Xinjiang

Major Cities:

The cuisine of Xinjiang (新疆菜) is the food of the Uyghurs (Uyghur Yemekliri), known for cooking fiery lamb kebabs and homemade noodles. As Uyghurs are Sunni Muslim Turks, the food is predominantly halal.

The primary dishes include Shou La Mian, boiled handmade noodles with beef, lamb, or vegetables; soups made of lamb or chicken; shish kebabs of lamb or beef; and polos (rice platters also known as pilaf or plov, with lamb or chicken).

Spices include cumin seeds, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, sultanas, and the fat of the meat is used for flavoring.

Bread is the Central Asian-style baked flatbread known as naan, using sesame seeds, butter, milk, vegetable oil, salt, and sugar.

XINJIANG

Excerpts from Wikipedia.org

Xinjiang (Uyghur: شىنجاڭ; Chinese: 新疆) is an autonomous region (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) of the People's Republic of China. It is a large, sparsely populated area (spanning over 1.6 million sq. km) which takes up about one sixth of the country's territory. Xinjiang borders the Tibet to the south and Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west. It administers most of Aksai Chin, a territory formally part of Kashmir over which India claims sovereignty.

"Xinjiang" or "Ice Jecen" in Manchu, literally means "New Frontier", a name given during the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China. It is home to a number of different ethnic groups, many of them Turkic, the largest of which is the Uyghur people. Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, Sinkiang, East Turkestan, or Uyghuristan. Xinjiang is divided into the Dzungarian Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range.

With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, and a succession of different peoples and empires vying for control over the territory, Xinjiang has been, and continues to be, a focal point of ethnic tensions well into the beginning of the 21st century.

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, the so-called Eurasian pole of inaccessibility (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.

Economy

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.

In the late 19th century the region was noted for producing salt, soda, borax, gold, jade and coal.

Demographics

East Asian migrants arrived in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3,000 years ago, while the Uighur peoples arrived after the collapse of the Orkon Uighur Kingdom, based in modern-day Mongolia, around the year 842.

Xinjiang is home to several distinct ethnic groups of various religious traditions, however, the majority of the region's total population are adherents of Islam. Among ethnic groups who are of the Muslim faith, most notable are Muslim Turkic peoples including the Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tatars and the Kazakhs; there are also Muslim Iranian peoples including Tajiks and the Sarikolis/Wakhis (often conflated as Tajiks); and Muslim Sino-Tibetan peoples such as the Hui. Other PRC ethnic groups in the region include Han Chinese, Mongols, Russians, Xibes, and Manchus. William Mesny said in 1896:

"The present inhabitants of Eastern Turkestan are more like Europeans than any other Asiatics I have seen. Blue eyes, curly hair and red beards are common among them."

The population of Xinjiang was estimated to be about 1,180,000 in 1880 rising sharply after that, due largely to "emigrations and banishments from China."

The percentage of ethnic Han in Xinjiang has grown from less than 7% in 1949 to an official tally of over 40% 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 percentage of ethnic Han Chinese in Xinjiang has grown from 6 percent in 1949 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. At the same time, the minorities of Xinjiang have been exempted from the one-child policy and many Uyghur people emigrated out of Xinjiang to other parts of China, and consequently the percentage of Uyghur people in the total population of China has increased steadily.

In general, Uyghurs are the majority in western Xinjiang, including the prefectures of Kashgar, Khotan, Kizilsu, and Aksu, as well as Turpan prefecture in eastern Xinjiang. Han Chinese are the majority in eastern and northern Xinjiang, including the cities of Urumqi, Karamay, Shihezi and the prefectures of Changji, Bortala, Bayin'gholin, Ili (especially the city of Kuitun), and Kumul. Kazakhs are mostly concentrated in Ili prefecture in northern Xinjiang.

Some Uighur scholars claim descent from both the Turkic Uighurs and the pre-Turkic Tocharians (or Tokharians, whose language was Indo-European), and relatively fair-skin, hair and eyes, as well as other so-called 'Caucasoid' physical traits, are not uncommon among them. In general Uyghurs resemble those peoples who live around them in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.

Northwestern China

Northwestern China (中國西北地區) includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai.

中國西北地區是中國西北內陸的一個區域，地理上包括黃土高原西部，渭河平原，河西走廊，青藏高原北部，內蒙古高原西部，柴達木盆地，和新疆大部的廣大區域。通常簡稱「大西北」或「西北」。

中國行政區劃中的西北五省區包括：陝西省，甘肅省，青海省，寧夏回族自治區，新疆維吾爾自治區。這源於中華人民共和國已撤銷的大行政區級單位——西北區。

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Demographics

Ethnic groups in Xinjiang, 2000 census. Excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.
Nationality	Population	Percentage
Uyghur	8,345,622	45.21
Han	7,489,919	40.58
Kazakh	1,245,023	6.74
Hui	839,837	4.55
Kirghiz	158,775	0.86
Mongols, Dongxiangs, Daurs	194,891	1.14
Pamiris	39,493	0.21
Xibe	34,566	0.19
Manchu	19,493	0.11
Tujia	15,787	0.086
Uzbek	12,096	0.066
Russian	8935	0.048
Miao	7006	0.038
Tibetan	6153	0.033
Zhuang	5642	0.031
Tatar	4501	0.024
Salar	3762	0.020

Among ethnic groups who are of the Muslim faith, most notable are Muslim Turkic peoples including the Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tatars and the Kazakhs

Distribution of the Turkic Peoples

The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia who speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. The term Turkic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people including existing societies such as the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Uyghur, Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Turkish people, as well as past civilizations such as the Xiongnu, Cumans, Avars, Bulgars, Huns, Seljuks, Khazars, Ottomans and Timurids.

Many of the Turkic peoples have their homelands in Inner Asia, where the Turkic peoples originated from, but since then Turkic languages have spread, through migrations and conquests, to other locations including present-day Turkey. While the term Turk may refer to a member of any Turkic people, the term Turkish usually refers specifically to the people and language of Turkey.

Origin of the Turkic peoples: It is generally believed that the first Turkic people lived in a region extending from Central Asia to Siberia. The earliest clearly Turkic peoples appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu confederation. If not their ethnic descendants, they at least had strong ties to the Xiongnu. Turkic tribes, such as Khazars and Pechenegs, probably lived as nomads for many years before establishing the Göktürk Empire in the 6th century.

Uyghur

The Uyghur (also spelled Uygur, Uighur, Uigur, Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; 維吾爾) are a Turkic people of Central Asia. Today Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known by its controversial name Uyghurstan or East Turkistan) in the People's Republic of China.

Historically the term "Uyghur" was applied to a group of Turkic-speaking tribes that lived in the Altay Mountains. Along with the Göktürks (Kokturks), the Uyghurs were one of the largest and most enduring Turkic peoples living in Central Asia.

In the literature, the term Uyghur has a number of differing spellings, including Uigur, Uygur, and Uighur. The word means "Confederation of Nine Tribes" and is synonymous with the name Tokuz-Oguz. In Turkic inscriptions, the name Tokuz-Oguz is used for the subdued Uigurs, and the resisting are called Uigurs, pointing to semantical nuances between the two names.

The earliest use of the term "Uyghur" (Weihu) was during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), in China. At that time, the Uyghur were part of the Gaoche (English: "High Wheels"), a group of Turkic tribes, which Chinese later called Tele people, from the Turkic word, "tele" the "Nine-Family Tele" association, i.e., Tokuz-Oguzes) for "wheelwagon". This group included tribes such as Syr-Tardush (Chinese: Xueyantuo), Basmyl (Chinese: Baximi), Oguz (Chinese: Wuhu), Khazar (Chinese: Hesan), Alans (Chinese: A-lans), Kyrgyz (Chinese: Hegu), Tuva (Chinese: Duva) and Yakut (Chinese: Guligan) from the Lake Baikal Region. The forebears of the Tele belonged to those of Hun (Chinese: Xiongnu) descendants. According to Chinese Turkic scholars Ma Changshou and Cen Zhongmian, the Chinese word Tiele originates from the Turkic word "Türkler" (Turks), which is a plural form of "Türk" (Turk) and the Chinese word "Tujue" comes from the Turkic word "Türküt" which is a singular form of Türk. The origin of Gaoche can be traced back to the Dingling peoples of about 200 BC, contemporary with the Chinese Han Dynasty.

The first use of "Uyghur" as a reference to a political nation occurred during the interim period between the First and Second Göktürk Kaganates (630-684 AD). After the collapse of the Uyghur Empire in 840 AD, Uyghur resettled to the Tarim Basin

In modern usage, "Uyghur" refers to settled Turkic urban-dwellers and farmers of Kashgaria or Uyghurstan who follow traditional settled pastoriaslist Central Asian practices, as distinguished from nomadic Turkic populations in Central Asia. The Bolsheviks reintroduced the term "Uyghur" to replace the previously used Turki.

Today, Uyghurs live mainly in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, where they are the largest ethnic group. "Xinjiang", meaning "New Frontier", is the Chinese name of the Autonomous Region.

Modern Uyghur: Today one can still see Uyghurs with light-colored skin and hair. The genetic studies show that the Uyghur (UIG) population, presenting a typical admixture of Eastern and Western anthropometric traits, results showed that UIG was formed by two-way admixture, with 60% European ancestry and 40% East Asian (Turkic-Hun) ancestry. Overall linkage disequilibrium (LD) in UIG was similar to that in its parental populations represented in East Asia and Europe with regard to common alleles, and UIG manifested. Both the magnitude of LD and fragmentary ancestral chromosome segments indicated a long history of Uyghur. Under the assumption of a hybrid isolation (HI) model, it was estimated that the admixture event of UIG occurred about 126 [107, 146] generations ago, or 2520 [2140, 2920] years ago assuming 20 years per generation.

A haplotype of R1b, with DYS393=12, has been referenced in the literature as Haplotype 35, or ht35. They can be found in high numbers in Southeastern Europe (Balkans) and Western Asia. The members of this haplotype are thought to be descended from early R1b's who found shelter in Anatolia (Turkey) during the Last Glacial Maximum instead of in Iberia. Descendants can be found in high numbers in the Armenian Highland (Most of the Armenian Highland is in Turkey's Eastern Anatolia Region, and also includes northwestern Iran, all of Armenia, southern Georgia and western Azerbaijan.) and Armenia with smaller numbers throughout the Middle East, in Jewish populations, in Southeastern Europe, and in the Caucasus Mountains. There is also a sizable pocket of ht35 in Uyghur populations in western China, which is theorized to be a remnant of the Tocharians, an Indo-European speaking people that inhabited the Tarim Basin in Central Asia until later being absorbed by various Turkic peoples.

* Video: Surprised Result DNA Check on Uyghurs, Reasons of Riots

Uzbek

Uzbeks of Afghanistan in 1841

The Uzbeks are a Turkic people of Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

Although Altaic infiltration into Central Asia had started early, as late as the 13th century AD when Turkic and Mongol armies finally conquered the entire region, the majority of Central Asia's peoples were Iranic peoples such as Sogdians, Bactrians and, more ancient, the Saka–Massagetae tribes. It is generally believed that these ancient Indo-European-speaking peoples were linguistically assimilated by smaller but dominant Turkic-speaking groups while the sedentary population finally adopted the Persian language, the traditional lingua franca of the eastern Islamic lands. The language-shift from Middle Iranian to Turkic and New Persian was predominantly the result of an elite dominance process. This process was dramatically boosted during the Mongol conquest when millions were either killed or pushed further south to the Pamir region.

The modern Uzbek language is largely derived from the Chagatai language, an Eastern Turkic language which gained prominence in the Mongol Timurid Empire. The position of Chagatai (and later Uzbek) was further strengthened after the fall of the highly Persianized Timurids and the rise of the Shaybanid Uzbek Khaqanate that finally shaped the Turkic language and identity of modern Uzbeks, while the unique grammatical and phonetical features of the Uzbek language as well as the modern Uzbek culture reflect the more ancient Iranic roots of the Uzbek people

The modern Uzbek population represents varying degrees of diversity derived from the high traffic invasion routes through Central Asia. Once populated by Iranian tribes and other Indo-European people, Central Asia experienced numerous invasions emanating out of Mongolia that would drastically impact the region. According to recent Genetic genealogy testing from a University of Chicago study, the Uzbeks cluster somewhere between the Mongols and the Iranian peoples.

The Uzbek population, according to this study, shows substantial Caucasoid admixture. The Uzbeks display a much closer genetic relationship with Turkic roots traits than with Iranic populations to the south and west. Another study out of Uzbekistan corroborates this genetic evidence as to the origins of the modern Uzbeks and other regional Turk peoples:

These migrations are reflected in the DNA, too, and it is clear that despite the majority of modern Central Asians speaking Turkic languages, they derive much of their genetic heritage from the conquering Mongol warriors of Genghis Khan.

The Turkic people as a whole share common languages and many common cultural traits, but do not have common origins. The Uzbeks are descended to a large degree from Turkic invaders whose invasions span literally millennia from the first millennium AD with the early migrations of the Göktürks to later invasions by the Uzbeks themselves during the early and mid period of the 2nd millennium. Throughout the centuries, these migrating Altaic peoples began to outnumber the native Iranian people of Central Asia and appear to have assimilated the vast majority through intermarriage, while mainly the Tajiks survived albeit with some Turk intermingling as well. Thus, in the case of Uzbekistan and most other Central Asian states, it was not only a process of language replacement, such as what took place in Turkey and Azerbaijan, but also a mass migration and population replacement that helped to shape the modern Turk people of Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states.

Kyrgyz

The Kyrgyz one som banknote pictures Abdylas Maldybaev, one of the composers of the state anthem of the Kirghiz SSR..

The Kyrgyz (柯爾克孜) form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. There are more than 145,000 Kyrgyz in China. They are found mainly in the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture in the southwestern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with a smaller remainder found in the neighboring Wushi (Uqturpan), Aksu, Shache (Yarkand), Yingisar, Taxkorgan and Pishan (Guma), and in Tekes, Zhaosu (Monggolkure), Emin (Dorbiljin), Bole (Bortala), Jinghev (Jing) and Gonliu in northern Xinjiang. Several hundred Kyrgyz whose forefathers emigrated to Northeast China more than 200 years ago now live in Wujiazi Village in Fuyu County, Heilongjiang Province. Certain segments of the Kyrgyz in China are followers of Tibetan Buddhism

The early Kyrgyz people, known as Yenisei Kyrgyz or Xiajiasi, first appear in written records in the Chinese annals of the Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (compiled 109 BC to 91 BC), as Gekun or Jiankun (鬲昆 or 隔昆). The Middle Age Chinese composition "Tanghuiyao" of the 8-10th century transcribed the name "Kyrgyz" Tsze-gu (Kirgut), and their tamga was depicted identical with the tamga of present day Kyrgyz tribes Azyk, Bugu, Cherik, Sary Bagysh and few others. According to recent historical findings, Kyrgyz history dates back to 201 BC. The Yenisei Kyrgyz lived in the upper Yenisey River valley, central Siberia. Yenisei Kyrgyzes in the Late Antique times were a part of the Tele tribes. Later, in the Early Middle Age, Yenisei Kyrgyzes were under the rule of Göktürk Kaganate and Uigur Kaganate. In 840 a revolt led by Yenisei Kyrgyzes brought down the Uigur Kaganate, and brought the Yenisei Kyrgyzes to a dominating position in the former Turkic Kaganate. With the rise to power, the center of the Kyrgyz Kaganate moved to Jeti-su, and brought about a spread south of the Kyrgyz people, to reach Tian Shan mountains and Eastern Turkestan, bringing them immediately to the borders of China and Tibet. By the 16th century the carriers of the ethnonym "Kirgiz" lived in South Siberia, Eastern Turkestan, Tian Shan, Pamir Alay, Middle Asia, Urals (among Bashkorts), in Kazakhstan. In the Tian Shan and Eastern Turkestan area, the term "Kyrgyz" retained its unifying political designation, and became a general ethnonym for the Yenisei Kirgizes and aboriginal Turkic tribes that presently constitute the Kyrgyz population. Though it is obviously impossible to directly identify the Yenisei and Tien Shan Kyrgyzes, a trace of their ethnogenetical connections is apparent in archaeology, history, language and ethnography. Majority of modern researchers came to a conclusion that the ancestors of the southern Kyrgyz tribes had their origin in the most ancient tribal unions of Sakas and Usuns, Dinlins and Huns. Approximately 300,000 Yenisei Kyrgyzes survived in the Tuva depression until present.

Chinese and Muslim sources of the 7th–12th centuries AD describe the Kyrgyz as red-haired with fair complexion and green (blue) eyes.

The descent of the Kyrgyz from the autochthonous Siberian population is confirmed by recent genetic studies. Remarkably, 63% of modern Kyrgyz men share Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) with Tajiks (64%), Ukrainians (54%), Poles and Hungarians (~60%), and even Icelanders (25%). Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) is variously believed to be a marker of the Proto-Indo-European language and Turkic speakers.

The Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uygur Kaganate (回鶻) in 840 AD. Then Kyrgyz quickly moved as far as the Tian Shan range and maintained their dominance over this territory for about 200 years. In the 12th century, however, the Kyrgyz domination had shrunk to the Altai Range and the Sayan Mountains as a result of the rising Mongol expansion. With the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the Kyrgyz migrated south. In 1207, after the establishment of Yekhe Mongol Ulus (Mongol empire), Genghis Khan's oldest son Jochi occupied Kyrgyzstan without resistance. They remained a Mongol vassal until the late of 14th century.

Various Turkic peoples ruled them until 1685, when they came under the control of the Kalmyks (Oirats, Dzungars).

Tartars

The Chinese Tatars (塔塔爾) form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Their ancestors are Volga Tatars tradesmen who settled mostly in Xinjiang. The number of Chinese Tatars is close to 5000 as of 2000, and they live mainly in the cities of Aletai, Changji, Yili, Urumchi, Tacheng and other places in Xinjiang. Chinese Tatars speak an archaic variant of the Tatar language.

