system used the Greek alphabet, with the addition of the letter Sho (here in majuscule and minuscule), used to represent the Kushan sound "Sh".
The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adapted the Greek alphabet (often corrupted) to suit their own language (with the additional development of the letter Þ "sh", as in "Kushan") and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the Kharoshthi script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After that date, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek script) and legends in Pali (Kharoshthi script).
The Kushans are believed to have been predominantly Zoroastrian and later Buddhist as well. However, from the time of Wima Takto, many Kushans started adopting aspects of Indian culture like the other nomadic groups who had invaded India, principally the Royal clans of Gujjars. Like the Macedonians and Egyptians they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek Culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly Hellenised. The first great Kushan emperor Wima Kadphises may have embraced Saivism, as surmised by coins minted during the period. The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and possibly Saivism.
The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilized Indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely oversaw a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan into northern India.
The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers.
Territorial expansion
Terracotta of a spear-throwing foreign soldier, Later Han, Three Kingdoms, 3rd century CE, China.
In heartland India, Kushan rule extended along the valley of the Ganges, with their winter capital being in Mathura. Their summer capital is thought to have been at Begram, in the Hindu Kush. The lines 4 to 7 of the Rabatak inscription[4] describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka, among which six names are identifiable: Ujjain, Kundina, Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Champa (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it).[5][6][7]
Northward, in the 2nd century CE, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin, seemingly the original ground of their ancestors the Yuezhi, where they had various contacts with the Chinese.
Main Kushan rulers
Kujula Kadphises (30-80)
According to the Hou Hanshu: "the prince (xihou) of Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), named Kujula Kadphises (Ch:丘就却, "Qiujiuque") attacked and exterminated the four other princes (xihou). He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang."[8]
Tetradrachm of Kujula Kadphises (30-80 CE) in the style of Hermaeus.
He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu (Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda, and Jibin (Kapisha-Gandhara). Qiujiuque (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died."
These conquests probably took place sometime between 45 and 60, and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which was rapidly expanded by his descendants.
Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two sons, Sada&s779;ka&s751;a (who is known from only two inscriptions, especially the Rabatak inscription, and apparently never have ruled), and seemingly Vima Taktu.
Kujula Kadphises was the great grandfather of Kanishka.
Vima Taktu (80-105)
Bronze coin of Vima Takto. Corrupted Greek legend ΒΑ&<017;ΙΛΕΥ ΒΑ&<017;ΙΛΕΥΩΝ &<017;ΩΤΗΡ [ΓΗΕ.] "Basileu[s] Basileuōn Sōtēr [Megas?]": "The King of Kings, [Great?] Saviour".
Vima Takt[u] (or Tak[to]) is not mentioned in the Rabatak inscription (Sadashkana is instead. See also the reference to Sims-William's article below). He was the predecessor of Vima Kadphises, and Kanishka I. He expanded the Kushan Empire into the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. The Hou Hanshu says:
"His [Kujula Kadphises'] son, Yangaozhen (Vima Taktu), became king in his place. He conquered Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi."[9]
Vima Kadphises (105-127)
Vima Kadphises.
Vima Kadphises (Kushan language:ΟΟΗΜΟ ΚΑΔΦΙ&<017;Η&<017;, Ancient Chinese:阎膏珍) was a Kushan emperor from around 90-100 CE, the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of Kujula Kadphises, and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by the Rabatak inscription.
Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Afghanistan and north-west India. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions. He was the first to introduce gold coinage in India, in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage.
Kanishka I (127-147)
Kanishka I.
The rule of Kanishka I (&>325;&>344;&>367;&>358;&>381;&>325;), the second great Kushan emperor, fifth Kushan king, who flourished for at least 28 years from c. 127. Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription:
"In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundinya< Kundina) and the city of Ozeno (Ozene, Ujjain) and the city of Zageda (Saketa) and the city of Kozambo (Kausambi) and the city of Palabotro (Pataliputra) and so long unto (i.e. as far as) the city of Ziri-tambo (Sri-Champa)." Rabatak inscription, Lines 4-6.
