Annotated Bibliography

Uighur Identity and Relations with China

Judy Woelfel

Barfield, Thomas. Perilous Frontiers: Nomadic Empires and China. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell, Inc., 1989.

Barfield starts with the Eurasian steppe around 800 BCE and provides a detailed account of the nomads and their interactions with the Chinese empire and among themselves. He addresses the stereotype of nomads. They are generally referred to as barbarians, feared and despised or romantically portrayed as wild and free by admirers. Barfield writes in great detail about steppe political organization, cycles of power, nomadic pastoral nomadism, tribal organization, and the relationship of the Turkic nomads with the Chinese empires. His book includes diagrams of the major dynasties in China, plus the diagrams of the reigns of khagans. At the end of every chapter, there is a list of key political figures and foreign words used. The book is interesting and gives a good account for students of Central Asian history.

Benson, Linda. “Contested History: Issues in the Historiography of Inner Asia’s Uighurs,” in M. Gervers and W. Schlepp ed., Cultural Contact, History, and Ethnicity in Inner Asia, in Toronto Studies in Central and Inner Asia, No. 2, March 1996.

Benson’s article is very interesting and discusses Uighur history as interpreted by the People’s Republic of China in official documents and by the Uighurs themselves. She discusses the debate about the origins of the Uighurs, their identity, and name. This is a fiercely debated issue. Since there are no direct records from the Uighurs themselves chronicling their early periods, historians must decide if they believe that the long line of Turkic speaking nomads are related and culminate in the Uighur civilization or if they are separate entities. She tries to decipher this. She chronicles the Chinese government’s attempt to reconstruct a Uighur past that also fulfills the political agenda of the government. Benson writes that the new official line of the Chinese government is to tie the Han and the Uighurs’ histories together in order soothe Uighur nationalistic tendencies and create a more unified People’s Republic of China. Benson writes about the Uighurs struggle, not only inside of China, but outside as well as they struggle to be recognized by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples’ Organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. The book includes chapters on the Uighur language and the Mongols.

Dautcher, Jay. “Reading Out-of-Print: Popular Culture and Protest on China’s Western Frontier” in T. Weston and L. Jensen ed., China beyond the Headlines. Lanham, Boulder, New York, and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000.

Dautcher’s article addresses the Uighur in contemporary China. He understands that it is very difficult to understand Uighur issues, especially since official accounts do not always provide accurate and necessary information. While living with and studying the Uighurs, the author looked at alternate sources to understand the problems. He looks at folklore and popular culture as an “expression of the unofficial truth.” His article is interesting because it describes the parallel worlds that the Han and Uighurs live in. Inter-marriage between the Han and Uighurs was acceptable at one time, he writes, but now it is considered highly inappropriate. He details the past, present, and future of the Uighurs.

Duval, Jean-R. “Modern Uyghur, A Historical Perspective” in M. Gervers and W. Schlepp ed., Cultural Contact, History, and Ethnicity in Inner Asia, in Toronto Studies in Central and Inner Asia, No. 2, March 1996.

Duval is interested in establishing the identities of the Uighur people. She writes that “the term Uyghur is usually employed in ancient history as a political rather than a tribal or territorial designation.” The author also discusses the emergence of the term, plus how the People’s Republic of China view and how the former Soviet Union viewed the Uighurs.

Eddy, Pamela. Ethnicity and the Uighurs of the People’s Republic of China. Indian University, 1990.

Eddy’s thesis is easy to understand and addresses the following issues: the ancient Uighurs, Islam and the Uighur/Chinese relationship. Her thesis describes the historical relationship between Islam and the Central Asian cultures and the impact of the Muslim world in this region.

Part 2 of the thesis discusses contemporary Uighur problems in the People’s Republic of China and their search for their identity. She writes about the cultural, political, and social problems facing the Uighurs.

Frank, Andre Gunder. The Centrality of Central Asia. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1992.

Frank admits to being a newcomer in the study of Central Asia so he analyzes the region within the framework of world systems. This is a technique he has used in other works. The book is not very long, only 52 pages, and this restricts the amount of detail he goes into and some themes could have been more developed. However, his book includes quotations and conclusions of renowned Central Asian scholars. This is a helpful book for the student who is looking for a brief overview of geography, trade, state formation, gender issues, and core-periphery relations, to name a few. The framework into which the book is broken is very straightforward and clear.