Note that the Chinese had often used the term Tatars or Tazi/Dazi in Chinese in a derogatory manner to distinguish the non-Han groups from the North, such as the Mongols and Jurchens/Manchus from the majority Han population, especially in those times when China was invaded by these groups, for example during the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

Volga Tatars are a Turkic people of Russia most of whom occupy the west central portion of the Ural Mountains. Today, the term Tatars is usually used to describe the Volga Tatars only; historically, the Russians applied it to a large number of peoples speaking one or another of the Turkic languages. The majority of Volga Tatars are Kazan (Qazan) Tatars. They are the majority of the population of Tatarstan, one of the constituent republics of Russia.

During the 11th-16th centuries, numerous Turkic tribes lived in what is now Russia and Kazakhstan. The present territory of Tatarstan was inhabited by the Volga Bulgars, a people whose origins are uncertain, but who scholars consider to have been Turkic. The Bulgars settled on the Volga River in the 8th century and converted to Islam in 922 during the missionary work of Ahmad ibn Fadlan. On the Volga, the Bulgars mingled with Scythian and Finno-Ugric speaking peoples. After the Mongol_invasion_of_Europe from 1241, Volga Bulgaria was defeated, ruined, and incorporated into the Golden Horde.

Much of the population survived, and there was a certain degree of mixing between it and the Kipchak Tatars of the Horde during the ensuing period. The group as a whole accepted the language of the Kipchaks and the ethnonym "Tatars" (although the name Bulgars persisted in some places), while the invaders eventually converted to Islam. Two centuries later, as the Horde disintegrated, the area became the territory of the Kazan khanate, which was ultimately conquered by Russia in 1552. There is some debate among scholars as to the extent of that mixing and the share of each group as progenitors of the modern Kazan Tatars. It is widely accepted that demographically, most of the population was directly descended from the Bulgars.

Their general physique has been described as middle-sized and broad-shouldered. The majority have brown and green eyes, a straight nose and salient cheek bones. Because their ancestors include not only Turkic peoples, but Finno-Ugric and East Iranian peoples as well, many Kazan Tatars tend to have Caucasoid faces. Around 33.5% belong to Southern Caucasoid, 27.5% to Northern Caucasoid, 24.5% to Lapponoid and 14.5% to Mongoloid .

Kazakhs

Kazakh stamps featuring a traditional bride's dress, groom's clothing

Kazakhs, called Hāsàkè Zú in Chinese (哈薩克; literally "Kazakh people" or "Kazakh tribe") are among 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. In China there is one Kazakh autonomous prefecture, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, three Kazakh autonomous counties, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County and Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Many Kazakhs in China are not fluent in Standard Mandarin, instead speaking the Kazakh language. Since the early 21st century, Mamuer Rayeskan, a young Kazakh musician from Qitai, Xinjiang now living in Beijing, has achieved some renown for his reworking of Kazakh folk songs with his group IZ, with which he sings and plays acoustic guitar, dombra, and jaw harp. Kazakhs & Uyghurs peoples have many problems in comunist's China.

The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazaks, Qazaqs) are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan, but also found in parts of Uzbekistan, China, Russia, and Mongolia).

Kazakhs are descendants of Turkic tribes (Kipchaks or Cumans), Mongol groups (Kereis, Naimans, etc.) and Indo-Iranian tribes (Wusun, Sarmatians, Scythians, etc.) which populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea and remained in Central Asia when the Turkic and Mongolic groups started to invade and conquer the area between the fifth and thirteenth centuries AD.

Due to their complex history, Kazakhs display phenotypical diversity, though they tend to exhibit predominantly Mongoloid features. Fair to light-brown skin tends to be the norm. Among physical traits are aquiline noses, epicanthic fold and high cheekbones. Hair colour among Kazakhs varies from prevalent jet black to red and sandy brown. Hazel, green and blue eyes are not uncommon.

The Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang occurred in waves during the 1950s and 1960s after the Communist victory in China. The Kazakhs had settled in the western frontier of China, called Xinjiang, long before the communists took full control in 1949. The initial exodus began in 1950 or the Year of the Tiger, when the victorious Chinese Communist Army took control, not guaranteeing nor overtly denying the Kazakh way of life: tribalism and Islam. Families voted at Barkol and set out to preserve their way of life in the steppes of Kashmir, exiled from their homeland.

This initial journey to Kashmir was opposed by the victorious Chinese Red Army as they passed through Chinese territory. The first attack happened at Barkol in Kumul Prefecture and the second near Timurlik. The Kazakh groups that survived fled into Tibet to survive. The victory by the Chinese Red Army was not the only thing that hindered the initial Kazakh exodus; they also suffered illness which killed countless individuals. It took three months for the Kazakhs to cross Tibet and arrive at Srinagar, Kashmir. Of the 400 families that fled China, only 350 arrived at Srinagar in the initial exodus.

In 1962, the Kazakhs staged another exodus from Xinjiang. This time the Kazakh and members of other ethnic groups fled to the Soviet Union due to mass riots and communist reforms that again were imposed on the Kazakhs' traditional way of life.

Kazak Exodus by Godfrey Lias (e-book)

There are also Muslim Iranian peoples including Tajiks and the Sarikolis/Wakhis (often conflated as Tajiks)

Map of Greater Iran

The Iranian peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family. They are spread across the Iranian plateau, stretching from the Hindu Kush to central Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf - a region that is sometimes termed Greater Iran. Speakers of Iranian languages, however, were once found throughout Eurasia, from the Balkans to western China. As Iranian people are not confined to the borders of the current state of Iran, the term Iranic peoples is sometimes used to avoid confusion with the citizens of Iran.

The series of ethnic groups which make up the Iranian people are traced to a branch of the ancient Indo-European Aryans known as the Iranians or Proto-Iranians. Archaeological finds in Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East have elucidated some scant information about the way of life of these early people. The Iranian people have played an important role throughout history: the Achaemenid Persians established one of the world's first multi-national states and the Scythian-Sarmatian nomads dominated the vast expanses of the Eurasian steppe for centuries with a group of Sarmatian warrior women possibly being the inspiration for the Greek legend of the Amazons. In addition, the various religions of the Iranian people, including Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, are believed by some scholars to be important early philosophical influences on Judeo-Christianity. Early Iranian tribes are the ancestors of many modern Iranian peoples.

“Tajiks” in China

“Tajiks” in China (塔吉克) are one of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

This group, with a population of 41,028 (2000), is located mainly in China's western Xinjiang region with 60% living in Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County; some researchers view them as a collection of over a dozen small East Iranian ethnic groups that are related to, but distinct from, the Tajiks of Tajikistan. The Ethnologue claims that they are actually Shugni and Wakhi. Aurel Stein and other writers from his time referred to them simply as Sarikoli. Some have referred to them simply as "Mountain Tajiks." Robert Shaw considered them Sarikolis and Wakhis, referring to them collectively as Ghalchah.

In China, the languages of the “Tajiks” have no official written form. The great majority of Chinese “Tajik” speakers speak the Sarikoli language and use Uyghur, Kyrgyz or Chinese to communicate with people of other nationalities in the area. A small proportion of Chinese “Tajik” speakers speak Wakhi.

Wakhi

The Wakhi are inhabitants of Wakhan. An ethnic group consisting of speakers of the Wakhi language. Also known as Pamiri.

A very rough estimate puts the population of Wakhis at about 50,000. The population is divided among four different countries: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Xinjiang in western China. The religion of the Wakhi Tajiks is Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim, being followers of the Aga Khan.

Other PRC ethnic groups in the region include Han Chinese, Mongols, Russians, Xibes, and Manchus

Russians in Xinjiang

Russians in China (俄羅斯族) form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They are the descendants of Russians who settled in China, and hold Chinese rather than Russian citizenship.

The Jirjak People: The earliest Russion immigrants who came to Xinjiang were the Jirjaks, they were persecuted under the reign of Czar Peter because of refusing to converted to Orthodox Church. They sent four heralds to negotiate with the Kazakh chief Kala Usman, and was permited to settle down in Burqin. After several years they also pioneered some settlements in Kanas, Chuguchak and Ili. In 1861 there were 160 more Jirjaks entered the area of Lop Nur to settle down.

Almost all the Jirjaks were devout Christians, they rarely comunicated with other groups. According to the census in 1943, there were 1200 Jirjaks in Bulqin and Kaba. A lot of them moved to Australia after the establishment of People's Republic of China.

Later Migration to Xinjiang During the Czarist Period: In 1851, the Treaty of Kulja was established, lots of Russian merchants swarmed into Xinjiang. The Russian merchants killed approximately 200 mineworkers at Chuguchak, which enraged the local people, they burned the Russian trade circle down under the lead of two Hui men Xu Tianrao and An Yuxian. As a result, the Russians force the Qing government to provide a lot of reparations. In 1871, the Russian Empire conquered the area of Ili, and a lot of Russian merchants migrated there.

Migration During the October Revolution Period: The White Army was defeated in the war against Bolshevik, a lot of Cossacks and refugees fled to Xinjiang under the lead of General Ivanov. Some of them rioted in Ili and Chuguchak, but were finally suppressed by the Chinese warlord Yang Zengxin. And part of them later joined the Guihua soldiers recruited by Xinjiang government.

Migration During World War II: From 1931 to 1938, the Soviet Union government forced a lot of Chinese and their Russian relatives to move to China. There were more than 20000 Russians entered China through the Crossings of Xinjiang. And After 1941, there were also many refugees fled to Xinjiang.

Xibe

"Sibo military colonists", picture drawn by Henry Lansdell during his visit to today's Qapqal Xibe County in 1882

The Xibe ( Sibe; 錫伯) are an ethnic group living mostly in northeast China and Xinjiang. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

The Xibe originally lived on the Nonni and Songhua river valleys in central Manchuria. They are known as one of the nine states that were defeated by Nurhaci in the Battle of Gure in 1593. They were under loose domination of the Khorchin Mongols even after the Khorchin came under the control of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The Xibe started to make direct contact with the Qing Dynasty when it conducted military campaigns against Russia. They provided logistical support to the Qing. In 1692, the Khorchin dedicated the Xibe, the Gūwalca and the Daur to the Kangxi Emperor in exchange for silver. The Xibe was incorporated into the Eight Banners and were stationed in Qiqihar and other cities in Manchuria.

After conquering Eastern Turkestan, the Qianlong Emperor garrisoned part of the Xibe there in 1764 to defend the new frontier. They formed a community in the Qapqal region south of the Ili River.

The traditional dress of the Xibe was similar to the traditional dress of the Manchus. Nowadays almost all the Xibe wear Western clothing and the traditional clothing is worn by elders during festivals.

Traditionally, the Xibe were divided into hala, clans consisting of people who shared the same surname. Until modern times, the dwellings of the Xibe housed up to three different generations from a same family, since it was believed that while the father was alive no son could break the family clan and to leave the house.

Their cultures're also similar to Xianbei.

The Xibe believe that they are descendants of the Xianbei.
Dr. Pamela Kyle Crossley, Professor of History at Dartmouth College, asserts that the Russians named Siberia after the Sibe/Xibe.

Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County (察布查尔錫伯自治县; Xibe: Cabcal Sibe Zijysiyan, also transliterated as Chapchal) in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang is the only Xibe autonomous county of the People's Republic of China. It has an area of 4,430 square kilometers and a population 160,000 (2000). Qapqal means "the granary" in the Xibe language.

Muslim Sino-Tibetan peoples such as the Hui

Hui

The Hui people (回) are a Chinese ethnic group, typically distinguished by their practice of Islam. Hui is the abbreviation of the full name Huihui "回回". They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They are concentrated in Northwestern China (Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Xinjiang), but communities exist across the country. Most Hui are similar in culture to Han Chinese with the exception that they practice Islam, and have some distinctive cultural characteristics as a result. For example, as Muslims, they follow Islamic dietary laws and reject the consumption of pork, the second most common meat consumed in Chinese culture (chicken being the most), and have also given rise to their variation of Chinese cuisine, Chinese Islamic cuisine and Muslim Chinese martial arts. Their mode of dress also differs only in that adult males wear white caps and females wear headscarves or (occasionally) veils, as is the case in most Islamic cultures.

The definition of Hui after 1949 does not include ethnic groups such as the Uyghur, who live in the Mainland China and practice Islam. The ancestors of some Hui People and all Uyghur people were Uyghurs who built the Uyghur Empire. After the fall of the Uyghur Empire, four groups fled to Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia and two groups fled to Southern Xinjiang who intermarried with local Tocharian people. Only the Uyghur People retain the Turkic language. Prior to 1949, the definition of Hui refered to Chinese Muslim with Turkic ancestry which later extended to non-Turkic Muslim such as Southern Chinese Muslim who were predominantly Malay and Arabic origins. Included among the Hui in Chinese census statistics (and not officially recognized as a separate ethnic group) are several thousand Utsuls in southern Hainan province, who speak an Austronesian language (Tsat) related to that of the Cham Muslim minority of Vietnam, and who are said to be descended from Chams who migrated to Hainan.

The Hui Chinese have diverse origins. Some in the southeast coast are descended from Arab and Persian Muslim traders who settled in China and gradually intermarried and assimilated into the surrounding population keeping only their distinctive religion. A totally different explanation is available for the Mandarin Chinese-speaking Yunnan and Northern Huis, whose ethnogenesis might be a result of the convergence of large number of Mongol, Turkic or other Central Asian settlers in these regions who formed the dominant stratum in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. However, even Cantonese Muslims, of the southeastern coast, typically resemble northern Asians much more so than their typical Cantonese neighbours.

It was documented that a proportion of these nomad or military ethnic groups were originally Nestorian Christians many of whom later converted to Islam, while under the sinicizing pressures of the Ming and Qing states. In early modern times, villages in Northern Chinese Hui areas still bore labels like "Blue-cap Huihui," "Black-cap Huihui," and "White-cap Huihui," betraying their possible Christian, Judaic and Muslim origins, even though the religious practices among North China Hui by then were by and large Islamic. Hui is also used as a catch-all grouping for Islamic Chinese who are not classified under another ethnic group. A traditional Chinese term for Islam is 回教 (literally "the religion of the Hui"), though the most prevalent is the transliteration 伊斯蘭教 (literally "Islam religion").

Muslim Revolts: During the mid-nineteenth century, a series of civil wars broke out throughout China by various ethnic-lingual groups against the ruling Manchu-Mongol-Han Bannerman and Han Confucians elites. These include the Taiping Rebellion in Southern China ( whose leaders were Evengelical Christians of ethnic Hakka and Zhuang backgroud), the Muslims Rebellion in Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia in Northwestern China and Yuannan, and the Miao people Revolt in Hunan and Guizhou. These revolts were supported by European Powers at the beginning but eventually put down by the Manchu government. The Dungan People were descendants of the Muslim rebels who fled to Russia after the rebellion were suppressed by the joint force of Hunan Army led by Zuo Zhongtang with support from local Hui elites.

The Dungan Revolt was a religious war. It also known as the Hui Minorities' War and the Muslim Rebellion. The term is sometimes used to refer to the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan as well. It was an uprising by members of the Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups in China's Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces, as well as in Xinjiang, between 1862 and 1877.

The purpose of this uprising was to develop a Muslim country in the western bank of Yellow River. Some people say it was directed against the Qing Dynasty, but there is no evidence at all showing that they intended to attack the capital of Beijing. The uprising was actively encouraged by the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion. When it failed, it instigated immigration of some of the Dungan people into Imperial Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Before the war, the population of Shaanxi province was about 13 million, at least 1,750,000 of whome were Dungan (Hui). After the war, the population dropped to 7 million; 150,000 fled, left to between 50,000, the rest are died in ten years. Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, was the Holy city of Dungan (Hui) in China before the revolt. But once-flourishing Chinese Muslim communities fell 93% in the revolt in Shaanxi province. Between 1648 and 1878, around twelve million Hui and Han Chinese were killed in ten unsuccessful uprisings.

Dungan People: Dungan (東干; Russian: Дунгане) is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a Muslim people of Chinese origin.

Turkic-speaking peoples in Xinjiang Province in China also refer to members of this ethnic group as Dungans. In both China and the former Soviet republics where they reside, however, members of this ethnic group call themselves Hui. In the censuses of Russia and the former Soviet Central Asia, the Hui are enumerated separately from Chinese, and are labelled as Dungans. In the former Soviet Union, a large population of Dungans can be found in Kazakhstan (36,900 according to the 1999 census), Kyrgyzstan (51,766 according to 1999 census), and Uzbekistan. Some also reside in Russia (801 according to 2002 census, mostly in Tatarstan.)

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Genetic Studies

* The Emerging Limbs and Twigs of the East Asian mtDNA Tree by Toomas Kivisild, et al.

Phylogenetic Reconstruction and Geographic Distribution of Haplogroup M7

Phylogeography of Haplogroup A

* Genetic Distances Between Chinese Populations Ccalculated on Gene Frequencies of 38 Loci by DU Ruofu, et al.

Phylogenic Tree of Han Subpopulations in 30 Provinces, Cities and Autonomous Regions

(Beijing, Xinjiang)

* Allele Polymorphism and Haplotype Diversity of HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 Loci in Sequence-Based Typing for Chinese Uyghur Ethnic Group by Chun-mei Shen, et al.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous studies indicate that the frequency distributions of HLA alleles and haplotypes vary from one ethnic group to another or between the members of the same ethnic group living in different geographic areas. It is necessary and meaningful to study the high-resolution allelic and haplotypic distributions of HLA loci in different groups.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: High-resolution HLA typing for the Uyghur ethnic minority group using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-based-typing method was first reported. HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 allelic distributions were determined in 104 unrelated healthy Uyghur individuals and haplotypic frequencies and linkage disequilibrium parameters for HLA loci were estimated using the maximum-likelihood method. A total of 35 HLA-A, 51 HLA-B and 33 HLA-DRB1 alleles were identified at the four-digit level in the population. High frequency alleles were HLA-A*1101 (13.46%), A*0201 (12.50%), A*0301 (10.10%); HLA-B*5101(8.17%), B*3501(6.73%), B*5001 (6.25%); HLA-DRB1*0701 (16.35%), DRB1*1501 (8.65%) and DRB1*0301 (7.69%). The two-locus haplotypes at the highest frequency were HLA-A*3001-B*1302 (2.88%), A*2402-B*5101 (2.86%); HLA-B*5001-DRB1*0701 (4.14%) and B*0702-DRB1*1501 (3.37%). The three-locus haplotype at the highest frequency was HLA-A*3001-B*1302-DRB1*0701(2.40%). Significantly high linkage disequilibrium was observed in six two-locus haplotypes, with their corresponding relative linkage disequilibrium parameters equal to 1. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree between the Uyghur group and other previously reported populations was constructed on the basis of standard genetic distances among the populations calculated using the four-digit sequence-level allelic frequencies at HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 loci. The phylogenetic analyses reveal that the Uyghur group belongs to the northwestern Chinese populations and is most closely related to the Xibe group, and then to Kirgiz, Hui, Mongolian and Northern Han.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present findings could be useful to elucidate the genetic background of the population and to provide valuable data for HLA matching in clinical bone marrow transplantation, HLA-linked disease-association studies, population genetics, human identification and paternity tests in forensic sciences.