The Qila Mubarak fort at Bathinda was built by Kanishka.
His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in northern Pakistan) and Mathura, in northern India. He is also credited (along with Raja Dab) for building the massive, ancient Fort at Bathinda (Qila Mubarak), in the modern city of Bathinda, Indian Punjab.
The Kushans also had a summer capital in Bagram (then known as Kapisa), where the "Begram Treasure", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found. According to the Rabatak inscription, Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises, the grandson of Sadashkana, and the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises. Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research.[10][11] Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.
Vāsishka
Vāsishka was a Kushan emperor, who seems to have a short reign following Kanishka. His rule is recorded as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (The Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana"-i.e. Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (The Sanchi inscription of Vasaska-i.e. Vasishka) of the Kanishka era.
Huvishka.
Huvishka (140-183)
Huvishka (Kushan: ΟΟΗ&<015;ΚΙ, "Ooishki") was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 140 CE) until the succession of Vasudeva I about forty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.
Vasudeva I (191-225)
Gold coin of Vasudeva I.
Vasudeva I (Kushan: ΒΑΖΟΔΗΟ "Bazodeo", Chinese: 波調 "Bodiao") was the last of the "Great Kushans." Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least 191 to 225 CE. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sassanids as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the Indo-Sassanids or Kushanshahs from around 240 CE.
The Kushans and Buddhism
Kushan devotee in the traditional costume with tunic and boots, 2nd century, Gandhara.
Stupas under the Kushan became less decorative and were rather roughly built compared to their predecessors (see Indo-Scythian stupas). They were modified so as to allow circambulation around roughly positionned narrative Buddhist friezes. Butkara stupa, Swat.[12]
Cultural exchanges also flourished, encouraging the development of Greco-Buddhism, a fusion of Hellenistic and Buddhist cultural elements, that was to expand into central and northern Asia as Mahayana Buddhism.
Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or Prakrit, Buddhist texts translated into the language of Sanskrit. Along with the Indian emperors Ashoka and Harsha Vardhana and the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda), Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.
An early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd-3rd century, Gandhara.
Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara
The art and culture of Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara, where they are represented with a tunic, belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha, as well as the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya.
In the iconography, they are never associated however with the very Hellenistic "Standing Buddha" statues (See image), which might therefore correspond to an earlier historical period. The style of these friezes incorporating Kushan devotees is already strongly Indianized, quite remote from earlier Hellenistic depictions of the Buddha:
Gold coin of Kanishka I, with a depiction of the Buddha, with the legend "Boddo" in Greek script.
Kushan costume.
Detail of the face of a Kushan devotee.
Flaming Buddha with Kushan devotees around Maitreya.
Maitreya, with Kushan devotee couple. 2nd century Gandhara.
Detail of Kushan devotee.
Maitreya, with Kushan devotees, left and right. 2nd century Gandhara.
Maitreya, with Indian (left) and Kushan (right) devotees.
Kushans worshipping the Buddha's bowl. 2nd century Gandhara.
The "Kanishka casket", with the Buddha surrounded by Brahma and Indra, and Kanishka on the lower part, 127.
Buddha triad and kneeling Kushan devotee couple. 3rd century.
Depictions of the Buddha in the coinage of Kanishka.
Stucco head of a Kushan man. Gandhara.
Contacts with Rome
A Greco-Roman gladiator on a glass vessel, Begram, 2nd century.
Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.
Historia Augusta, speaking of Emperor Hadrian (117–138) tells:
"Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt"
"The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."
Also in 138, according to Aurelius Victor (Epitome&S218; XV, 4), and Appian (Praef., 7), Antoninus Pius, successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian (Kushan) and Hyrcanian ambassadors.
The Chinese Historical Chronicle of the Hou Hanshu also describes the exchange of goods between northwestern India and the Roman Empire at that time: "To the west (Tiazhu, northwestern India) communicates with Da Qin (the Roman Empire). Precious things from Da Qin can be found there, as well as fine cotton cloths, excellent wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, sugar loaves, pepper, ginger, and black salt."