Kabirov, M. N. Materialy Po Istorii I Kyltyre Uigyrskogo Naroda. (Historical and Cultural Materials of the Uighur People.) Almaty-Ata, Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan Academy of Science: 1978.

This Soviet publication is a straightforward history of the Uighurs. The majority of the book is devoted to the time periods leading to the Great October Revolution, after the Revolution, during the Great Patriotic War (World War II), and the Uighurs in present time. The book also includes biographies of Uighurs who were given the title of Distinguished Artists of the Soviet Union or Heroes of Socialism. The beginning of the book does address ancient Uighur history. The Soviets also believe that the Uighurs are the descendents of the long line of Turkic nomadic tribes. The book also stresses the “federation” or “union” of Turkic tribes and that this network of tribes stretched from the north to the Caucasus. Kabirov does not discuss the military tactics of the Uighurs, nor does he discuss the famous steppe horses. He briefly mentions the Chinese as oppressors against Uighur freedom.

---- Ocherki Istorii Uigyrov Sovetskogo Kazakhstana (Historical Sketches of the Uighurs of Soviet Kazakhstan) Almaty-Ata, Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan Academy of Science: 1978.

This book is both a historical account and modern day account of the Uighurs. It begins with a long list of Russian, Soviet, and Uighur historians and their specialties in Uighur history. The book is interesting because it is an in-depth study of Uighur archaeological ruins, writings, and monuments. The author does not differentiate between nomadic tribes, but calls all of them Uighurs, even as early as 300 CE. Kabirov provides a list of religions to which the Uighurs belonged. He writes that first they were Buddhists, then shamanisms, then Buddhists, then Christians, and finally Muslims. I did not encounter anything about the Uighurs being Buddhists in any other writings. The author briefly mentions the relationship with the T’ang empire, and the amount of silk the Uighurs obtained. The author does not mention the horses that were sought after by the Chinese. The concluding chapters mirror Kabirov’s other book and includes biographies of distinguished Uighurs in the Soviet Union.

Khudaiberdiyev, Khelyam. My People, the Soviet Uighurs. Moscow: Novosti Press Agency, 1978.

Khudaiberdyev’s book is an account of the Uighurs’s assimilation into the Soviet Union written in English. The book is an interesting piece of propaganda literature because it details the achievements made by the Uighurs in the USSR. The book begins with a very flattering historical account of who the Uighurs are and of the great achievements of their ancient civilization. The book stresses the importance of the Uighurs in the Soviet Union and the last several chapters are biographies of distinguished Uighurs. The book is biased towards the Soviet Union and casts a negative light on the Uighurs under Chinese rule.

Kwanten, Luc. Imperial Nomads: A History of Central Asia 500-1500. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979.

Kwanten’s work is cited in several of the books I have read on this topic. This book is divided into the following topics: nomadic kingdoms and empires, origins of the Turks, the Uighurs, the Mongols, and the successor states to the steppe empires. This book is comprehensive and includes Chinese foreign policy regarding the steppe nomads and the Chinese fear of Tibetans. Kwanten examines the process of Islam becoming the major religion in Central Asia. He writes that the Uighurs are descendents of the long line of Turkic nomadic peoples.

Lattimore, Owen. Pivot of Asia: Sinkiang and the Inner Asian Frontiers of China and Russia. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1950.

Despite the fact that the book is over fifty years old, Owen is regarded as a good historian and his book is referred to in many of the histories I have read. This is a comprehensive history that includes trade, geography, nationalities, nomadism, and Chinese sedentary civilization. The book chronicles Chinese foreign policy dealing with “barbarians.” He discusses the different terms the Chinese had for the Turkic nomadic peoples, plus he cautions the reader that Chinese historical accounts were written for the Chinese. He takes into consideration the Soviet Union and China and their interests and policies towards Central Asia. Owen also describes in detail the history and nationalist movement in Sinkiang. The concluding chapters deal with literature and oral art, making this book comprehensive.

Mackerras, Colin. “Relations Between Uyghur State and China’s T’ang Dynasty, 744-840” in D. Christian and C. Benjamin ed. in Silk Road Studies IV: Realms of the Silk Roads: Ancient and Modern. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2000.