Neighbor-Joining Tree Based on the Allelic Frequencies of HLA-B Locus

(Uyghur, Xibe, Kirgiz)

* Geographical Distributions of Y-chromosomal Haplogroups P*(xR1a), R1a, and J from Male Demography in East Asia: A North–South Contrast in Human Population Expansion Times by Yali Xue, et al.

Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup R1a is common in many parts of Eurasia. One sub-clade (branch) of R1a, currently designated R1a1a, is much more common than the others in all major geographical regions. R1a1a, defined by the SNP mutation M17, is particularly common in a large region extending from South Asia and Southern Siberia to Central Europe and Scandinavia.

Currently, the R1a family is defined most broadly by the SNP mutation M420. The recent discovery of M420 resulted in a reorganization of the known family tree of R1a, in particular establishing a new paragroup (designated R1a*) for lineages which are not in the R1a1 branch leading to R1a1a.

R1a and R1a1a are believed to have originated somewhere within Eurasia, most likely in the area from Eastern Europe to South Asia. The most recent studies indicate that South Asia is a more likely region of origin than Europe.

Central and Northern Asia: R1a1a frequencies vary widely between populations within central and northern parts of Eurasia, but it is found in areas including Western China and Eastern Siberia. This big variation is possibly a consequence of population bottlenecks in isolated areas and the movements of Scythians and Turco-Mongols during the historic period. For example, exceptionally high frequencies of R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198; 50 to 70%) are found among the Ishkashimis, Khojant Tajiks, Kyrgyzs, and in several peoples of Russia's Altai Republic. Although levels are comparatively low amongst some Turkic-speaking groups (e.g. Turks, Azeris, Kazakhs, Yakuts), levels are very high in certain Turkic or Mongolic-speaking groups of Northwestern China, such as the Bonan, Dongxiang, Salar, and Uyghurs. R1a1a is also found among certain indigenous Eastern Siberians, including:Kamchatkans and Chukotkans, and peaking in Itel'man at 22%.

Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup J is believed to have arisen roughly 30,000 years ago in Southwest Asia (31,700±12,800 years ago according to Semino et al.. 2004).

Haplogroup J is found in greatest concentration in Southwest Asia. Outside of these regions, haplogroup J has a moderate presence in Southern Europe (especially in central and southern Italy, Greece, and Albania), Central Asia, and South Asia, particularly in the form of its subclade J2-M172. Haplogroup J is also found in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, particularly in the form of its subclade J1-M267. Subclades J2a and J2a1b1 are found mostly in Greece, Anatolia, and southern Italy.

J1: Haplogroup J1, defined by the 267 marker is most frequent in the Arabian Peninsula Yemen (76%), Saudi (64%), Qatar (58%), and Dagestan (56%). J1 is generally frequent amongst Arab Bedouins (62%). It is also very common among other Arabs such as those of the southern Levant, i.e. Palestinian Arabs (38.4%), in Algeria (35%), Iraq (68%), Tunisia (31%), Syria (30%), Lebanon (19%), Egypt (20%), and the Sinai Peninsula. The frequency of Haplogroup J1 collapses suddenly at the borders of Arabic speaking countries with mainly non-Arabic speaking countries, such as Turkey (9%) and Iran (9.5%).

J2: Haplogroup J2 is found in the highest concentrations in the Fertile Crescent and is found throughout the Mediterranean (including Southern Europe and North Africa), the Balkan peninsula, the Caucasus, the Iranian plateau and into Central Asia. More specifically it is found in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Israel, Greece, Italy, the Balkans and the eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, and most frequently in Lebanese 30% (Wells et al. 2001), Iraqis 29.7% (Sanchez et al. 2005), Syrians 29%, Sephardic Jews 29%, Kurds 28.4%, Iranians 24%.

J*: Haplogroup J* includes all of J except for J1 and J2. J* is rarely found outside of the island of Socotra, where it is quite frequent at 71.4%. Haplogroup J* has also been found with lower frequency in Oman, Ashkenazi Jews, Pakistan, Greece, the Czech Republic, and several Turkic peoples.

Haplogroup P (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup P (M45) contains the patrilineal ancestors of most Europeans and almost all of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It also contains approximately one third to two thirds of the males among various populations of Central Asia and Southern Asia.

Origins: Haplogroup P is a branch of Haplogroup MNOPS, which is a branch of Haplogroup K (M9). It is believed to have arisen north of the Hindu Kush, in Siberia, Kazakhstan, or Uzbekistan, approximately 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.

The descendant haplogroups of P include Q (M242) and R (M207).

Distribution: Besides the typically European/South Asian Haplogroup R and South-Central Asian/Siberian/Native American Haplogroup Q, other patrilines derived from Haplogroup P-M45 are labeled for sake of convenience as Haplogroup P* and are reported to have been found at low to moderate frequency among modern South Asia where it is most frequent among the Muslims of Manipur (30%) and the Madia Gond(25%).

Subgroups

The subclades of Haplogroup P with their defining mutation, according to the 2008 ISOGG tree:

P (92R7, M45, M74, N12, P27)
- P* Found in Hvar
- Q (M242)
  - Q*
  - Q1 (P36.2)
    - Q1*
    - Q1a (MEH2)
      - Q1a*
      - Q1a1 (M120, M265/N14) Found at low frequency among Chinese, Dungans, Hazaras, Japanese, Koreans, and Tibetans
      - Q1a2 (M25, M143) Found at low to moderate frequency in Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey
      - Q1a3 (M346)
        
        Q1a3* Found at low frequency in Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Khanty, and Tibetans
        
        Q1a3a (M3) Typical of indigenous peoples of the Americas
        
        Q1a3a*
        
        Q1a3a1 (M19) Found among some indigenous peoples of South America, such as the Ticuna and the Wayuu
        
        Q1a3a2 (M194)
        
        Q1a3a3 (M199, P106, P292)
      - Q1a4 (P48)
      - Q1a5 (P89)
      - Q1a6 (M323) Found in a significant minority of Yemenite Jews
    - Q1b (M378) Found at low frequency among Hazaras and Sindhis
- R (M207 (UTY2), M306 (S1), S4, S8, S9)

* Study About the FUT2 Gene Structure of Xinjiang Uighur and Han Nationality by Wei Tianli, et al.

Objective: The Secretor gene(FUT2) encodes the enzyme alpha(1,2) fucosyltransferase that determines the expression of ABO(H) antigens in secretions. FUT2 gene exhibits polymorphism that related to race. We study the molecular structure of FUT2 gene in Uighur population in Xinjiang area and Chinese with Han nationality. Methods: DNA was extracted from 40 Uighur and 41 Han unrelated donor blood. FUT2 gene of the DNA samples was studied by sequencing.ResultsFour mutations in the FUT2 gene of Uighur donors were identified. The frequencies of mutations were 71 25% for 357T, 28 75% for 357C，77 50% for 385A，22 50% for 385T，70% for 428G，30% for 428A，72 50% for 739G and 27 50% for 739A，respectively. There were two mutations in the FUT2 gene of Han donors. The frequencies of mutations were 90 24% for 357T, 9 76% for 357C，58 54% for 385A and 41 46% for 385T. Conclusion: The characteristics of FUT2 gene structure of Xinjiang Uighur and Han nationality suggests that genetic polymorphism difference exist between Xinjiang Uighur and Chinese Han nationality.

* Genetic Analysis on Tuoba Xianbei Remains Excavated from Qilang Mountain Cemetery in Qahar Right Wing Middle Banner of Inner Mongolia by Yu Changchun, et al.

Unrooted Neighbor-joining Tree of Tuoba Xianbei Group and 13 Populations Compared

* Genetic History of Southeast Asian Populations as Revealed by Ancient and Modern Human Mitochondrial DNA Analysis by P. Lertrit, et al.

Populations Selected for Genetic Comparison

Unrooted NJ Tree of 22 Selected Populations Based on Net Genetic Distances

PC Map of 22 Selected Populations Based on Net Genetic Distances

Haplogroup Frequencies

* Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup Distribution in Chaoshanese with and without Myopia by Qin Wang, et al.

Principal Component Map of Mmitochondrial DNA Variation

* A Homeland or Hostland? The power and challenges of genetic studies on Austronesian’s expansion by Mutsu Hsu and Shu-Juo Chen

Neighbor-joining Tree of Taiwan AN Populations, East Asians, Southeast Asians and Other Populations Worldwide (from Chu et al. 2001)

* Analysis of Genomic Admixture in Uyghur and Its Implication in Mapping Strategy by Shuhua Xu, et al.

Abstract: The Uyghur (UIG) population, settled in Xinjiang, China, is a population presenting a typical admixture of Eastern and Western anthropometric traits. We dissected its genomic structure at population level, individual level, and chromosome level by using 20,177 SNPs spanning nearly the entire chromosome 21. Our results showed that UIG was formed by two-way admixture, with 60% European ancestry and 40% East Asian ancestry. Overall linkage disequilibrium (LD) in UIG was similar to that in its parental populations represented in East Asia and Europe with regard to common alleles, and UIG manifested elevation of LD only within 500 kb and at a level of 0.1 < r2 < 0.8 when ancestry-informative markers (AIMs) were used. The size of chromosomal segments that were derived from East Asian and European ancestries averaged 2.4 cM and 4.1 cM, respectively. Both the magnitude of LD and fragmentary ancestral chromosome segments indicated a long history of Uyghur. Under the assumption of a hybrid isolation (HI) model, we estimated that the admixture event of UIG occurred about 126 [107146] generations ago, or 2520 [21402920] years ago assuming 20 years per generation. In spite of the long history and short LD of Uyghur compared with recent admixture populations such as the African-American population, we suggest that mapping by admixture LD (MALD) is still applicable in the Uyghur population but 10-fold AIMs are necessary for a whole-genome scan.

* Sample Profile - Uyghur (Western China) by DNA Tribes

Native Population Match: Uyghur (Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan), Kazakh (Northwest Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan), Afghanistan, Uyghur (Chinese Turkestan), Kirgiz (Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan), Uzbek (Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan), Gujarat, India, Kathmandu, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bengali (Bangladesh), Khandayat (India), Nepal, Uyghur (Xinjiang, Chinese Turkestan), Pakistan, Bangladeshi (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Jat Sikh (Punjab, India), Uyghur (China), Bashkir (Russian Federation), Csango (Romania), Yadav (Bihar, India)

The Csango people are a Hungarian ethnic group of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romanian region of Moldavia, especially in the Bacău County. Their traditional language, Csango, an old Hungarian dialect is still in use, though the larger part of them speak Romanian.

The name Csango appeared relatively recently, being used for the first time, in 1780 by Petru Zold. The name Csango is used to describe two different ethnic groups:

those concentrated in the county of Bacǎu (the southern group) and in the area surrounding the city of Roman (the northern group). We know for certain that these people are not Szeklers. They are Romanian in appearance, and the majority of them speak a Transylvanian dialect of Romanian and live according to Romanian traditions and customs. These characteristics suggest that they are Romanians from Transylvania who have joined the Romanian Catholic population of Moldavia.

those of Szekler origin, most of whom settled in the valleys of the Trotuş and the Tazlǎu and, to a lesser extent, of the Siret. Their mother tongue is the same as that spoken by the Szeklers, and they live side by side with Romanians.

* Tracing the Origins of Hakka and Chaoshanese by Mitochondrial DNA Analysis by Wen-Zhi Wang, et al.

Population Analyzed

Two-dimensional PC Plot of mtDNA of Han Populations

PC Map of Y Chromosome of Han Chinese

* The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity by R. Spencer Wells, et al.

Neighbor-joining tree of 61 Eurasian populations, based on Y-chromosome biallelic haplotype frequencies

Cluster I: Greek, Yagnobi, Armenian, Turkmen, Czeck/Slovak, Orkney, British, Basque
Cluster II: Iranian, Turkish, Kazbegi, Azeri
Cluster III: Tuvinian, Nenets
Cluster IV: Kazak, Mongolian, Cambodian, Dungan, Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Cluster V: Macedonian, Russian/North, Russian/Tashkent, Ukrainian, Kyrgyz, Tajik/Khojant, Ishkashim
Cluster VI: Bartangi, Hunza, Sinte Roman
Cluster VII: Arab/Bukhara, Tajik/Samarkand, Shugnan, Tajik/Dushanbe, Yadhava, Sourashtran, Kallar
Cluster VIII: Uzbek, Tatar, Karakalpak, Uighur

Geographic Distribution of Y-chromosome Haplotypes in Selected Eurasian Populations

The haplotype frequencies in selected populations are shown graphically with related haplotypes combined into common colors.

YAP lineage - Haplogroup_DE, Haplogroup D and Haplogroup E; M130 lineage - Haplogroup C; M89 lineage- Haplogroup F; M9 lineage- Haplogroup K; M45 lineage - Haplogroup P; M173 lineage - Haplogroup R1; M17 lineage - Haplogroup R1a

Haplogroups: A, B, C, D, ExE3b, E3b, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, RxR1, R1a, R1b

* Spoligotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Different Provinces of China by H. Dong, et al.

Abstract: A total of 2,346 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from 13 provinces in China were genotyped by spoligotyping. Two hundred seventy-eight spoligotypes were identified: 2,153 isolates were grouped into 85 clusters, and the remaining 193 isolates were orphans. Comparison with the SpolDB4.0 database revealed that 118 spoligotypes had shared international type numbers in the database and the other 160 were novel. These 160 novel spoligotypes were assigned to families and subfamilies using the SpotClust program. The most prevalent family was the Beijing family (74.08%), followed by the T family (14.11%). CAS (Central-Asian) family strains were found only in the Xinjiang and Tibet regions, while EAI (East-African Indian) family strains were found only in Fujian Province. In conclusion, the present study of the M. tuberculosis population in China demonstrated that Beijing family isolates are the most prevalent strains in China and that they exhibit geographical variation. Furthermore, many new spoligotypes were found in this study.

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Ancient DNA from Xinjiang

* Early Eurasian Migration Traces in the Tarim Basin Revealed by mtDNA Polymorphisms by Y Cui, et al.

Abstract: The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms of 58 samples from the Daheyan village located in the central Taklamakan Desert of the Tarim Basin were determined in this study. Among the 58 samples, 29 haplotypes belonging to 18 different haplogroups were analyzed. Almost all the mtDNAs belong to a subset of either the defined Western or Eastern Eurasian pool. Extensive Eastern Eurasian lineages exist in the Daheyan population in which Northern-prevalent haplogroups present higher frequencies. In the limited existing Western Eurasian lineages, two sub-haplogroups, U3 and X2, that are rare in Central Asia were found in this study, which may be indicative of the remnants of an early immigrant population from the Near East and Caucasus regions preserved only in the Tarim Basin. The presence of U3 in modern and archeological samples in the Tarim Basin suggests that the immigration took place earlier than 2,000 years ago and points to human continuity in this area, with at least one Western lineage originating from the Near East and Caucasus regions.

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Ancient Sampula Population in Xinjiang by Chengzhi Xie, et al.

Abstract: The archaeological site of Sampula cemetery was located about 14 km to the southwest of the Luo County in Xinjiang Khotan, China, belonging to the ancient Yutian kingdom. 14C analysis showed that this cemetery was used from 217 B.C. to 283 A. D. Ancient DNA was analysed by 364 bp of the mitochondrial DNA hypervariable region 1 (mtDNA HVR-1), and by six restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) sites of mtDNA coding region. We successfully extracted and sequenced intact stretches of maternally inherited mtDNA from 13 out of 16 ancient Sampula samples. The analysis of mtDNA haplogroup distribution showed that the ancient Sampula was a complex population with both European and Asian Characteristics. Median joining network of U3 sub-haplogroup and multi-dimensional scaling analysis all showed that the ancient Sampula had maternal relationship with Ossetian and Iranian.

* Ancient Xinjiang Niya People Are the Scythians or Not ——The evidence from mitochondrial DNA study by
Chengzhi Xie, et al.

Excerpt: The Niya lineage was compared with the U3 lineages from modern Eurasian populations and ancient Xinjiang samples, and the result indicates that the Niya sample is possibly of an Iranian origin. It seems that the Niya population was the Scythians who settled in ancient Xinjiang.

* Prehistorical East–West Admixture of Maternal Lineages in a 2,500-Year-Old Population in Xinjiang by Fan Zhang, et al.

Abstract: As an area of contact between Asia and Europe, Central Asia witnessed a scenario of complex cultural developments, extensive migratory movements, and biological admixture between West and East Eurasians. However, the detanglement of this complexity of diversity requires an understanding of prehistoric contacts of the people from the West and the East on the Eurasia continent. We demonstrated the presence of genetic admixture of West and East in a population of 35 inhabitants excavated in Gavaerk in southern Xinjiang and dated 2,800–2,100 years before present by analyzing their mitochondrial DNA variations. This result indicates that the initial contact of the East and the West Eurasians occurred further east than Central Asia as early as 2,500 years ago.

Plots of Shared Haplotypes of Four GAV Specimens.