The summer capital of the Kushan in Begram has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire, in particular various types of glassware.
Contacts with China
The Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema, first known translator of Buddhist Mahayana scriptures into Chinese, circa 170.
During the 1st and 2nd century, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin, their original grounds, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they collaborated with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turfan, east of the Tarim Basin.
In recognition for their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested, but were denied, a Han princess, even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70,000, but, exhausted by the expedition, were finally defeated by the smaller Chinese force. The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of the Chinese emperor Han He (89–106).
Later, around 116, the Kushans under Kanishka established a kingdom centered on Kashgar, also taking control of Khotan and Yarkand, which were Chinese dependencies in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang. They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and expanded the influence of Greco-Buddhist art which developed into Serindian art.
The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158–159 during the reign of the Chinese emperor Han Huan.
Following these interactions, cultural exhanges further increased, and Kushan Buddhist missionaries, such as Lokaksema, became active in the Chinese capital cities of Loyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China, greatly contributing to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.
Decline
Gold dinar of Kushan king Kanishka II (200–220)
Late Kushan ruler Shaka I (325-345).
From the 3rd century the Kushan empire began to fragment.
Around 225 Vasudeva I died and the Kushan empire was divided into western and eastern halves. Around 224–240, the Sassanids invaded Bactria and Northern India, where they are known as the Indo-Sassanids.
Around 270, the Kushans lost their territories on the Gangetic plain, where the Gupta Empire was established around 320 and to the Sassanids during Shapur II's reign, notably the area that comprises Afghanistan.
During the middle of the 4th century a Kushan vassal, named Kidara, rose to power and overthrew the old Kushan dynasty. He created a kingdom known as the Kidarite Kingdom, although he probably considered himself a Kushan, as indicated by the Kushan style of his coins. The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous, although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors.
These remnants of the Kushan empire were ultimately wiped out in the 5th century by the invasions of the White Huns, and later the expansion of Islam.
In fiction
The Kushan Empire was used to represent a dystopian demonic empire within the hugely popular Berserk manga. Its culture is based on that of ancient and medieval India, which was the cultural centre of the real Kushan Empire, including Indian weapons such as chakrams, katars and urumis, and martial arts similar to Kalarippayattu, but adapted for the nihilistic setting. In this fictional setting it is ruled by the Emperor Ganishka, a name based upon the real Kushan Emperor Kanishka.
Uyghur A language of China
Population
7,214,431 in China (1990 census). Most are monolingual. Population includes 4,700,000 Central Uyghur, 1,150,000 Hotan, 25,000 Lop. Population total all countries: 7,601,431.
Region
Throughout the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Also spoken in Afghanistan, Australia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), USA, Uzbekistan.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uygur, Uigur, Uighuir, Uiguir, Weiwuer, Wiga
Dialects
Central Uyghur, Hotan (Hetian), Lop (Luobu). The Akto Türkmen speak a dialect of Uyghur with 500 different seldom-used words. There are 2,000 in two villages, Kösarap and Oytak in Akto County, south of Kashgar, Xinjiang. Dolan is a dialect spoken around the fringes of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang. Chinese linguists recognize 3 dialects. Others have used the following dialect names: Kashgar-Yarkand (Kashi-Shac he), Yengi Hissar (Yengisar), Khotan-Kerya (Hotan-Yutian), Charchan (Qarqan, Qiemo), Aksu (Aqsu), Qarashahr (Karaxahar), Kucha (Kuqa), Turfan (Turpan), Kumul (Hami), Ili (Kulja, Yining, Taranchi), Urumqi (Urumchi), Lopnor (Lopnur), Dolan, Akto Türkmen. There are significant dialect differences between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Classification
Altaic, Turkic, Eastern
Language use
Official regional language. Widely used in print media in Kashgar. Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive language attitude. Young people and intellectuals can also speak Chinese, a few can also speak English, Japanese, or Russian.