This book is based on the proceedings from the Third Conference of the Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies at Macquarie University September 18-20, 1998. The book contains articles on politics, trade, religions, traveler’s accounts, and teaching inner Asian history. Mackerras’ article discusses the mutual influence between the Uighur state and the T’ang dynasty. It covers military, diplomatic, economics, and alliances through marriage. He argues that although mutual influence existed, the Chinese civilization influenced and affected the Uighur culture more. He writes that the Uighur military assistance actually made relations more contentious between the two cultures, rather than strengthening their bond. His concise and straightforward essay addresses both sides of the relationship while inserting interesting historical facts. For example, he describes the bride wealth payment given to Emperor Muzong in exchange for his sister. The Uighurs sent 2,000 chiefs of tribes as well as 20,000 horses and 1,000 camels to greet the Chinese princess.

----. Edit, and transl. The Uighur Empire According to the T’ang Dynastic Histories, a Study in Sino-Uighur Relations 744-840. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1973.

This is a excellent book that describes the history of the Uighur empire, Sino-Uighur relations, a translation of T’ang records, a glossary of official terms, and outlines of Chinese emperors and the deaths of Uighur Khaghans. Mackeras warns the reader that the Chinese record keepers recorded events as they pertained to China, not the Uighurs. But, during the T’ang dynasty the Uighurs and the T’ang developed a relationship that was unusual. The Uighurs had much more input into the relationship because the T’ang was militarily weak and needed the Uighurs’ help. He writes that because the Uighurs played such a significant role in the history of the T’ang period that the Chinese historians devoted so much space to them. Mackeras believes that the succession of Turkic speaking nomadic tribes resulted in the Uighur civilization and that all the preceding tribes were their ancestors; therefore making them interrelated.

Smith, Joanne N. “Making Culture Matter: Symbolic Spatial and Social Boundaries between Uyghurs and Han Chinese,” in Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 153-174. September, 2002.

The author lived and learned the Uighur language in Xinjiang and Urumchi. Smith discusses how contemporary Uighurs view their ethnic identity in relation to Xinjiang’s growing Han Chinese population. She contends that Uighurs are activating and exaggerating certain cultural-religious differences, especially the avoidance versus the consumption of pork, in order to create an identity distinct from the Han. She maintains that the Uighur use these excuses when it suits them or disregards them for their benefit. Smith does not believe that the cultural-religious differences lie at the heart of the changing social, political, and economic problems; rather, it is the Uighurs perception of these problems.

Torday, Laszlo. Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History. Edinburgh, Cambridge, Durham: The Durham Academic Press, 1997.

Torday’s book is a very dense and scientific history. This book is not limited to Central Asian references, but he includes Biblical, Greek, European, and many other references making this somewhat of a global history. He, like Andre Gunder Frank, explores Central Asian history in conjunction with world history. The book is very interesting and it includes tables and charts ranging from the birth of the wheel and nomadism to consonant sounds of Germanic and non-Germanic cognates to Old Mongour Mongol words and Chuvash Turkic words. He too tries to identity the origins of the Uighurs and he divides the Turkic groups by geographical locations. Torday also includes the subjects of Chinese prejudice against the nomads and inter-marriage among Chinese and nomadic people. The Chinese developed a folktale that described a genealogical tie between the two races, a “tie whose origin was traced to remotest antiquity.” This book is very good for anyone who likes to view history in connection with other world cultures and from a linguistic standpoint. He has a very interesting way of looking at the origins of the nomadic peoples. He uses linguistics to compare how the nomads view themselves in their own language and then he looks at how the Chinese wrote their name.

Waley-Cohen, Joanna. Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History. New York: Norton and Company, 1999.

In chapter one, Waley-Cohen discusses early international relations, the idealized Chinese worldview, commercial and maritime expansion, and various Chinese dynasties. This chapter is important for my paper because it gives insight into the Chinese perception of their place in the world and why they did not pursue policies that would make them a colonial power. The chapter is very good for the new student to Chinese history because it gives a good overview of many important periods and aspects of Chinese civilization.

Wei, Cuiyi and Luckert, Karl W. Uighur Stories from Along the Silk Road. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, Inc, 1998.

This is a collection of Uighur folktales and stories collected mainly from Uighur scholars. Many of the stories were recorded and collected from China, Uzbekistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. The introduction gives a concise history of the people and of the term “Uighur.” The authors make it clear that the term “Uighur” in the title is not to make a political statement, but is to distinguish this collection from other books published with Hui folktales. The book is very entertaining and interesting. The folktales range from the origins of humankind, Uighur origins and homeland, Islam, holy places, heroes, loyalty, brides, horses, and wisdom, just to name a few subjects. The book also includes a detailed glossary.