A dot represents a Contemporary Sample that has the same haplotype with the specific GAV specimen (a) specimen 4B (hg C, 16223-16298-16309-16327); (b) 4E (hg M13a, 16145-16148-16188-16189-16223); (c) 3G and 27 (hg H, 16311); (d) 7D (hg K, 16224-16311).

* Evidence that a West-East Admixed Population Lived in the Tarim Basin as Early as the Early Bronze Age by Li C, et al.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East. However, both the exact period at which the relevant events occurred and the origins of the people in the area remain very obscure. In this paper, we present data from the analyses of both Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from human remains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery, the oldest archeological site with human remains discovered in the Tarim Basin thus far. RESULTS: Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Xiaohe people carried both the East Eurasian haplogroup (C) and the West Eurasian haplogroups (H and K), whereas Y chromosomal DNA analysis revealed only the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a1a in the male individuals. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that the Xiaohe people were an admixture from populations originating from both the West and the East, implying that the Tarim Basin had been occupied by an admixed population since the early Bronze Age. To our knowledge, this is the earliest genetic evidence of an admixed population settled in the Tarim Basin.

Excerpt: Besides the East Eurasian lineage, two West Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups H and K were found among the Xiaohe people. H lineage is the most common mtDNA haplogroup in West Eurasia [20], but haplogroup H with a 16260T was shared by only nine modern people in Genbank, including one Italian, one German, one Hungarian, one Portuguese, one Icelander and four English people. Haplogroup K, a western Eurasian-specific haplogroup, is mainly distributed in Europe, central Asia, and Iran [20,21]. However, haplogroup K with 16134T, found in the Xiaohe people, has not been found in modern people to our knowledge.

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Human Remains from the Yuansha Site in Xinjiang, China by Gao ShiZhu, et al.

* Analysis of the Matrilineal Genetic Structure of Population in the Early Iron Age from Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China by CUI YinQiu, et al.

Abstract: Ancient mtDNA data of human remains were analyzed from four early Iron Age Tarim Basin sites (Yuansha, Zaghunluq, Sampula and Niya) in the southern Silk Road region. Haplogroup distributions show that ancient Tarim Basin population was comprised of well-differentiated Western and Eastern matrilineal lineages. Some West lineage of Tarim Basin population originated from Near East and Iran region. Of the East lineages, North and Northeast Asia originated lineages were the main components, and a few Southeast Asian lineages also existed, which indicated a more extensive origin and a more complex admixture. The genetic structure of ancient Tarim Basin population is relatively close to the modern populations of Xinjiang, which implied that the early Iron Age is an important period during the formation of the modern Xinjiang population.

The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other. The term originally applied to the Balkan states in Eastern Europe, but now generally describes the countries of Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, especially in historical contexts.

The term, as used by Western archaeologists, geographers, and historians, refers to the region encompassing Anatolia (the Asian portion of modern Turkey), the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and the Palestinian territories), Mesopotamia (Iraq) and, occasionally, Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). In modern political and journalistic contexts, this region is usually subsumed into the wider Middle East, while the terms Near East or West Asia are preferred in archaeological, geographic and historical contexts. The term has been referred to as eurocentric

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Celiac Disease

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onward. Symptoms include chronic diarrhoea, failure to thrive (in children), and fatigue, but these may be absent, and symptoms in other organ systems have been described. A growing portion of diagnoses are being made in asymptomatic persons as a result of increased screening; the condition is thought to affect between 1 in 1,750 and 1 in 105 people in the United States. Coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a prolamin (gluten protein) found in wheat, and similar proteins found in the crops of the tribe Triticeae (which includes other common grains such as barley and rye). Upon exposure to gliadin, and specifically to three peptides found in prolamins, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase modifies the protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with the small-bowel tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction. That leads to a truncating of the villi lining the small intestine (called villous atrophy). This interferes with the absorption of nutrients, because the intestinal villi are responsible for absorption. The only known effective treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet. While the disease is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it is not the same as wheat allergy.

Genetics: The vast majority of coeliac patients have one of two types of HLA-DQ. Over 95% of coeliac patients have the isoform of DQ2 or DQ8, which is inherited in families. The reason these genes produce an increase in risk of coeliac disease is that the receptors formed by these genes bind to gliadin peptides more tightly than other forms of the antigen-presenting receptor. Therefore, these forms of the receptor are more likely to activate T lymphocytes and initiate the autoimmune process.

HLA-DQ2 (DQ2) is determined by the antibody recognition of β2 subset of DQ β-chains. The β-chain of DQ is encoded by HLA-DQB1 locus and DQ2 are encoded by the HLA-DQB1*02 allele group. This group currently contains 2 common alleles, DQB1*0201 and DQB1*0202. HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQB1*02 are almost synonymous in meaning. DQ2 β-chains combine with α-chains, encoded by genetically linked HLA-DQA1 alleles, to form the cis-haplotype isoforms. These isoforms, nicknamed DQ2.2 and DQ2.5, are also encoded by the DQA1*0201 and DQA1*0501 genes, respectively.

DQ2 is most common in Western Europe, North and West Africa. Highest frequencies are observed in parts of Spain and Ireland, this distribution correlates with the frequency of two of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases. There is also a increase in DQB1*0201 in Central Asia, peaking in Kazakhstan and declining slowly east to west into China and finally Southeast Asia. DQA1*0501 : DQB1*0201. DQ2.5 is one of the most predisposing factors for autoimmune disease. DQ2.5 is encoded, often, by a haplotype associated with a large number of diseases. This haplotype, HLA A1-B8-DR3-DQ2 is associated with diseases in which HLA-DQ2 has suspect involvement. Direct involvement of DQ2 is certain in coeliac disease.

DQ2.5 and the linked DR3 are associated with probably the greatest frequency of autoimmune occurrence relative to any other haplotypes. The haplotype is positively associated with coeliac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, juvenile diabetes, Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), Sjögren's syndrome, and autoimmune hepatitis (although significant proportion of the risk is secondary to coeliac disease). DR3 and/or DQ2.5 are linked to the following diseases: Moreen's ulceration, "bout onset" multiple sclerosis, Grave's disease and systemic lupus erythematosus.

HLA-DQ8 (DQ8) is determined by the antibody recognition of β8 and this generally detects the gene product of DQB1*0302.

DQ8 is commonly linked to autoimmune disease in the human population. DQ8 is the second most predominant isoform linked to coeliac disease and the DQ most linked to juvenile diabetes. DQ8 increases the risk for rheumatoid arthritis and is linked to the primary risk locus for RA, HLA-DR4. DR4 also plays an important role in juvenile diabetes.

Hiatus of DQ8 in the NE Siberian Arctic, Elevated Levels in Amur Region and Eastern Turks: The levels of DQ8 in SW to West Pacific Rim are at variable haplotype frequencies, from 2 to 30%, and level off around 10% for Ryūkyūan, Japanese, Koreans, Amur Regions and in the NW Pacific Rim drop to less than 1% in the Nivkhi. There is a modern hiatus of DQ8 in the Alaska-Eastern Siberian region and it is unclear whether this is due to replacement, selection, or the mode in which first Americans arrived (i.e. strictly maritime route). The DR types associated with DQ8 are DRB1*0403, *0404, *0406, *0407, *0408, and *0401 is split between many DQA1:B1 haplotypes. DQB1*0405 is commonly associated with DQA1*0303:DQB1*04 and so it is not included in DRB1*0401 in high resolution assessments. The Cook Island DQ8 had only one associated DR haplotype suggesting diversity limiting introduction into the region, either via the TW-(Japan/Korea/China) route or through the west, for example the Bunun have high DRB1*0403. The majority of DRB1*04 appear to have redistributed from eastern Asia from an unknown source, possibly in Central Asia or India. The distribution can be compared with Native Groups such as South Americans. Three groups with high levels, the Kogui, Sikuni, and Yucpa, have about 75% DQ8, the dominant DRB1* allele in 2 of 3 is the *0411 (N. China = 0), but *0407 (Ryūkyū, Japanese, Mansi-Eastern Ural, Naxi Chinese) and *0403 (Nganasan, Buryat, Negidal, Tunisians, Ryūkyū, Korea, Ainu) are also found. In North America DRB1*0404 and *0407 are more common than *0403 and, in the Lakota Souix, B1*0411 is rare. The DRB1*0404-DQ8 haplotype is more common in North Western Asia, and Northern Europe.

**DQA1*03:DQB1*0302 levels in the Asia**
(given as frequency in %)
Reference	DQA1	DQB1	Estimated
Population	*03	*0302	DQ8.1
Nivkhi (NNE. Sakalin I.)		0.0	0
Zorastra, Yadz (Iran)	20.8	0.8	0.8
Khoton (Mongolia)	24.4	1.2	1.2
Madang (Papua New Guinea)	1.5	1.5	1.5
Yao (China)		2.6	2.6
Naxi (Lijiang, China)		2.7	2.7
Ainu (Japan)		3.0	3.0
Shandong Han (China)		3.1	3.1
Khalkha (Mongolia)	22.3	6.1	6.1
Thais	21.5	7.4	7.4
Ket, Yenisey (Siberia)	14.7	8.4	8.4
South Korea		10.3	10.3
Japanese		10.8	10.8
Nganasan (Siberia)	39.6	11.4	11.4
Uygars, Urumqi (China)	21.9	11.4	11.4
Kazahk		11.4	11.4
Negidal (Siberia)	50.0	18.6	18.6
Cook Isl. (Pacific)		25.0	25.0

* Coeliac Disease: Emerging in China? by J. Wu, et al.

Excerpts: Here we report on a serological screening for CD (Celiac Disease) in China. CD has been historically considered to be absent in the Far East (China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, etc.). However, since the major known risk factors for CD are common in China, we used serological tests for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antigliadin antibodies (AGAs) and IgA antitissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGs) to screen for CD in high risk patients, comprising 73 cases of diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) and five cases of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), 30 women and 48 men, ...

Our serological screening demonstrated that CD might exist in Jiangsu province. This province is one of the main wheat producing areas in China.5 The CD predisposing human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ alleles, accounting for 30% of heritability in Caucasians, are not rare in Han inhabitants of this area. Their frequency of haplotype DQA1*0501-DQB1*02 (DQ2) is 7.2% and of DQA1*03-DQB1*0302 (DQ8) is 4.7%, and the frequencies of haplotypes DQA1*02-DQB1*02 and DQA1*05-DQB1*03 together capable of encoding DQ2 in trans are 9.4% and 7.8%, respectively. Even though there were no serological test results, Jiang et al had reported four cases of CD by duodenal biopsy this year in Zhejiang province which is neighbour of Jiangsu. The results of our research are encouraging. Considering the increasing gluten intake, frequency of common HLA-DQ2/DQ8 alleles and the large population size of Jiangsu province, we speculate that CD might not be rare....

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Ancient DNA from Yixi (Linzi), Shandong Peninsula

Map of Shandong

The Yixi site is located in Linzi (Zibo), Shandong Province, China. This site has been dated to the period of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) in China, on the basis of the archaeological finds excavated. The ruins of the ancient city were excavated in 1926 by Japanese archaeologists and in 1964 by Chinese archaeologists. The ruins of the city are surrounded by over 100 tumulus, some as far as 10 km away. Many of the tombs around Linzi had been looted in antiquity. Over 600 horses were sacrificed in two rows, found in a tomb pit, near what is considered the tomb of Duke Jing of Qi. The sacrificial horse pit is now the site of a museum, the Museum of the State of Qi.

Shandong: The earliest dynasties exerted varying degrees of control over western Shandong, while eastern Shandong was inhabited by the Laiyi (Dongyi) peoples who were considered to be "barbarians". Over subsequent centuries, the Laiyi were eventually sinicized.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, regional states became increasingly powerful. Shandong was at this time home to two powerful states: the state of Qi (齊) at Linzi and the state of Lu at Qufu. Lu is noted for being the home of Confucius. The state was, however, comparatively small, and eventually succumbed to the powerful state of Chu from the south. The state of Qi was, on the other hand, a major power throughout this entire period. Cities it ruled included Linzi, Jimo (north of modern Qingdao) and Ju.　Its capital was Linzi, which is part of the present city of Zibo (淄博) in Shandong Province.

Lord Huan of Qi, ruler of Qi, appointed Guan Zhong, the famous thinker and economist, as his prime minister, and adopted Guan's thoughts and policies to administer his country, reform the economic system and develop relations with other states, After scores of years, Qi became the strongest state for its economic and military strength, and was named as the "state with one thousand chariots" and the "head of the five strongest states". The culture and education undertakings were rather developed in Qi. Both poetry and music were of high level. Linzi District remained its capital for as long as 638 years, and was the biggest city in the orient. The Qin Dynasty (秦朝; 221 BC - 206 BC) destroyed Qi and founded the first centralized Chinese state in 221 BC.

The Silk Road, prosperous through the Han and Tang Dynasties is the famous passageway in China's history for economic and cultural exchange between East and West. As a result of textual research, Shandong area, with Zibo as its center, was the major place of silk supply at that time, and was one of the origins of the "Silk Road".

Shandong is the second most populous province of China, after Henan, with a population of almost 92 million. Over 99% of Shandong's population is Han Chinese. Minority groups include the Hui and the Manchus. Shandong is also known as having highest average height of any Chinese province.

* Molecular Genetic Analysis of Remains of a 2,000-year-old Human Population in China-and Its Relevance for the Origin of the Modern Japanese Population by H. Oota, et al. (1999)

Abstract: We extracted DNA from the human remains excavated from the Yixi site (approximately 2,000 years before the present) in the Shandong peninsula of China and, through PCR amplification, determined nucleotide sequences of their mitochondrial D-loop regions. Nucleotide diversity of the ancient Yixi people was similar to those of modern populations. Modern humans in Asia and the circum-Pacific region are divided into six radiation groups, on the basis of the phylogenetic network constructed by means of 414 mtDNA types from 1, 298 individuals. We compared the ancient Yixi people with the modern Asian and the circum-Pacific populations, using two indices: frequency distribution of the radiation groups and genetic distances among populations. Both revealed that the closest genetic relatedness is between the ancient Yixi people and the modern Taiwan Han Chinese. The Yixi people show closer genetic affinity with Mongolians, mainland Japanese, and Koreans than with Ainu and Ryukyu Japanese and less genetic resemblance with Jomon people and Yayoi people, their predecessors and contemporaries, respectively, in ancient Japan."

* Genetic Structure of a 2,500-Year-Old Human Population in China and Its Spatiotemporal Changes by Li Wang, et al. (2000)

Abstract: To examine temporal changes in population genetic structure, we compared the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of three populations that lived in the same location, Linzi, China, in different periods: 2,500 years ago (the Spring–Autumn era), 2,000 years ago (the Han era), and the present day. Two indices were used to compare the genetic differences: the frequency distributions of the radiating haplotype groups and the genetic distances among the populations. The results indicate that the genetic backgrounds of the three populations are distinct from each other. Inconsistent with the geographical distribution, the 2,500-year-old Linzi population showed greater genetic similarity to present-day European populations than to present-day east Asian populations. The 2,000-year-old Linzi population had features that were intermediate between the present-day European/2,500-year-old Linzi populations and the present-day east Asian populations.

Result: The smallest genetic distance for the present-day Linzi population was that from the Mongols, followed by those from mainland Japanese and Koreans. Surprisingly, the three smallest genetic distances for the 2,000-year-old Linzi population were from the present-day central Asian populations: the Kirghiz (Sary-Tash), followed by the Kazakh and the Uighurs. Even more surprisingly, the three smallest genetic distances for the 2,500-year-old Linzi population were from the Turkish, Icelander, and Finnish, rather than from the east Asian populations.

* Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of China: A Caveat About Inferences Drawn from Ancient DNA by Yong-Gang Yao, et al. (2003)

Abstract: The decipherment of the meager information provided by short fragments of ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is notoriously difficult but is regarded as a most promising way toward reconstructing the past from the genetic perspective. By haplogroup-specific hypervariable segment (HVS) motif search and matching or near-matching with available modern data sets, most of the ancient mtDNAs can be tentatively assigned to haplogroups, which are often subcontinent specific. Further typing for mtDNA haplogroup-diagnostic coding region polymorphisms, however, is indispensable for establishing the geographic/genetic affinities of ancient samples with less ambiguity. In the present study, we sequenced a fragment (982 bp) of the mtDNA control region in 76 Han individuals from Taian, Shandong, China, and we combined these data with previously reported samples from Zibo and Qingdao, Shandong. The reanalysis of two previously published ancient mtDNA population data sets from Linzi (same province) then indicates that the ancient populations had features in common with the modern populations from south China rather than any specific affinity to the European mtDNA pool. Our results highlight that ancient mtDNA data obtained under different sampling schemes and subject to potential contamination can easily create the impression of drastic spatiotemporal changes in the genetic structure of a regional population during the past few thousand years if inappropriate methods of data analysis are employed.

* Reanalysis of Eurasian Population History: Ancient DNA Evidence of Population Affinities by C.C. Bennett, F.A. Kaestle (2006)

Abstract: Mitochondrial hypervariable region I genetic data from ancient populations at two sites in Asia-Linzi in Shandong (northern China) and Egyin Gol in Mongolia-were reanalyzed to detect population affinities. Data from 51 modern populations were used to generate distance measures (F^sub ST^'s) to the two ancient populations. The tests first analyzed relationships at the regional level and then compiled the top regional matches for an overall comparison to the two probe populations. The reanalysis showed that the Egyin Gol and Linzi populations have clear distinctions in genetic affinity. The Egyin Gol population as a whole appears to bear close affinities with modern populations of northern East Asia. The Linzi population seems to have some genetic affinities with the West, as suggested by the original analysis, although the original attribution of "European-like" seems to be misleading. We suggest that the Linzi individuals are potentially related to early Iranians, who are thought to have been widespread in parts of Central Eurasia and the steppe regions in the first millennium B.C., although some significant admixture between a number of populations of varying origin cannot be ruled out. We also examine the effect of sequence length on this type of genetic data analysis and discuss the results of previous studies on the Linzi sample.