Language development
Literacy rate in second language: 56%. Literacy based on Central Uyghur as spoken in the area between Yili (Ili) and Urumqi. Roman, Arabic, and Cyrillic scripts; Cyrillic script in Kazakhstan; Roman script in Turkey; Arabic script in Afghanistan. Newspapers. Radio programs. TV. Grammar. Bible: 1950.
Comments
Part of the Uyghur nationality. One of the five main official nationalities in China. Those in the north are more influenced by modern Chinese culture. SOV; postpositions; genitives, adjectives, numerals, relatives before noun heads; question words initial; a few prefixes; 3 suffixes on nouns; 6 suffixes on verbs; word order distinguishes subjects and indirect objects, topic and comment; eight noun cases shown by suffixes; verb suffixes mark subject person, number, 2nd person marks plural and 3 levels of respect; passive, reflexive, reciprocal and causative; comparatives; CV, CVC, CVCC syllables; nontonal. Valleys, mountain slope. Desert, oases. Agriculturalists: grain, fruit, grapes, vegetables, cotton; traders; craftsmen; animal husbandry. Muslim (Sunni).
Also spoken in:
Afghanistan
Language name
Uyghur
Population
3,000 in Afghanistan.
Region
Spoken in a few villages in Badakshan and Abi-i-Barik. Also possibly in Iran and Taiwan.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uyghuri, Wighor, Uighor, Uiguir
Dialects
Kashgar-Yarkand (Yarkandi), Taranchi.
Language development
Literacy rate in first language: below 1%. Literacy rate in second language: 5% to 15%.
Comments
Muslim (Sunni).
Kazakhstan
Language name
Uyghur
Population
300,000 in Kazakhstan (1993).
Region
Taranchi dialect in Kazakhstan, Kashgar-Yarkand dialect in Uzbekistan.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uiguir, Uygur, Novouygur
Dialects
Taranchi (Kulja), Kashgar-Yarkand.
Language use
86% speak it as first language.
Comments
Agriculturalists. Muslim (Sunni).
Mongolia
Language name
Uyghur
Population
1,000 in Mongolia (1982).
Region
Hövsgöl Aimag, north Mongolia.
Alternate names
Uygur, Uighur, Uigur, Uighuir, Uiguir
Language development
Literacy is in Halh in Mongolia; the Uyghur are generally assimilated to Halh culture.
Comments
Muslim (Sunni).
Turkey (Asia)
Language name
Uyghur
Population
500 in Turkey (1981).
Region
Kayseri city, and an unknown number in Istanbul. Possibly in Iran.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uygur, Uigur
Comments
Muslim (Sunni).
7,214,431 in China (1990 census). Most are monolingual. Population includes 4,700,000 Central Uyghur, 1,150,000 Hotan, 25,000 Lop. Population total all countries: 7,601,431.
Region
Throughout the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Also spoken in Afghanistan, Australia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), USA, Uzbekistan.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uygur, Uigur, Uighuir, Uiguir, Weiwuer, Wiga
Dialects
Central Uyghur, Hotan (Hetian), Lop (Luobu). The Akto Türkmen speak a dialect of Uyghur with 500 different seldom-used words. There are 2,000 in two villages, Kösarap and Oytak in Akto County, south of Kashgar, Xinjiang. Dolan is a dialect spoken around the fringes of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang. Chinese linguists recognize 3 dialects. Others have used the following dialect names: Kashgar-Yarkand (Kashi-Shac he), Yengi Hissar (Yengisar), Khotan-Kerya (Hotan-Yutian), Charchan (Qarqan, Qiemo), Aksu (Aqsu), Qarashahr (Karaxahar), Kucha (Kuqa), Turfan (Turpan), Kumul (Hami), Ili (Kulja, Yining, Taranchi), Urumqi (Urumchi), Lopnor (Lopnur), Dolan, Akto Türkmen. There are significant dialect differences between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Classification
Altaic, Turkic, Eastern
Language use
Official regional language. Widely used in print media in Kashgar. Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive language attitude. Young people and intellectuals can also speak Chinese, a few can also speak English, Japanese, or Russian.