Results

Table 4 contains the comparisons of the Linzi and Egyin Gol samples to East and Central Asia .... The top half of the Linzi list is dominated by Southeast Asians, southern Chinese, and Central Asians. The lower half is dominated by northern Asians (save for the lowland Kirghiz and Akha). It is not clear how and why both Southeast Asians (and southern Chinese) and Central Asians are similar to the Linzi population, although this is only a relative comparison within the region. However, there is some debate over the nature of ancient East Asian genetic history, so possibly there are issues here that have yet to be illuminated ....

Table 5 is the total comparison of modern populations to Linzi and Egyin Gol from a composite of the top matches from each region, .... As for the Linzi individuals, they seem to be most highly related to Near Easterners (Turks, Iranians, and Iraqis), Armenians, and Eastern Europeans (Slavs, Hungarians), although others, such as Catalans and Iraqis, are mixed in. The Icelanders are twelfth on this list. The high placement of the Vietnamese may be an anomaly, error, or some element of ancient genetic history that is not clear ....

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Yayoi Period Human Skeletal Remains from the Doigahama Site by Kazunari Igawa, et al.

Excerpt: The 2500-year-old Linzi population (group I: 15%, group II: 6%, group III: 3%, group IV: 65%, group V: 3%, group VI: 9%) resembled the 2000–2300-year-old Doigahama Yayoi population with respect to the high frequency for group IV. It was suggested that there were phylogenetically similar populations in China and Japan during the ancient period, from 2500 to 2000 years ago.

On the other hand, the low frequencies of group IV in the modern East-Asian populations were reported by Wang et al. In addition, their study indicated that the 2500-year-old Linzi populations showed less genetic resemblance to modern East-Asian populations. These findings suggest that more than one ancient population, which had different phylogenetic characteristics from modern East-Asian populations, existed in the past in East Asia. This is informative for estimating the phylogenetic relationships among ancient East-Asian populations. The resemblance between the ancient populations in China and Japan might support the notion that ancient China is the place from which the Doigahama Yayoi population immigrated. The amount of genetic data is still not sufficient enough to discuss the phylogenetic relationships among the ancient East-Asian populations. Further genetic studies are required to shed light on the phylogenetic relationships among the ancient East-Asian populations.

Geographicl Distribution of HVI Sequence Types Observed in Doigahama Yayoi Specimens

Individual Number Sharing Populations (number of individuals)

1, 124, 1601 Vietnam (1)

1301, 1405, 1406, 1903, 88A Thai (15), China Nei Mongol (11), China Xinjiang (11), China Hainan (10), China Yunnan (8), Vietnam (7), China Guizhou (6), Russia Buryat (6), Japan Okinawa (4), China Shandong (3), China Shanghai (2), Indonesia (1), China Bouyei (1), China Dai (1), Taiwan Yami (1) and other China (2)

914, 1604 China Guangxi (4), China Nei Mongol (4), China Guizhou (2), China Xinjiang (2), Taiwan Chinese (1), China Hubei (1), and other China (1)

1904 China Xinjiang (1)

1305 China Yunnan (7), China Shandong (4), Japan mainland (3), China Hainan (3), Thai (3), China Liaoning (2), China Guangxi (2), Russia Nivhi (2), South Korea (1), Taiwan Chinese (1), Indonesia (1) and other China (4)

913 Not found in East-Asian Population

Individual Number	Sharing Populations (number of individuals)
1, 124, 1601	Vietnam (1)
1301, 1405, 1406, 1903, 88A	Thai (15), China Nei Mongol (11), China Xinjiang (11), China Hainan (10), China Yunnan (8), Vietnam (7), China Guizhou (6), Russia Buryat (6), Japan Okinawa (4), China Shandong (3), China Shanghai (2), Indonesia (1), China Bouyei (1), China Dai (1), Taiwan Yami (1) and other China (2)
914, 1604	China Guangxi (4), China Nei Mongol (4), China Guizhou (2), China Xinjiang (2), Taiwan Chinese (1), China Hubei (1), and other China (1)
1904	China Xinjiang (1)
1305	China Yunnan (7), China Shandong (4), Japan mainland (3), China Hainan (3), Thai (3), China Liaoning (2), China Guangxi (2), Russia Nivhi (2), South Korea (1), Taiwan Chinese (1), Indonesia (1) and other China (4)
913	Not found in East-Asian Population

Scythians

Approximate extent of Scythia and the Scythian languages (orange) in the 1st century BC

The Scythians or Scyths (Greek: Σκύθες, Σκύθοι) were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic steppe throughout Classical Antiquity. By Late Antiquity the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scyths in this area. Much of the surviving information about the Scyths comes from the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 BC) in his Histories, and archaeologically from the exquisite goldwork found in Scythian burial mounds in Ukraine and Southern Russia.

The name "Scythian" has also been used to refer to various peoples seen as similar to the Scythians, or who lived anywhere in a vast area covering present-day Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia — known until medieval times as Scythia. The name was also used among early scholars studying the Proto Indo-Europeans, and within the framework of the Kurgan hypothesis the Scythians are considered a reasonable analogue for their Proto Indo-European ancestors.

Scholars generally classify the Scythian language as a member of the Eastern Iranian languages, and the Scythians as a branch of the ancient Iranian peoples expanding into the steppe regions north of Greater Iran from around 1000 BC.

Asians, especially Persians, knew the Scythians in Asia as Sakas. The Indo-Scythians had the name "Shaka" in South Asia, an extension on the name "Saka".

Ruled by small numbers of closely-allied élites, Scythians had a reputation for their archers, and many gained employment as mercenaries. Scythian élites had kurgan tombs.

In Late Antiquity the notion of a Scythian ethnicity grew more vague, and outsiders might dub any people inhabiting the Pontic-Caspian steppe as "Scythians", regardless of their language. Thus, Priscus, a Byzantine emissary to Attila, repeatedly referred to the latter's followers as "Scythians". In Attila's regime Edekon was the king of Scythians.

The Goths had displaced the Sarmatians in the 2nd century from most areas near the Roman frontier, and by early medieval times, the Turkic migration marginalized East Iranian dialects, and assimilated the Saka linguistically.

The Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae (Old Iranian Sarumatah 'archer') were a people of Iranic origin. Mentioned by classical authors, they migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around fifth century B.C. and eventually settled in most of southern European Russia, Ukraine, and the eastern Balkans.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the boundary between the so-called Centum-Satem isogloss in the Indo-European languages apparently split at the European border of the Sarmatians.

Around the year 100 BC, Sarmatian land ranged from the Barents Sea or Baltic Sea ("Oceanus Sarmaticus") to a tributary of the Vistula River, to the Carpathian Mountains, to the mouth of the Danube, then eastward along the northern coast of the Black Sea, across the Caucasus to the Caspian Sea and north along the Volga up to the polar circle.

The Sarmatians flourished from the time of Herodotus and allied partly with the Huns when they arrived in the fourth century AD.

In 1947, the leading Soviet historian Boris Grakov defined a culture apparent in late Kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older Kurgans. It is a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea to beyond the Volga, and is especially evident at two of the major sites at Kardaielova and Chernaya in the trans-Uralic steppe.

The date of the culture (from the seventh century BC to the fourth century AD) and the location are in synchronicity with the written information we have about the Sarmatians.

The numerous Iranian personal names in the Greek inscriptions from the Black Sea Coast indicate that the Sarmatians there spoke a north-eastern Iranian dialect related to Sogdian and Ossetic. Like the Scythians, Sarmatians were of Caucasian appearance; before the arrival of the Huns it is thought that few of the western steppe peoples had Asiatic or Turco-Mongol features.

Ancient DNA of 13 Sarmatian remains from Pokrovka and Meirmagul kurgans was extracted for comparative analysis. Most of the genetic traits determined were of western Eurasian origin, while only a few were of central/east Asian origin.

World-wide spreading of Haplotypes which are identical with Pr11 and Pr6 from DNA Report: Pokrovka Warrior Women Compared to Meiramgul

* Videos: Scythians or Huns?, Scythian Ice Maiden - Indo-Europeans in the Altai 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sarmatian Treasure, The (Scytho) Sarmatians

* Phylogeographic Differentiation of Mitochondrial DNA in Han Chinese by Yong-Gang Yao, et al.

PC Map of the mtDNA Data (with respect to the basal haplogroup profiles) of 13 Regional Han Samples

(Taiwan-2 clusters with Xinjiang, Shanghai)

* The Origin of Minnan & Hakka, the So-Called "Taiwanese" Inferred by HLA Study by M. Lin

Abstract: The Minnan and Hakka people groups, the so-called "Taiwanese", are the descendants of early settlers from the southeast coast of China during the last few centuries. Genetically they showed affinities to southern Asian populations as determined by phylogenetic trees and correspondence analysis calculated from HLA allele frequencies. This corresponds historically with the fact that they are the descendants of the southeast coastal indigenous population (Yueh) of China and should therefore not be considered as descendants of "pure" northern Han Chinese. A33-B58-DRB1*03 (A33-Cw10-B58-DRB1*03-DQB1*02), the most common HLA haplotype among "Taiwanese", with a haplotype frequency of 6.3%, has also been found to be the most common haplotype among Thai-Chinese and Singapore Chinese, two other populations also originating from the southeast coast of China. These observations suggest that this haplotype is the most well conserved ancient haplotype of the Yueh (從組織抗原推論閩南人及客家人，所謂「台灣人」的來源 by 林媽利).

Excerpt: A33-B58-DRB1*03 was found to be the most common and also the best conserved A-B-DR three-locus haplotype among “Taiwanese” (6.3%), was exclusively related to the most common five locus haplotype, A33-Cw10-B58-DRB1*03-DQB1*02 (6.3%). Similar to our results, the haplotype A33-B58-DR17 (DRB1*03) was also proven to be the most common haplotype in Taiwan among Minnan (n = 7137, 5.59%) and Hakka (n = 714, 5.10%) by the Tzu Chi Taiwan Marrow Donor Registry as estimated by the maximum likelihood method (7). The three-locus haplotype A33-B58-DRB1*03 has also been found among southeast Asians (Thai-Chinese 7.1%; Singapore Chinese 4.4%) (5) and northern Asians (Han in Urumchi, China 3.5%; Khalha in Mongolia 3.4%; Uygur in Urumchi, China 1.8%; Kazakhs in Urumchi, China 1.8%; Korean 1.2%) (9, 10). The five-locus haplotype has also been found in Thais (Present-day Thais 2.2%; Black Thai 2.8%) (11)....

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History of Xinjiang

Early History: According to JP Mallory, the Chinese sources describe the existence of "white people with long hair" or the Bai people in the Shan Hai Jing, who lived beyond their northwestern border.

The very well preserved Tarim mummies with Caucasoid features, often with reddish or blond hair, today displayed at the Ürümqi Museum and dated to the 3rd century BC, have been found in precisely the same area of the Tarim Basin. Various nomadic tribes, such as the Yuezhi were part of the large migration of Indo-European speaking peoples who were settled in eastern Central Asia (possibly as far as Gansu) at that time. The Ordos culture situated at northern China east of the Yuezhi, are another example.

Nomadic cultures such as the Yuezhi are documented in the area of Xinjiang where the first known reference to the Yuezhi was made in 645 BC by the Chinese Guan Zhong in his Guanzi 管子(Guanzi Essays) . He described the Yuzhi 禺氏, or Niuzhi 牛氏, as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains of Yuzhi 禺氏 at Gansu. The supply of jade from the Tarim Basin from ancient times is indeed well documented archaeologically: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BC the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China." (Liu, 2001).

The nomadic tribes of the Yuezhi are also documented in detail in Chinese historical accounts, in particular the 2nd-1st century BC "Records of the Great Historian", or Shiji, by Sima Qian, which state that they "were flourishing" but regularly in conflict with the neighbouring tribe of the Xiongnu to the northeast. According to these accounts:

The Yuezhi originally lived in the area between the Qilian or Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan) and Dunhuang, but after they were defeated by the Xiongnu they moved far away to the west, beyond Dayuan, where they attacked and conquered the people of Daxia and set up the court of their king on the northern bank of the Gui [= Oxus] River. A small number of their people who were unable to make the journey west sought refuge among the Qiang barbarians in the Southern Mountains, where they are known as the Lesser Yuezhi

Struggle between Xiongnu and Han China: Traversed by the Northern 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 domination in AD 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, the protectorate continued to be maintained by Cao Wei (until 265) and the Western Jin Dynasty (from 265 onwards).

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.

Asia in 800 AD, Xinjiang part of the Tibetan Empire

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, occupied the Tang capital Chang'an in 763 for 16 days, 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.

Asia in 1025 AD, Xinjiang part of the Kara-Khanid Khanate

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 mostly ruled by the Chagatai Khanate, one of the successor states of the empire, in fact was fought over by Yuan Dynasty, the successor regime 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 the Kalmyk Empire to Westerners, which stretched from the Great Wall of China to the present day Eastern Kazakhstan, and from the Himalayas to Siberia.

Qing Dynasty: 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 (伊犁将军), 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. One of his subordinates Yang Zengxin (杨增新), acceded to the Republic of China in March of the same year, and maintained control of Xinjiang until his assassination in 1928. Following insurgencies against Governor Jin Shuren (金树仁) in the early 1930s in Eastern Sinkiang, a rebellion in Kashgaria in February, 1933 led to declaring by Southern Sinkiang (94% population of which were at this time ethnic Uyghurs) on November 12, 1933 its Independence and establishment at Kashgar of the short-lived self-proclaimed Turkish Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkestan or Republic of Uyghurstan , known also as First East Turkistan Republic (1st ETA). Xinjiang was eventually brought in 1934 under the control of 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 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.

Ethnic Tensions: News media reports of ethnic tensions in the region with resultant conflicts between the Uyghur plurality and Chinese authorities have raised worldwide awareness about Uyghur people and Xinjiang. These tensions actually began decades ago, and there have been several waves of protest in the region. Since 1996 the Chinese authorities have carried out a harsh crackdown of the East Turkestan independence movement, which it labels as "separatists" and "religious extremists" throughout the XUAR. Furthermore, the US and the UN have labeled a group called East Turkestan Islamic Movement a terrorist group.

Independence advocates view Chinese rule in Xinjiang, and policies like the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as Chinese imperialism.

The tensions 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 to escape the Great Chinese Famine and political purges of the Great Leap Forward era; in the 1980s there was a smattering 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 roundup of suspected separatists during the Muslim holy month Ramadan resulted in large demonstrations that turned violent in February 1997 in an episode known as the Ghulja / Yining Incident (or Gulja Massacre) that led to at least 9 deaths. The Urumqi bus bombs of 25 February 1997 killed 9 and injured 68. Despite much talk of separatism in Xinjiang, the situation in Xinjiang was largely quiet from 2000 through mid-2006.

Then, on 5 January 2007 the Chinese Public Security Bureau raided a suspected terrorist training camp in the mountains near the Pamir Plateau in southern Xinjiang. According to the reports, 18 individuals, whom Chinese State media refers to as "terrorists," were killed and another 17 captured in a gun battle between the ETIM and PRC forces. One police officer was killed and "over 1,500 hand grenades... were seized." The report leaves it unclear whether the acronym ETIM stands for the East Turkestan Independence Movement, the Xinjiang pro independence part, or the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an (alleged) militant separatist group, and Rafael Poch, a Spanish journalist, after investigating the incident and checking with alleged witnesses, concluded that there did not exist any "terrorist training camp".

In the run-up to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, during which world attention was drawn by pro-Tibet protests along the Olympic torch relay, Uyghur separatist groups staged protests in several countries. According to the Chinese government, a suicide bombing attempt on a China Southern Airlines flight in Xinjiang was thwarted in March 2008. On 4 August 2008, 4 days before the Beijing Olympics, two men armed with knives and explosives ambushed a military police unit and killed 16 officers and wounded 16 others. Chinese police injured and damaged the equipment of two Japanese journalists sent to cover the story.

Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang by James A. Millward

Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest by Mike Dillon and Dillon Michael

Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland by S. Frederick Starr

Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang by Christian Tyler

China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia by Peter C. Perdue

Sinicization Beyond the Great Wall: China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region by Anwar Rahman

Central Asia and Non-Chinese Peoples of Ancient China by Edwin G. Pulleyblank

Tarim Mummies

A Tarim Basin mummy photographed by Aurel Stein circa 1910.

The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BC to 200 AD. Some of the mummies are frequently associated with the presence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin although the evidence is not conclusive and many centuries separate these mummies from the first appearance of the written Tocharian languages.

The cemetery at Yanbulaq contained 29 mummies which date from 1100–500 BC, 21 of which are Mongoloid—the earliest Mongoloid mummies found in the Tarim basin—and 8 of which are of the same Caucasoid physical type found at Qäwrighul. However, more recent genetic studies painted a more complex picture (Xie et al., 2007). It showed both Caucasian and Mongoloid characteristics in the more recent mummies.

Archeological Record: At the beginning of the 20th century European explorers such as Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq and Sir Aurel Stein all recounted their discoveries of desiccated bodies in their search for antiquities in Central Asia. Since then many other mummies have been found and analysed, most of them now displayed in the museums of Xinjiang. Most of these mummies were found on the eastern (around the area of Lopnur, Subeshi near Turfan, Kroran, Kumul) and southern (Khotan, Niya, Qiemo) edge of the Tarim Basin.

The earliest Tarim mummies, found at Qäwrighul and dated to 1800 BC, are of a Caucasoid physical type whose closest affiliation is to the Bronze Age populations of southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and Lower Volga.

Notable mummies are the tall, red-haired "Chärchän man" or the "Ur-David" (1000 BC); his son (1000 BC), a small 1-year-old baby with blond hair protruding from under a red and blue felt cap, and blue stones in place of the eyes; the "Hami Mummy" (c. 1400–800 BC), a "red-headed beauty" found in Qizilchoqa; and the "Witches of Subeshi" (4th or 3rd century BC), who wore two foot long black felt conical hats with a flat brim. Also found at Subeshi was a man with traces of a surgical operation on his neck, the incision is sewn up with sutures made of horsehair. Surgery was considered heretical in ancient Chinese medical tradition.

Many of the mummies have been found in very good condition, owing to the dryness of the desert, and the desiccation of the corpses it induced. The mummies share many typical Caucasoid body features (elongated bodies, angular faces, recessed eyes), and many of them have their hair physically intact, ranging in color from blond to red to deep brown, and generally long, curly and braided. It is not known whether their hair has been bleached by internment in salt. Their costumes, and especially textiles, may indicate a common origin with Indo-European neolithic clothing techniques or a common low-level textile technology. Chärchän man wore a red twill tunic and tartan leggings. Textile expert Elizabeth Wayland Barber, who examined the tartan-style cloth, claims it can be traced back to Anatolia, the Caucasus and the steppe area north of the Black Sea.

Genetic Links: DNA sequence data shows that the mummies had haplotype characteristic of western Eurasia in the area of south Russia.

A team of Chinese and American researchers working in Sweden tested DNA from 52 separate mummies, including the mummy denoted "Beauty of Loulan." By genetically mapping the mummies' origins, the researchers confirmed the theory that these mummies were of West Eurasian descent. Victor Mair, a University of Pennsylvania professor and project leader for the team that did the genetic mapping, commented that these studies were:

...extremely important because they link up eastern and western Eurasia at a formative stage of civilization (Bronze Age and early Iron Age) in a much closer way than has ever been done before.

An earlier study by Jilin University had found a mtDNA haplotype characteristic of Western Eurasian populations with Europoid genes.

In 2007 the Chinese government allowed a National Geographic team headed by Spencer Wells to examine the mummies' DNA. Wells was able to extract undegraded DNA from the internal tissues. The scientists extracted enough material to suggest the Tarim Basin was continually inhabited from 2000 BC to 300 BC and preliminary results indicate the people, rather than having a single origin, originated from Europe, Mesopotamia, India and other regions yet to be determined.

The textiles found with the mummies are of an early European textile and weave type and are similar to textiles found on the bodies of salt miners in Austria of around 1300 BC. Anthropologist Irene Good, a specialist in early Eurasian textiles, noted the woven diagonal twill pattern indicated the use of a rather sophisticated loom and, she says, the textile is "the easternmost known example of this kind of weaving technique."

Mair states that "the earliest mummies in the Tarim Basin were exclusively Caucausoid, or Europoid" with east Asian migrants arriving in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin around 1000 BC while the Uyghur peoples arrived around the year 842. In trying to trace the origins of these populations, Victor Mair's team suggested that they may have arrived in the region by way of the forbidding Pamir Mountains about 5000 years ago.

This evidence remains controversial. It refutes the contemporary nationalist claims of the present-day Uyghur peoples who claim that they are the indigenous people of Xinjiang, rather than the Han Chinese. In comparing the DNA of the mummies to that of modern day Uyghur peoples, Mair's team found some genetic similarities with the mummies, but "no direct links".

About the controversy Mair has stated that:

The new finds are also forcing a reexamination of old Chinese books that describe historical or legendary figures of great height, with deep-set blue or green eyes, long noses, full beards, and red or blond hair. Scholars have traditionally scoffed at these accounts, but it now seems that they may be accurate.

Chinese scientists were initially hesitant to provide access to DNA samples because they were sensitive about the claims of the nationalist Uyghur who claim the Loulan Beauty as their symbol, and to prevent a pillaging of national monuments by foreigners. Chinese historian Ji Xianlin says China "supported and admired" research by foreign experts into the mummies. "However, within China a small group of ethnic separatists have styled themselves the descendants of these ancient people". Due to the "fear of fuelling separatist currents" the Xinjiang museum, regardless of dating, displays all their mummies both Tarim and Han, together.

Posited Origins: Physical anthropologists propose the movement of at least two Caucasoid physical types into the Tarim basin, which Mallory & Mair (2000) associate with the Tocharian and Iranian (Saka) branches of the Indo-European language family, respectively.

B. E. Hemphill's biodistance analysis of cranial metrics (as cited in Larsen 2002 and Schurr 2001) has questioned the identification of the Tarim Basin population as European, noting that the earlier population has close affinities to the Indus Valley population, and the later population with the Oxus River valley population. Because craniometry can produce results which make no sense at all (e.g. the close relationship between Neolithic populations in Russia and Portugal) and therefore lack any historical meaning, any putative genetic relationship must be consistent with geographical plausibility and have the support of other evidence.

Han Kangxin (as cited in Mallory & Mair 2000), who examined the skulls of 302 mummies, found the closest relatives of the earlier Tarim Basin population in the populations of the Afanasevo culture situated immediately north of the Tarim Basin and the Andronovo culture that spanned Kazakhstan and reached southwards into West Central Asia and the Altai.

It is the Afanasevo culture to which Mallory & Mair (2000) trace the earliest Bronze Age settlers of the Tarim and Turpan basins. The Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500 BC) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the Eurasian Steppe yet predates the specifically Indo-Iranian-associated Andronovo culture (c. 2000–900 BC) enough to isolate the Tocharian languages from Indo-Iranian linguistic innovations like satemization.

Hemphill & Mallory (2004) confirm a second Caucasoid physical type at Alwighul (700–1 BC) and Krorän (200 AD) different from the earlier one found at Qäwrighul (1800 BC) and Yanbulaq (1100–500 BC).

This study confirms the assertion of Han [1998] that the occupants of Alwighul and Krorän are not derived from proto-European steppe populations, but share closest affinities with Eastern Mediterranean populations. Further, the results demonstrate that such Eastern Mediterraneans may also be found at the urban centers of the Oxus civilization located in the north Bactrian oasis to the west. Affinities are especially close between Krorän, the latest of the Xinjiang samples, and Sapalli, the earliest of the Bactrian samples, while Alwighul and later samples from Bactria exhibit more distant phenetic affinities. This pattern may reflect a possible major shift in interregional contacts in Central Asia in the early centuries of the second millennium BC.

Mallory & Mair (2000) associate this later (700 BC–200 AD) Caucasoid physical type with the populations who introduced the Iranian Saka language to the western part of the Tarim basin.

Mair concluded (Mair etc al, 2006):

"From the evidence available, we have found that during the first 1,000 years after the Loulan Beauty, the only settlers in the Tarim Basin were Caucasoid. East Asian peoples only began showing up in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3,000 years ago, Mair said, while the Uighur peoples arrived after the collapse of the Orkon Uighur Kingdom, largely based in modern day Mongolia, around the year 842."

Roman Accounts: Pliny the Elder reports a curious description of the Seres (in the territories of northwestern China) made by an embassy from Taprobane (Ceylon) to Emperor Claudius, saying that they "exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking", suggesting they may be referring to the ancient Caucasian populations of the Tarim Basin:

"They also informed us that the side of their island (Taprobane) which lies opposite to India is ten thousand stadia in length, and runs in a south-easterly direction--that beyond the Emodian Mountains (Himalayas) they look towards the Serve (Seres), whose acquaintance they had also made in the pursuits of commerce; that the father of Rachias (the ambassador) had frequently visited their country, and that the Seræ always came to meet them on their arrival. These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking, having no language of their own for the purpose of communicating their thoughts. The rest of their information (on the Serae) was of a similar nature to that communicated by our merchants. It was to the effect that the merchandise on sale was left by them upon the opposite bank of a river on their coast, and it was then removed by the natives, if they thought proper to deal on terms of exchange. On no grounds ought luxury with greater reason to be detested by us, than if we only transport our thoughts to these scenes, and then reflect, what are its demands, to what distant spots it sends in order to satisfy them, and for how mean and how unworthy an end!"

Cultural Exchanges: The presence of Indo-European speakers in the Tarim Basin in the third or early second millennium BC suggests that cultural exchanges occurred among Indo-European and Chinese populations at a very early date. It has been suggested that such activities as chariot warfare and bronze-making may have been transmitted to the east by these Indo-European nomads.

The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited Bactria and Sogdiana in 126 BC, made the first known Chinese report on many regions to the west of China. In his accounts Parthia is named "Ānxī" (安息), a transliteration of "Arsacid", the name of the Parthian dynasty. Zhang Qian clearly identifies Parthia as an advanced urban civilization that farmed grain and grapes, made silver coins and leather goods; Zhang Qian equates the level of advancement of Parthia to the cultures of Dayuan (in Ferghana) and Daxia (in Bactria). Zhang Qian found Greek influences present in some of the kingdoms of this region.

These theories run counter to the idea that the East and West developed civilizations independently, but suggest that some form of cultural exchanges took place.

The supply of Tarim Basin jade to China from ancient times is well established, according to Liu (2001): "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BC the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China."

* Caucasians Preceded East Asians in Basin by Robert J. Saiget

* Genetic Testing Reveals Awkward Truth about Xinjiang’s Famous Mummies by Khaleej Times Online

* A Meeting of Civilisations: The Mystery of China's Celtic Mummies. by Clifford Coonan

* China History Unravelled by Mummies by Benjamin Robertson

The Tarim Mummies by J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair

Mummies of Urumchi by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and E. J. Barber

Tocharians

Asia in AD 1, showing the location of the Tocharian/Yue-Chi tribes and their neighbors

The Tocharians were the Tocharian-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim basin, making them the easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language in antiquity.

Name: The term Tocharians has a somewhat complicated history. It is based on the ethnonym Tokharoi (Greek Τόχαροι) used by Greek historians (e.g. Ptolemy VI, 11, 6). The first mention of the Tocharians appeared in the 1st century BC, when Strabo presented them as a Scythian tribe, and explained that the Tokharians — together with the Assianis, Passianis and Sakaraulis — took part in the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the second half of the 2nd century BC.

These Tocharians (Tokharoi) are identified with the Yuezhi and one of their major tribes, the Kushans. The geographical term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria (Chinese Daxia 大夏).

Today, the term is associated with the Indo-European languages known as "Tocharian". Based on a Turkic reference to Tocharian A as twqry, these languages were associated with the Kushan ruling class, but the exact relation of the speakers of these languages and the Kushan Tokharoi is uncertain, and some consider "Tocharian languages" a misnomer. Tocharian A is also known as East Tocharian, or Turfanian (of the city of Turfan), and Tocharian B is also known as West Tocharian, or Kuchean (of the city of Kucha).

The term is so widely used, however, that this question is somewhat academic.

Tocharians in the modern sense are, then, defined as the speakers of the Tocharian languages. These were originally nomads, and lived in today's Xinjiang (Tarim basin). The native name of the historical Tocharians of the 6th to 8th centuries was, according to J. P. Mallory, possibly kuśiññe "Kuchean" (Tocharian B), "of the kingdom of Kucha and Agni", and ārśi (Tocharian A); one of the Tocharian A texts has ārśi-käntwā, "In the tongue of Arsi" (ārśi is probably cognate to argenteus, i.e. "shining, brilliant"). According to Douglas Q. Adams, the Tocharians may have called themselves ākñi, meaning "borderers, marchers".

Archaeology: The Tarim mummies suggest that precursors of these easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language may have lived in the region of the Tarim Basin from around 1800 BC until finally they were assimilated by Uyghur Turks in the 9th century AD.

There is evidence both from the mummies and Chinese writings.

A later group of Tocharians were the Kushans and maybe some Iranian tribes of the Hephthalites whose Iranian population also settled in modern Afghanistan, North-Eastern Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkestan, whereas the nomadic Turkic ones were defeated by Bahram Gur and the Gok-Turks, who pushed them over the Hindukush mountains to Sindh (Pakistan) and North-West India.

The Tarim Basin mummies (1800 BC) and the Tocharian texts and frescoes from the Tarim Basin (AD 800) have been found in the same general geographical area, and are both connected to an Indo-European origin. The mummies and the frescoes both point to White types with light eyes and hair color. However it is unknown if the frescos and Tarim Basin mummies are directly connected.

Mallory & Mair (2000: 294–296, 314–318) argue that the Tocharian languages were introduced to the Tarim and Turpan basins from the Afanasevo culture to their immediate north. The Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500 BC) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the European steppe yet predates the specifically Indo-Iranian-associated Andronovo culture (c. 2000–900 BC) enough to isolate the Tocharian languages from Indo-Iranian linguistic innovations like satemization. :260, 294–296, 314–318.

In 2008, the remains of a Caucasian male were discovered near Turpan, China. Thought by researchers to be a member of the Gushi, the man was buried with a number of practical and ceremonial objects, including archery equipment, a harp, and 789 grams of marijuana. Through genetic analysis and carbon dating, the burial has been dated to roughly 700 B.C. Only two of the 500 graves at the site contain marijuana, leading researchers to suggest shamanic roles for the two individuals.

Language: The Tocharians appear to have originally spoken two distinct languages of the Indo-European Tocharian family, an Eastern ("A") form and a Western ("B") form. According to some, only the Eastern ("A") form can be properly called "Tocharian", as the native name for the Western form is referred to as Kuchean (see below). Commonalities between the Tocharian languages and various other Indo-European language families (as with Celtic, Germanic, Balto-Slavic, even Italic or Greek) have been suggested, but the evidence does not support any close relationship with any other family. The only consensus is that Tocharian was already far enough removed, at an early date, from the other eastern Indo-European proto-languages (Proto-Balto-Slavic and Proto-Indo-Iranian), not to share some of the common changes that PBS and PII share, such as early palatalization of velars.

Tocharian A of the eastern regions seems to have declined in use as a popular language or mother tongue faster than did Tocharian B of the west. Tocharian A speakers probably yielded their original language to Turkic language of immigrating Turkic peoples, while Tocharian B speakers were more insulated from outside linguistic influences. It appears that Tocharian A ultimately became a liturgical language, no longer a living one, at the same time that Tocharian B was still widely spoken in daily life. Among the monasteries of the lands inhabited by Tocharian B speakers, Tocharian A seems to have been used in ritual alongside the Tocharian B of daily life.

Besides the religious Tocharian texts, the texts include monastery correspondence and accounts, commercial documents, caravan permits, medical and magical texts, and a love poem. Their manuscript fragments, of the 8th centuries, suggest that they were no longer either as nomadic or "barbarian (hu)" as the Chinese had considered them.

Historic Role: The Tocharians, living along the Silk Road, had contacts with the Chinese, Persians, Indian and Turkic tribes. They might be the same as, or were related to, the Indo-European Yuezhi who fled from their settlements in eastern Tarim Basin after attacks by the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC (Shiji Chinese historical Chronicles, Chap. 123) and expanded south to Bactria and northern India to form the Kushan Empire.

The Tocharians who remained in the Tarim Basin adopted Buddhism, which, like their alphabet, came from northern India in the first century of the 1st millennium, through the proselytism of Kushan monks. The Kushans and the Tocharians seem to have played a part in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China. Many apparently also practised some variant of Manichaeanism.

Protected by the Taklamakan Desert from steppe nomads, the Tocharian culture survived past the 7th century.

Yuezhi

The migrations of the Yuezhi through Central Asia, from around 176 BC to 30 AD

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi (月支, 月氏), also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi (大月支, "Great Yuezhi"), were an ancient Central Asian people.

They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians (Τοχάριοι) of Classical sources. They were originally settled in the arid grasslands of the eastern Tarim Basin area, in what is today Xinjiang and western Gansu, in China, before they migrated to Transoxiana, Bactria and then northern South Asia, where they formed the Kushan Empire.

Name: Since the character yuè (月) can stand for the character ròu (肉) in pictograms, it may not mean "moon" here. The character seems to have derived originally from ròu, "meat", as a character component. However, if the form Yuezhi (月氏) is accepted, the name translates literally as "moon clan", from yuè (月), "moon" and shì (氏), "clan" or "race".

There are numerous theories about the derivation of the name Yuezhi and none has yet found general acceptance. According to Zhang Guang-da the name Yuezhi is a transliteration of their own name for themselves, the Visha ("the tribes"), being called the Vijaya in Tibetan.

Origins: The first known reference to the Yuezhi was made in 645 BC by the Chinese Guan Zhong in his Guanzi 管子(Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). The dates of this book are disputed however, and it may date to as late as 1st century BC. The book described the Yuzhi 禺氏, or Niuzhi 牛氏, as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains of Yuzhi 禺氏 at Gansu. The supply of jade from the Tarim Basin from ancient times is indeed well documented archaeologically: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao 妇好 of the Shang dynasty, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BC the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China." (Liu (2001), pp. 267-268). The suffix "Di" or "Zhi" (氐) was generally used to describe the Di people, "Western barbarians", in Chinese annals.

According to former USSR scholar Zuev, there was a Queen among the large Yuezhi confederation who added to her possessions the lands of the Tochar (Daxia) on the headwaters of the Huanghe circa 3rd century BC. According him, the Chinese chronicles began referring to the queen's tribe as the Great Yuezhi (Da Yuezhi), and to call the Daxia/Tochars the Lesser Yuezhi (Pinyin: Xiao Yuezhi). Together, they were simply called Yuezhi. In the 5th century AD, a scholar and translator monk Kumarajiva, while translating texts into Chinese, used the name "Yuezhi" to translate "Tochar". In the middle of the 2nd century BC the Yuezhi conquered Bactria, and the Ancient Greek authors inform us that the conquerors of Bactria were the Asii and Tochari tribes. Bactria then in the Chinese chronicles began to be called the country of Daxia, i.e. Tocharistan and the language of Bactria/Tocharistan began to be called "Tocharian"."

The Yuezhi are also documented in detail in Chinese historical accounts, in particular the 2nd-1st century BC "Records of the Great Historian", or Shiji, by Sima Qian. According to these accounts:

"The Yuezhi originally lived in the area between the Qilian or Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan) and Dunhuang, but after they were defeated by the Xiongnu they moved far away to the west, beyond Dayuan, where they attacked and conquered the people of Daxia and set up the court of their king on the northern bank of the Gui [= Oxus] River. A small number of their people who were unable to make the journey west sought refuge among the Qiang barbarians in the Southern Mountains, where they are known as the Lesser Yuezhi.",

The Qilian and Dunhuang original homeland of the Yuezhi have recently been argued not to refer to the current locations in Gansu, but to the Tian Shan range and the Turfan region, 1,000 km to the west, Dunhuang identified with a mountain named Dunhong listed in the Shanhaijing.