Language development
Literacy rate in second language: 56%. Literacy based on Central Uyghur as spoken in the area between Yili (Ili) and Urumqi. Roman, Arabic, and Cyrillic scripts; Cyrillic script in Kazakhstan; Roman script in Turkey; Arabic script in Afghanistan. Newspapers. Radio programs. TV. Grammar. Bible: 1950.
Comments
Part of the Uyghur nationality. One of the five main official nationalities in China. Those in the north are more influenced by modern Chinese culture. SOV; postpositions; genitives, adjectives, numerals, relatives before noun heads; question words initial; a few prefixes; 3 suffixes on nouns; 6 suffixes on verbs; word order distinguishes subjects and indirect objects, topic and comment; eight noun cases shown by suffixes; verb suffixes mark subject person, number, 2nd person marks plural and 3 levels of respect; passive, reflexive, reciprocal and causative; comparatives; CV, CVC, CVCC syllables; nontonal. Valleys, mountain slope. Desert, oases. Agriculturalists: grain, fruit, grapes, vegetables, cotton; traders; craftsmen; animal husbandry. Muslim (Sunni).
Also spoken in:
Afghanistan
Language name
Uyghur
Population
3,000 in Afghanistan.
Region
Spoken in a few villages in Badakshan and Abi-i-Barik. Also possibly in Iran and Taiwan.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uyghuri, Wighor, Uighor, Uiguir
Dialects
Kashgar-Yarkand (Yarkandi), Taranchi.
Language development
Literacy rate in first language: below 1%. Literacy rate in second language: 5% to 15%.
Comments
Muslim (Sunni).
Kazakhstan
Language name
Uyghur
Population
300,000 in Kazakhstan (1993).
Region
Taranchi dialect in Kazakhstan, Kashgar-Yarkand dialect in Uzbekistan.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uiguir, Uygur, Novouygur
Dialects
Taranchi (Kulja), Kashgar-Yarkand.
Language use
86% speak it as first language.
Comments
Agriculturalists. Muslim (Sunni).
Mongolia
Language name
Uyghur
Population
1,000 in Mongolia (1982).
Region
Hövsgöl Aimag, north Mongolia.
Alternate names
Uygur, Uighur, Uigur, Uighuir, Uiguir
Language development
Literacy is in Halh in Mongolia; the Uyghur are generally assimilated to Halh culture.
Comments
Muslim (Sunni).
Turkey (Asia)
Language name
Uyghur
Population
500 in Turkey (1981).
Region
Kayseri city, and an unknown number in Istanbul. Possibly in Iran.
Alternate names
Uighur, Uygur, Uigur
Comments
Muslim (Sunni).
Abdurashid Khan
Abdurashid Khan
Abdurashid Khan was the ruler of Yarkand state in Eastern Turkestan between 1533 and 1560 years A.D.
Khan was a descendent of the first moghul khan-Tughlugh Timur Khan (1347-1363 AD) and came to power in 1533 year when his predecessor Sultan Said Khan died of asthma.
Achievements
Treaties
In 1538, Khan concluded the Treaty of Peace and Alliance with Shaybanid Abdulla, who ruled in West Turkestan at the time. He also completed the same treaty with the moghul Empire in India.
Abdurashid Khan was the ruler of Yarkand state in Eastern Turkestan between 1533 and 1560 years A.D.
Khan was a descendent of the first moghul khan-Tughlugh Timur Khan (1347-1363 AD) and came to power in 1533 year when his predecessor Sultan Said Khan died of asthma.
Achievements
Treaties
In 1538, Khan concluded the Treaty of Peace and Alliance with Shaybanid Abdulla, who ruled in West Turkestan at the time. He also completed the same treaty with the moghul Empire in India.
Al-Farabi (Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzalagh al-Farabi)
The intuitive vision of al-Farabi (born: Abu Nasr Mohammad Ibn al-Farakh al-Farabi) left its mark in philosophy, sociology, political science and metaphysics. In addition to writing several books on music, including the influential Kita al-Musiqa, al-Farabi invented several musical instruments and helped to develop musical notation. The son of a general, al-Farabi traveled to Baghdad for his higher education. While there, he gained a mastery of several languages. Although he spent extended periods in Damascus and Egypt and became a companion of Syrian prince Saif al-Daula, Baghdad remained his prime base for the remainder of his life. Working initially as a judge, al-Farabi left law to become a teacher. He is often referred to as "the second great teacher after Aristotle". A prolific writer, al-Farabi wrote on a wide range of subjects. Although many of his books have been lost, one hundred and seventeen tomes are known including his most influential book, Ara Ahl al-Madina al-Fadila (The Model City). ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide
Kashgarli Mehmud
Kashgarli Mehmud
There are very few or no other articles that link to this one.Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. After links have been created, remove this message.This article has been tagged since July 2006.
Mahmud Kashgari ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad was born in Kashgar East Turkistan (Modern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China). His father, Husayn was the mayor of Barsgan, his mother, Bubi Rabiya Basri, was an intelligent woman. He studied Turkic dialects and wrote about them in Divanü Lügat-it-Türk (The Dictionary of Turkic languages) in 1072. It was intended for use by the Caliphs of Baghdad, the new Arab allies of the Turks. He included the first known Turkish map in his book.
There are very few or no other articles that link to this one.Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. After links have been created, remove this message.This article has been tagged since July 2006.
Mahmud Kashgari ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad was born in Kashgar East Turkistan (Modern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China). His father, Husayn was the mayor of Barsgan, his mother, Bubi Rabiya Basri, was an intelligent woman. He studied Turkic dialects and wrote about them in Divanü Lügat-it-Türk (The Dictionary of Turkic languages) in 1072. It was intended for use by the Caliphs of Baghdad, the new Arab allies of the Turks. He included the first known Turkish map in his book.
Uyghur
Uyghur (Уй&<171;ур /&<574;&<735;&<610;&<594;&<735;&<585;)
Uyghur is a Turkic language with about 10 million speakers mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, and also in Afghanistan, Australia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey, the USA and Uzbekistan.
Uyghur was originally written with the Orkhon alphabet, a runiform script derived from or inspired by the Sogdian script, which was ultimately derived from the Aramaic script.
Between the 8th and the 16th century, Uyghur was written with an alphabet derived from Sogdian known as Old Uyghur. Unlike Sogdian, which was written from right to left in horizontal lines, the Old Uyghur alphabet was written from left to right in vertical columns, or in other words, it was a version of Sogdian rotated 90° to the left.
From the the 16th century until the early 20th century, Uyghur was written with a version of the Arabic alphabet known as 'Chagatai'. During the 20th century a number of versions of the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets were adopted to write Uyghur in different Uyghur-speaking regions. However the Latin alphabet was unpopular and in 1987 the Arabic script was reinstated as the official script for Uyghur in China.
The name of this language is variously spelt Uigur, Uiguir, Uighuir, Uygur, Uighur, Uygur, Uyghur or in Chinese, 维吾尔语 (Wéiwú'ěryǔ). Uyghur is the preferred spelling in the Latin alphabet: this was confirmed at a conference of the Ethnic Languages and Script Committe of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region held in October 2006. For details (in Uyghur), see: http://www.xjyw.gov.cn/han/YWGZDT/wwesiyingwenzhuanxie.htm
Old Uyghur alphabet
Most of the Old Uyghur letters have different shapes depending on their position in a word. The initial shapes are used at the beginning of words, the medial shapes in the middle, and the final shapes at the ends of words.
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}" border=0>
Arabic alphabet for Uyghur
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}">
Cyrillic alphabet for Uyghur
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}">
Latin alphabet for Uyghur
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}">
Sample text in Uyghur (Arabic alphabet)
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}" border=0>
Sample text in Uyghur (Cyrillic alphabet)
&<210;емме адем занидинла еркин, иззет-&<211;&<257;рмет ве &<211;о&<179;у&<179;та бапбаравер болуп ту&<171;ул&<171;ан. Улар е&<179;илге ве вийдан'&<171;а иге &<211;емде бир-бириге &<179;эриндашли&<179; мунасивитиге хас ро&<211; билен билен муамил &<179;илиши кэрек.