The Yuezhi may have been a Caucasoid people, as indicated by the portraits of their kings on the coins they struck following their exodus to Transoxiana (2nd-1st century BC), and especially the coins they struck in India as Kushans (1st-3rd century AD). However, no direct records for the name of Yuezhi rulers are known to exist (only Chinese accounts mention the name), and some doubt on the accuracy of their first coins.

Ancient Chinese sources do describe the existence of "white people with long hair" (The Bai people of the Shan Hai Jing) beyond their northwestern border, and the very well preserved Tarim mummies with Caucasian features found at the ancient oasis on the Silk Road, Niya, often with reddish or blond hair, today displayed at the Ürümqi Museum and dated to the 3rd century BC, have been found in precisely the same area of the Tarim Basin.

The Indo-European Tocharian languages also have been attested in the same geographical area, and although the first known epigraphic evidence dates to the 6th century AD, the degree of differentiation between Tocharian A and Tocharian B, and the absence of Tocharian language remains beyond that area, tends to indicate that a common Tocharian language existed in the same area of Yuezhi settlement during the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

According to one theory, the Yuezhi were probably part of the large migration of Indo-European speaking peoples who were settled in eastern Central Asia (possibly as far as Gansu) at that time. The nomadic Ordos culture, who lived in northern China east of the Yuezhi, are another example. Also the Caucasian mummies of Pazyryk, probably Scythian in origin, are located around 1,500 kilometers north-west of the Yuezhi, and dated also to around the 3rd century BC.

According to Han accounts, the Yuezhi "were flourishing" during the time of the first great Chinese Qin emperor, but were regularly in conflict with the neighbouring tribe of the Xiongnu to the northeast.

The Yuezhi Exodus: The Yuezhi sometimes practiced the exchange of hostages with the Xiongnu, and at one time were hosts to Modu Shanyu (冒頓), son of the Xiongnu leader. Modu stole a horse and escaped when the Yuezhi tried to kill him in retaliation for an attack by his father. Modu subsequently became ruler of the Xiongnu after killing his father.

Around 177 BC, led by one of Modu's tribal chiefs, the Xiongnu invaded Yuezhi territory in the Gansu region and achieved a crushing victory. Modu boasted in a letter to the Han emperor that due to "the excellence of his fighting men, and the strength of his horses, he has succeeded in wiping out the Yuezhi, slaughtering or forcing to submission every number of the tribe". The son of Modu, Jizhu, subsequently killed the king of the Yuezhi and, in accordance with nomadic traditions, "made a drinking cup out of his skull."(Shiji 123. Watson1961:231).

Following Chinese sources, a large part of the Yuezhi people therefore fell under the domination of the Xiongnu, and these may have been the ancestors of the Tocharian speakers attested in the 6th century AD. A very small group of Yuezhi fled south to the territory of the Proto-Tibetan Qiang, and came to be known to the Chinese as the "Small Yuezhi". According to the Hanshu, they only numbered around 150 families.

Finally, a large group of the Yuezhi fled from the Tarim Basin / Gansu area towards the northwest, first settling in the Ili valley, immediately north of the Tian Shan mountains, where they confronted and defeated the Sai (Sakas or Scythians): "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Han Shu 61 4B). The Sai undetook their own migration, which was to lead them as far as Kashmir, after travelling through a "Suspended Crossing" (probably the Khunjerab Pass between present-day Xinjiang and northern Pakistan). The Sakas ultimately established an Indo-Scythian kingdom in northern India.

After 155 BC, the Wusun, in alliance with the Xiongnu and out of revenge from an earlier conflict, managed to disloge the Yuezhi, forcing them to move south. The Yuezhi crossed the neighbouring urban civilization of the Dayuan in Ferghana, and settled on the northern bank of the Oxus, in the region of Transoxiana, in modern-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, just north of the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian kingdom. The Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus was apparently burnt to the ground by the Yuezhi around 145 BC.

Foundation of the Kushan Empire: By the end of the 1st century BC, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the Guishuang (貴霜, origin of name Kushan adopted in the West), managed to take control of the Yuezhi confederation. According to some theories, the Guishuang may have been distinct from the Yuezhi, possibly of Saka origins. From that point, the Yuezhi extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries. The Yuezhi came to be known as Kushan among Western civilizations, however the Chinese kept calling them Yuezhi throughout their historical records over a period of several centuries.

The Yuezhi/ Kushans expanded to the east during the 1st century AD, to found the Kushan Empire. The first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus on his coins, suggesting that he may have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy.

The unification of the Yuezhi tribes and the rise of the Kushan is documented in the Chinese Historical chronicle Hou Hanshu:

"More than a hundred years later, the xihou (翖侯, "Allied Prince") of Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), named Qiujiu Que (丘就卻, Kujula Kadphises) attacked and exterminated the four other xihou ("Allied Princes"). He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang (Kushan). He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu (高附, Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda and Jibin (罽賓, Kapiśa-Gandhāra). Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died.

His son, Yan Gaozhen (閻高珍) (Vima Takto), became king in his place. He returned and defeated 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." (Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill).

The Yuezhi/Kushan integrated Buddhism into a pantheon of many deities, became great promoters of Mahayana Buddhism, and their interactions with Greek civilization helped the Gandharan culture and Greco-Buddhism flourish.

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 lucrative Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. When the Han Dynasty desired to advance north, Emperor Wu sent the explorer Zhang Qian to see the kingdoms to the west and to ally with the Yuezhi people, in order to fight the Xiongnu Mongol tribe. The Yuezhi continued to collaborate militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 AD, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85 AD , 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 AD with a force of 70,000, but, exhausted by the expedition, were finally defeated by the smaller Chinese force. The Kushans retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of the Chinese emperor Han He (89-106).

Circa 120 AD Kushan troops installed Chenpan - a prince who had been sent as a hostage to them, and had become a favorite of the Kushan Emperor - on the throne of Kashgar, thus expanding their power and influence in the Tarim Basin, and introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Greco-Buddhist art which developed into Serindian art.

Benefiting from this territorial expansion, the Yuezhi/Kushans were among the first to introduce Buddhism to northern and northeastern Asia, by direct missionary efforts and the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Major Yuezhi missionary and translators included Lokaksema and Dharmaraksa, who went to China and established translation bureaus, thereby being at the center of the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.

The Chinese kept referring to the Kushans as Da Yuezhi throughout the centuries. In the Sanguozhi (三國志, chap 3), it is recorded that in 229 AD "The king of the Da Yuezhi, Bodiao 波調 (Vasudeva I), sent his envoy to present tribute, and His Majesty (Emperor Cao Rui) granted him the title of "King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with the Wei (魏)."

Presumed Yuezhi Rulers

Sapadbizes (c. 20 BC)
Agesiles (c. 20 BC)

Kushan Empire

The Kushan Empire (c. 1st–3rd centuries)

The Kushan Empire (c. 1st–3rd centuries) was a Bactrian state of Ancient India that at its cultural zenith, circa 105–250 AD, extended 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, believed to have been an Indo-European peoplefrom 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 (貴霜), i.e. the "Kushans", as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi, also spelled Yueh-chi, (月氏), a loose confederation of supposedly 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 (休密), Guishuang (貴霜), Shuangmi (雙靡), Xidun (肸頓), and Dūmì (都密).

Historian John Keay contextualizes the movements of the Kushan within a larger setting of mass migrations taking place in the region:

Chinese sources tell of the construction of the Great Wall in the third century BC and the repulse of various marauding tribes. Forced to head west and eventually south, these tribes displaced others in an ethnic knock-on effect which lasted many decades and spread right across Central Asia. The Parthians from Iran and the Bactrian Greeks from Bactria had both been dislodged by the Shakas coming down from somewhere near the Aral Sea. But the Shakas had in turn been dislodged by the Yueh-chi who had themselves been driven west to Xinjiang by the Hiung-nu. The last, otherwise the Huns, would happily not reach India for a long time. But the Yueh-chi continued to press on the Shakas, and having forced them out of Bactria, it was sections or clans of these Yueh-chi who next began to move down into India in the second half of the first century AD."

The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria, in the Bactrian territory (northernmost Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135 BC. The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush and the Indus basin (in present day Pakistan), occupying the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

Territorial Expansion: Direct archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is basically available in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal, Begram, the summer capital of the Kushans, Peshawar the capital under Kanishka I, Taxila and Mathura, the winter capital of the Kushans.

Other areas of probable rule include Khwarezm (Russian archaeological findings) Kausambi (excavations of the Allahabad University), Sanchi and Sarnath (inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings), Malwa and Maharashtra, Orissa (imitation of Kushan coins, and large Kushan hoards).

The recently discovered Rabatak inscription tends to confirm large Kushan dominions in the heartland of India. The lines 4 to 7 of the inscription 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).

Kanishka I

Northward, in the 2nd century AD, 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. Both archaeological findings and literary evidence suggest Kushan rule, in Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan.

As late as the 3rd century AD, decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at Bodh Gaya together with other gold offerings under the "Enlightenment Throne" of the Buddha, suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period.

Contacts with China: 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.

Hephthalites

Asia in 500 AD, showing the Hepthalite Khanate at its greatest extent

The Hephthalites or White Huns were a Central Asian nomadic confederation whose precise origins and composition remain obscure. They were called Ephthalites by the Greeks, and Hunas by the Indians. According to Chinese chronicles they were originally a tribe living to the north of the Great Wall and were known as Hoa or Hoa-tun. Elsewhere they were called White Huns. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, they had no cities or system of writing, lived in felt tents, and practiced polyandry, while very little is known of their language.

According to historical texts, they are related to the European Huns: Procopius: (Book I. ch. 3): "the Ephthalitae Huns, who are called White Huns... The Ephthalitae are of the stock of the Huns in fact as well as in name, however they do not mingle with any of the Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their territory lies immediately to the north of Persia...", furthermore: "They are not nomads like the other Hunnic peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land.", though there is no definitive evidence to this contact (because it is thought that this used to be a term which has been used by outside observers to denote very different nomadic confederations).

It seems that the Hephtalites were an agricultural people with a developed set of laws. They were first mentioned by the Chinese, who described them as living in Dzungaria around AD 125. They displaced the Scythians and conquered Sogdiana and Khorasan before 425. After that, they crossed the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) River and invaded Persia. In Persia, they were initially held off by Bahram Gur but later around AD 483–85, they succeeded in making Persia a tributary state. After a series of wars in the period around AD 503-513, they were driven out of Persia and were completely defeated in AD 557 by Khosru I though their polity came under the Gokturks thereafter. The White Huns also invaded the regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan and succeeded in extending their domain to include the Ganges valley. They temporarily overthrew the Gupta empire but were eventually driven out of India in 528 by a Hindu coalition and had to settle down in what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Origins: Many theories have been discussed regarding the origins of the Hephthalites, with the "Turkic" and "Indo-European" theories being the most prominent ones.

For many years, scholars suggested that they were possibly of Tibetan or Turkic-stock, and it seems likely that at least some groups amongst the Hephthalites were Turkic-speakers. In 1959, Kazuo Enoki put forward the hypothesis that they were probably East Indo-Iranians as some sources indicated that they were originally from Tokharestan, which is known to have been inhabited by Indo-Iranian people in antiquity. Richard Frye is cautiously accepting of Enoki's hypothesis, while at the same time stressing that the Hephthalites "were probably a mixed horde". More recently Xavier Tremblay's very detailed examination of surviving Hephthalite personal names has indicated that Enoki's hypothesis that they were East Iranian may well be correct, but the matter remains unresolved in academic circles.

According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica and Encyclopaedia of Islam, Hephthalites possibly originated in northeastern Iran and northwestern India. They apparently had no connection with the European Huns, but may have been causally related with their movement. It is noteworthy that the tribes in question deliberately called themselves "Huns" in order to frighten their enemies.

The earliest information about the Ephthalites comes from the Chinese chronicles, in which it is stated that they were originally a tribe of the great Yue-Chi, living to the north of the Great Wall, and subject to the Jwen-Jwen (Rouran), as were also the Turks at one time. Their original name was Hoa or Hoa-tun; subsequently they styled themselves Ye-tha-i-li-to (厌带夷栗陁) after the name of their royal family, or more briefly Ye-tha (嚈噠) descended from one of the 5 Yuezhi families (which included Kushan). There were various theories about their origins documented by the ancient Chinese chroniclers, as well as by Procopius of Caesarea:

They were descendants of the Yuezhi or Tocharian tribes who remained behind after the rest of the people fled the Xiongnu.
They were descendants of Kangju or Kang Chu,
They were a branch of the Gaoche or Kao-ch`e,
They were related in some way to the Visha,
They were descendants of the general Pahua,
Their origins cannot be made clear at all.

Procopius claims that the Hephthalites lived in a prosperous territory, and that they were the only Huns with fair complexions. According to him, they did not live as nomads, did acknowledge a single king, observed a well-regulated constitution, and behaved justly towards neighboring states. He also describes the burial of their nobles in tumuli, accompanied by the boon-companions who had been their retainers in their lifetimes; this practice contrasts with evidence of cremation among the Chionites in Ammianus and with remains found by excavators for the European Huns and remains in some deposits ascribed to the Chionites in Central Asia. It is therefore assumed that the Hephthalites constituted a second Hunnish wave who entered Bactria early in the fifth century AD, and who seem to have driven the Kidarites into Gandhara.

Some Hephthalites may have been a prominent tribe or clan of the Chionites. According to Richard Nelson Frye:

"Just as later nomadic empires were confederations of many peoples, we may tentatively propose that the ruling groups of these invaders were, or at least included, Turkic-speaking tribesman from the east and north. Although most probably the bulk of the people in the confederation of Chionites and then Hephtalites spoke an Iranian language and this was the last time in the history of Central Asia that Iranian-speaking nomads played any role; hereafter all nomads would speak Turkic languages."

The newly-discovered ancient writings found in Afghanistan reveal that the Middle Iranian Bactrian language written in Greek script was not the native idiom of the Hephthalites but the traditional language of administration in this region from Kushan times. There is also evidence of the use of a Turkic language under the Hephthalites. The Bactrian documents also attest several Turkic royal titles (such as Khaqan), indicating an important influence of Turkic people on the Hephthalites, although these could also be explained by later Turkic infiltration south of the Oxus.

Etymology: Hepthalite is meaning of White Hun (in Turkish Ak Hun or Beyaz Hunlar). The term Hepthalite was first used by Persian writers to refer to a 6th century empire on the northern and eastern periphery of their land. The élite Hephthal clan certainly appears to be quite distinct from the Huns who ravaged Europe in the fourth century AD.

Although the Hephthalite empire was known in China, as Yanda (嚈噠), Chinese chroniclers recognized that these terms actually came from the leaders of the empire's polity - the polity which in contrast are documented as having called themselves Huá (滑) in the same sources. The name of the Hephthal ruling elite seems to have applied to one of the 5 Yuezhi families from the Kushan Empire according to some sources.

Uar

Uar (滑), was the self designation used by the dominant ethnicity of Guòlì (過利) in a confederation known to the Chinese as the Yanda (嚈噠) and to the west as the Hephthalites. It was the largest of one of the three ethnic components constituting the Hephthalite federation. Peoples with similar ethnicons had been present along the Silk Road for centuries, and several of the Central European family names actually derive from the names of such tribes. The Chinese classic Liang Zhigongtu describes them as originating in the Hua (state) (cf. Mongolia). Simokattes's term Uar is also sometimes written War or Var. The variation Huá (滑), is the name the Hephthalite polity used of themselves according to the Chinese classic Liang chih-kung-t'u.

Theophylaktos Simokattes, mentions the Hunnoi as the other major component under the Hephthal ruling elite. They are identified as the "true" Avars of the east; the true political force behind what Simokattes calls the "Pseudo-Avars" who eventually settled down in Pannonia (Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire. Pannonia was located over the territory of the present-day western half of Hungary with parts in Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.) This was in response to the Göktürks who supported the Khwarezmian Uar rulers they established in Patria Onoguria as true Avars and encouraged the Byzantines to regard the "Avar"-Huns who entered Europe as Pseudo-Avars.

Origin and Migration: According to Ferdowsi their legendary ancestor was Afrasiabus. The sketch exhibited in the Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang depicts the Uar\Huá (滑) envoy as East Asian and this along with J. Marquart's discovery of many similarities between the terms for the Hephthalites in India and words in the Mongolian language such as the term Khagan (可汗), have led scholars to believe that at least a portion of their population had to have been of proto-Mongolic origin, while some of their practices remind us of Hūsìmì (呼似密). This implies the diverse range of peoples under the Hepthalite dynasty. Like Procopius, contemporary Chinese chroniclers had their own theories about the origins of the Hephthalite and their "Uar" polity.

either the Hepthalites were related in some way to the Visha (Indo-Europeans known to the Chinese as the The Clan of Yue), originally pronounced something like *wor, though based in Turpan and conquered by the Rouran, they came from Pingyang and originally Hua (state) and were important in the early Jade trade. Pingyang remains the centre of the Huá (滑) clan even today.
or they were a branch of the Kangju or Gaoche peoples, (in legend) descending from the general Bahua, based in Turpan they sided with the Southern Xiongnu of Pingyang against the Northern Xiongnu (hence the Huá (滑) clan's presence in Pingyang) but were later conquered by the Rouran,
or one scholar admitted that he could not make clear their origins at all.

Throughout the 5th century, it was the Uar who managed to succeed to the Central Eurasian Hun heritage in a campaign which spread from the Tian Shan to the Carpathians. Because of the Later Zhao the Oro (deer) people were divided, half going to the Heilongjiang-Amur and half went west. By 460 the Uar had taken over much of Central Eurasia from Xinjiang to the Volga River, though very little is known about the area from the late 5th to early 6th centuries.