Sample text in Uyghur (Latin alphabet)
Hemme adem zanidinla erkin, izzet-hörmet we hoquqta bapbarawer bolup tughulghan. Ular eqilge we wijdan'gha ige hemde bir-birige qérindashliq munasiwitige xas roh bilen muamile qilishi kérek.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Sample text in Uyghur (Arabic alphabet)
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}" border=0>
Transliteration
Hey, péqir uyghur, oyghan, uyqung yéter,Sende mal yoq, emdi ketse jan kéter.Bu ölümdin özengni qutqazmisang,Ah, séning haling xeter, haling xeter.
Translation
Hey, poor Uyghur, wake up, you have slept long enough,You have nothing, what is now at stake is your very life.If you don't rescue yourself from this death,Ah, your end will be looming, your end will be looming.
Uyghur is a Turkic language with about 10 million speakers mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, and also in Afghanistan, Australia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey, the USA and Uzbekistan.
Uyghur was originally written with the Orkhon alphabet, a runiform script derived from or inspired by the Sogdian script, which was ultimately derived from the Aramaic script.
Between the 8th and the 16th century, Uyghur was written with an alphabet derived from Sogdian known as Old Uyghur. Unlike Sogdian, which was written from right to left in horizontal lines, the Old Uyghur alphabet was written from left to right in vertical columns, or in other words, it was a version of Sogdian rotated 90° to the left.
From the the 16th century until the early 20th century, Uyghur was written with a version of the Arabic alphabet known as 'Chagatai'. During the 20th century a number of versions of the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets were adopted to write Uyghur in different Uyghur-speaking regions. However the Latin alphabet was unpopular and in 1987 the Arabic script was reinstated as the official script for Uyghur in China.
The name of this language is variously spelt Uigur, Uiguir, Uighuir, Uygur, Uighur, Uygur, Uyghur or in Chinese, 维吾尔语 (Wéiwú'ěryǔ). Uyghur is the preferred spelling in the Latin alphabet: this was confirmed at a conference of the Ethnic Languages and Script Committe of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region held in October 2006. For details (in Uyghur), see: http://www.xjyw.gov.cn/han/YWGZDT/wwesiyingwenzhuanxie.htm
Old Uyghur alphabet
Most of the Old Uyghur letters have different shapes depending on their position in a word. The initial shapes are used at the beginning of words, the medial shapes in the middle, and the final shapes at the ends of words.
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}" border=0>
Arabic alphabet for Uyghur
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}">
Cyrillic alphabet for Uyghur
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}">
Latin alphabet for Uyghur
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}">
Sample text in Uyghur (Arabic alphabet)
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}" border=0>
Sample text in Uyghur (Cyrillic alphabet)
&<210;емме адем занидинла еркин, иззет-&<211;&<257;рмет ве &<211;о&<179;у&<179;та бапбаравер болуп ту&<171;ул&<171;ан. Улар е&<179;илге ве вийдан'&<171;а иге &<211;емде бир-бириге &<179;эриндашли&<179; мунасивитиге хас ро&<211; билен билен муамил &<179;илиши кэрек.
Sample text in Uyghur (Latin alphabet)
Hemme adem zanidinla erkin, izzet-hörmet we hoquqta bapbarawer bolup tughulghan. Ular eqilge we wijdan'gha ige hemde bir-birige qérindashliq munasiwitige xas roh bilen muamile qilishi kérek.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Sample text in Uyghur (Arabic alphabet)
0 && image.height>0){if(image.width>=510){this.width=510;this.height=image.height*510/image.width;}}" border=0>
Transliteration
Hey, péqir uyghur, oyghan, uyqung yéter,Sende mal yoq, emdi ketse jan kéter.Bu ölümdin özengni qutqazmisang,Ah, séning haling xeter, haling xeter.
Translation
Hey, poor Uyghur, wake up, you have slept long enough,You have nothing, what is now at stake is your very life.If you don't rescue yourself from this death,Ah, your end will be looming, your end will be looming.
订阅：
博文 (Atom)