The Yanda & The Uar/Huá: According to the Book of Liang, the Yanda were an offshoot of the Yuezhi, supposedly Indo-European statelet situated to what is now Turpan. It mentions an envoy sent by their Yandaiyilituo/Ephthalite king from 516 to the court, at present day Nanjing. The Uar/Huá are supposed to have become a subject under the yoke of the Rouran as indicated in the sources.

Chinese chronicles recognise that the Yanda term actually only came from the name of a clan leading the Uar/Huá. Yanda in the Book of Wei, are supposed to be a variety of the Great Yuezhi while the Uar/Huá, who are also described, are possibly an offshoot of the Gaoche. The Book of Wei indicates, however, that the Yanda do not share a similar language with the Rouran or Gaoche. It is said that the Yanda language can be easily translated through the Tuyuhun, a group of peoples from the Koko Nor. Kazuo Enoki believed the Yanda to be an Iranian group like the Hazara, in which case they may have been related to the Tocharians.

Throughout the 5th century, it was the Huá who managed on succeed to the steppe heritage in a campaign which spread from the Tian Shan to the Carpathians. By around 460, the Huá had taken over much of Central Eurasia from Xinjiang to the Volga River, and founded a capital at the city of Badiyan or Pendjikent, near what is now Khujand, though very little is known about the area from the late 5th to early 6th centuries.

Uar-Hunnoi: The Kidarite dynasty which ruled the Xionites came from the Uar. As a result, the Xionites have sometimes been called Uar-Hunnoi. Simokattes calls the Uar the "real" Avars of the east and the true political force behind what he calls the "pseudo" Avars (Eurasian Avars) who eventually settled down in Transylvania.

Uar and Hunnoi are the names associated with the two biggest tribes of "Procopius's White Huns" commonly identified with the Sanskrit SvetaHuna but called Varkhon or Varkunites (OuarKhonitai) by Menander Protector. Procopius writes that these White Huns are white-skinned and have an organized kingship. According to him, their life is not wild/nomadic, and they live in cities. Around 630, Theophylaktos Simokattes wrote that the European "Avars" were initially composed of two nations, the Uar and the Hunnoi tribes. He wrote that: "...the Barsilt, the Unogurs and the Sabirs were struck with horror... and honoured the Newcomers with brilliant gifts..." when the Avars first arrived in their lands in 555AD.

The Uar and the Hunnoi are supposed to have united around 460 under the rule of one of the five Yuezhi families - the Hephthal. They were also joined near the end of the 6th century by the Zabender, Tarnach and Kotzagerek Huns and they became known as Onogurs, from whom the name Hungary derives. The Onogurs themselves were composed of three groups. See also Avars and Kabars. During the 7th century around 670 the Bulgars under Kouber and Asparukh, who were also part of their empire, revolted, the Kouber tribes moving south to the Pelasgian plain and Asparukh leading his people south of the Danube.

For more on the Uar-Hunnoi see Alchon.

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Map of Xinjiang

Xinjiang borders the Tibet to the south and Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west. It administers most of Aksai Chin, a territory formally part of Kashmir over which India claims sovereignty.

Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Taklamakan) Separated by the Tien Shan Mountains

Dzungaria

Dzungaria is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately 777,000 km², lying mostly within the Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia. Formerly the term could cover a wider area, depending on temporary political boundries (also Jungaria, Sungaria, Zungaria; 準噶爾).

The core of Dzungaria is the triangular Dzungarian Basin with its central Gurbantunggut Desert. It is bounded by the Tien Shan on the south, the Altai Mountains on the northeast and the Tarbagatai Mountains on the northwest. The three corners are relatively open. The north corner is the valley of the upper Irtysh River. The west corner is the Dzungarian Gate with its railroad (from 1990). The eastern corner leads to Gansu and the rest of China. In the south an easy pass leads from Ürümqi to the Turfan Depression. In the southwest the Borohoro branch to the Tien Shan separates the basin from the upper Ili River

Only a gap in the mountains to the north allows moist air masses to provide the basin lands with enough moisture to remain semi-desert rather than becoming a true desert and allows a thin layer of vegetation to grow. This is enough to sustain populations of wild camels, jerboas, and other wild species.

Urumqi, Yining and Karamai are the main cities; other smaller oasis towns dot the piedmont areas.

A traveler going west from China must go either north of the Tien Shan through Dzungaria or south of the Tien Shan through the Tarim Basin. Trade usually took the south side and migrations the north. Why? The obvious answer is that the Tarim leads to the Ferghana Valley and Iran, while Dzungaria leads only to the open steppe. The difficulty with south side was the high mountains between the Tarim and Ferghana. There is also another reason. The Taklamakan is too dry to support much grass, and therefore nomads when they are not robbing caravans. Its inhabitants live mostly in oases formed where rivers run out of the mountains into the desert. These are inhabited by peasants who are unwarlike and merchants who have an interest in keeping trade running smoothly. Dzungaria has a fair amount of grass, few towns to base soldiers in and no significant mountain barriers to the west. Therefore trade went south and migrations north

Ürümqi

Ürümqi or Ürümchi (烏魯木齊), is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country.

With an urban population of over 2.5 million people, Ürümqi, whose name means "beautiful pasture" in the Mongolian language of the Dzungar people, is by far the largest city on China's vast Western interior. Since the 1990s Ürümqi has developed economically and now serves as a regional transport node and commercial centre.

History of Ürümqi: Although Ürümqi is situated near the northern route of the Silk Road, it is a relatively young city. During the 22nd year of Emperor Taizong's reign in the Tang Dynasty, AD 648, the Tang government set up the town of Luntai in the ancient town seat of Urabo, 10 kilometers from the southern suburb of present-day Ürümqi. Ancient Luntai Town was a seat of local government, and collected taxes from the caravans along the northern route of the Silk Road.

Little is heard of the region following the Tang Dynasty until the conquest of Dzungaria in 1755 under the Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. The Dzungars were deliberately exterminated in a brutal campaign of ethnic genocide. One writer, Wei Yuan, described the resulting desolation in what is now northern Xinjiang as: "an empty plain for a thousand li, with no trace of man." After 1759 state farms were established, "especially in the vicinity of Urumchi, where there was fertile, well-watered land and few people." It has been estimated that more than a million people were slaughtered, and it took generations for it to recover.

During the Qing Dynasty (1763) the Qianlong Emperor named the expanded town of Luntai "Dihua" (迪化), meaning "to enlighten." In 1884, the Guangxu Emperor established Xinjiang as a Province, with Dihua as its capital.

Following the founding of the People's Republic of China, on February 1, 1954, the city was renamed Ürümqi, meaning "beautiful pasture" in the Mongolian language of the Dzungar people.

The city was the site of major rioting in July 2009 due to conflicts between Han and Uyghur ethnic groups in which nearly 200 people were left dead; most of the victims were Han-Chinese. Reports of extensive police retaliation against the Uyghur minority have circulated ever since, despite the Chinese government having shut down access to emails and overseas phone calls.

Demographics: According to the 2000 census, Ürümqi has 2,081,834 inhabitants.

Ethnicity Population Percentage

Han 1.567.562 75.3%

Uyghur 266.342 12.79%

Hui 167.148 8.03%

Kazakhs 48.772 2.34%

Manchu 7.682 0.37%

Mongol 7.252 0.35%

Xibe 3.674 0.18%

Russian 2.603 0.13%

Ethnicity	Population	Percentage
Han	1.567.562	75.3%
Uyghur	266.342	12.79%
Hui	167.148	8.03%
Kazakhs	48.772	2.34%
Manchu	7.682	0.37%
Mongol	7.252	0.35%
Xibe	3.674	0.18%
Russian	2.603	0.13%

Tarim Basin

Kingdoms of: Shanshan, Hotan, Kashgar, Kuqa, Karaxahr, Turfan

The Tarim Basin (塔里木盆地) is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of more than 400,000 km². It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin. The area is sparsely settled by the Uyghurs, other Turkic peoples and Tajiks.

History: The Silk Road, a series of trade routes through regions of Asia, splits into two routes: the North Silk Road along the northern edge and another along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the basin. A middle route was deserted in the sixth century. The southern trackway includes the oasis towns of Yarkand, Niya, Pishan, Marin and Khotan. The key oasis towns along the northern route are Aksu, Korla, Turfan, Gaochang and Loulan. Other key towns include Kashgar in the South-West, Kuqa in the North, and Dunhuang in the East. Formerly the Tocharian languages were spoken in the Tarim Basin. They were the easternmost of the Indo-European languages. The Chinese name "Yuezhi" (月氏) denoted an ancient Central Asian people settled in modern eastern Tarim Basin, who, vanquished by the Xiongnu, later migrated southward in order to form the Kushan Empire, which was centred on Afghanistan/Pakistan, but also extended into northern India.

The Han Chinese managed to take control of the Tarim Basin from the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st century under the leadership of general Ban Chao (32 - 102).

The powerful Kushans expanded back into the Tarim Basin in the 1st-2nd centuries AD, where they established a kingdom in Kashgar and competed for control of the area with nomads and Chinese forces. They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Buddhism, playing a central role in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Eastern Asia.

Loulan

Loulan silk fragment

Loulan or Kroran (樓蘭; Uyghur Language: Kroran) is an ancient oasis town founded in the second century on the north-eastern edge of the Lop Desert. Loulan, also known as Krorayina, was an ancient kingdom along China's Silk Road in Xinjiang. In 77 BC, it became known to the Chinese as Shanshan, though the town at the northwestern corner of Lop Nur retained the name of Loulan. The ruins of the town of Loulan are on what were the western banks of Lop Nur, in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, now completely submerged in the desert.

A 3,800-year-old female mummy (circa 1600 BC), the first of a series of mummies now known as the Tarim mummies, was discovered in Loulan in 1980 AD, indicating very early settlement of the region.

The first historical mention of Loulan was in a letter from the Chanyu of the Xiongnu to the Chinese Emperor in 126 BC in which he boasted of conquering the Yuezhi, the Wusun, Loulan, and Hujie, "as well as the twenty-six states nearby." In 126 BC, the Chinese envoy, Zhang Qian described Loulan as a fortified city near Lop Nur.

Loulan was rediscovered by Sven Hedin in 1899, who excavated some houses and found a wooden Kharosthi tablet and many Chinese manuscripts from the later Han dynasty (third century A.D.).

Aurel Stein made further excavations in 1906 and 1914, investigating the town's packed-earth and straw wall. It was over 1,000 feet (300 m) on each side, and 20 feet (6.1 m) thick at the base. Stein also recovered a wool-pile carpet fragment, some yellow silk, and Gandharan architectural wood-carvings.

Reported in the Washington Times, 2005, are discoveries made in 1979 and 1980 by a Chinese architectural team in the area. They discovered a man-made canal, 15 feet (4.6 m) deep and 55 feet (17 m) wide, running through Loulan from northwest to southeast; a 32-foot (9.8 m) high earthen dome-shaped Buddhist stupa; and a 41 feet (12 m) long by 28 feet (8.5 m) wide home apparently for a Chinese official, housing 3 rooms and supported by wooden pillars. They also collected 797 objects from the area, including vessels of wood, bronze objects, jewelry and coins, and Mesolithic stone tools.

Other reported (2003) finds in the area include additional mummies and burial grounds, ephedra sticks, a string bracelet that holds a hollowed jade stone, a leather pouch, a woolen loincloth, a wooden mask painted red and with large nose and teeth, boat-shaped coffins, a bow with arrows and a straw basket.

* Life of Aurel Stein - Web Catalog in Four Languages

Niya

Batik textile from Niya

Niya is an archaeological site located on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in modern-day Xinjiang, Autonomous areas of China. Here numerous ancient archaeological artifacts have been recovered. Niya was once a major commercial center on an oasis on the southern branch of the Silk Road in the southern Taklamakan Desert. During ancient times camel caravans would cut through, carrying goods from China to Central Asia.

Official approval for joint Sino-Japanese archaeological excavations at the site was given in 1994. Researchers have now found remains of human habitation including approximately 100 dwellings, burial areas, sheds for animals, orchards, gardens, and agricultural fields. They have also found in the dwellings well-preserved tools such as iron axes and sickles, wooden clubs, pottery urns and jars of preserved crops. The human remains found there have led to speculation on the origins of these peoples. Archeological findings from the ruins of Niya are housed in the Tokyo National Museum.

Khotan

The Kingdom of Khotan is an ancient Buddhist kingdom that was located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim basin. (The area lies in present day Xinjiang, China).

The ancient city of Khotan was the capital, now known by its modern Chinese name Hotan or Hetian (和田) — also romanized Hotan or Khotan). From the Han Dynasty until at least the Tang Dynasty it was known in Chinese as Yutian 于窴.

Built on an oasis, its mulberry groves allowed the production and export of silk and silk rugs, in addition to the city's other major products such as its famous nephrite jade and pottery.

According to legend, the foundation of Khotan occurred when Kushtana, said to be a son of the Indian Buddhist emperor Ashoka, settled there in the early 3rd century BC.

However, it is likely to have existed earlier than this as the Yuezhi (known later as the Kushans) had been trading the famous nephrite jade from the region to China for some centuries prior to this.

The kingdom became one of the major centers of Buddhism, and is primarily associated with the Mahayana branch. It differed in this respect to Kucha, a Śrāvakayāna-dominated kingdom on the opposite side of the desert. Fa-Hsien account of the city states it had fourteen large and many small Buddhist monasteries. Many foreign languages, including Chinese, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tibetan, were used in cultural exchange.

Khotan was the first place outside of China to begin cultivating silk. The story, repeated in many sources, and illustrated in murals discovered by archaeologists, is that a Chinese princess brought silkworm eggs in her hairdo when she was sent to marry the Khotanese king. This probably took place in the first half of the 1st century AD.

It came under Muslim control in the first decade of the 11th century. Marco Polo visited Khotan between 1271 and 1275 and remarked that the people were "all followers of Mahommet."

In his Diwanu Lughat at-Turk, the 11th century Turkish scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari included a verse describing the Muslim conquest of Khotan:

Like river torrents

We flooded their cities

We destroyed their monasteries

And shat on the statues of the Buddha.

Chapter 96A of the Hanshu or 'History of the Former Han' (which covers the period from 125 BC to 23 AD) says that Yutian, or Khotan, had 3,300 households, 19,300 individuals and 2,400 people able to bear arms.

The town obviously grew very quickly after China opened the Silk Routes to the West, for the population had more than quadrupled by the time of the Later Han.

The 8th century Tibetan Buddhist history, The Prophecy of the Li Country, claims that a Khotanese king helped the famous Kushan Emperor Kanishka to conquer the key town of Saketa in Middle India. If this is correct, and if modern dating of the beginning of Kanishka's era in 127 AD, this must have happened at about this date - just before Ban Yong reasserted Chinese influence over the region.

* The Buried Silk Road Cities of Khotan by William Rust and Amy Cushing

Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan: Personal narrative of a journey of archaeological and geographical exploration in Chinese Turkestan by Aurel Stein

Kashgar

Kashgar or Kashi (喀什) is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The earliest mention of Kashgar is when the Chinese Han Dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west. Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han Dynasty), when the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu), Yutien (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan mountains. This happened in 76 BC.

Kashgar does not appear to have been known in the West at this time, but Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a Kasia Regio, possibly exhibiting the name whence Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed.

The country's people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

In the Hanshu (Book of the Former Han), which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Hou Hanshu (roughly 25 to 170), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 30,000 men able to bear arms.

The Tang Dynasty: The opening of the Tang Dynasty, in 618, saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin.

In 635 the Tang Annals report an embassy from the king of Kashgar. In 639 there was a second embassy bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission.

Xuan Zang passed through Kashgar (which he calls Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuan Zang records that they flattened their babies heads, were ill-favoured, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He said they had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woollen stuffs and rugs, their writing had been copied from India but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere believers in Buddhism and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

Contemporaneously, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China itself.

In 646, when the Turkish Kagan asked for the hand of a Chinese princess, the Emperor claimed Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this was not to happen. In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was badly defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar. After another defeat of the Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when China regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years. In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgash tribes as far as Talas. In 751 the Chinese suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Arabs in Talas; a blow from which they never fully recovered. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766. Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

The Arab Invasions: In the 8th century came the Arab invasion from the west, and we find Kashgar and Turkestan lending assistance to the reigning queen of Bokhara, to enable her to repel the enemy. But although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Uyghur kingdom.

The Uyghurs: Modern Uyghurs are the descendants of ancient Turkic tribes including Uyghurs and ancient Caucasian inhabitants of Tarim basin. Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, the most celebrated prince of this line, converted to Islam late in the 10th century and the Uyghur kingdom lasted until 1120 but was distracted by complicated dynastic struggles. The Uyghurs employed an alphabet based upon the Syriac and borrowed from the Nestorian missionaries, but after converting to Islam widely used also an Arabic script. They spoke a dialect of Turkish preserved in the Kudatku Bilik, a moral treatise composed in 1065.

The Mongols: The Uyghur kingdom was destroyed by an invasion of the Kara-Khitai, another Turkish tribe pressing westwards from the Chinese frontier, who in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. His invasion gave a decided check to the progress of the Muslim creed, but on his death, and during the rule of the Jagatai Khans, who became converts to that faith, it began to reassert its ascendancy.

Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches.

In 1389–1390 Timur ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Jagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759.

Kucha

Kucha or Kuche (also: Kuçar, Kuchar, 庫車; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu. Also known in ancient China as: 屈支屈茨; 龜玆; 丘玆, also Po) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin and south of the Muzat River. (The area lies in present day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China; Kucha city itself is the county seat of that prefecture's Kuqa County). Its population was given as 74,632 in 1990.

History: According to the Book of Han, Kucha was the largest of the 'Thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions,' with a population of 81,317, including 21,076 persons able to bear arms.

Kucha was strongly influenced by Indian and Scythian thought, and Indian kings are said to have reigned there. Christopher Beckwith identifies the king of Gu-zan of the Li yul lung-btsan-pa or ‘Prophecy of the Li Country’ who went on campaign with Kanishka in the company of the king of Kucha (Kūči, Kūčā, Kushâ, Küsän). However, Chinese transcriptions are explicitly in favour of the form Küsän/Güsän/Kuxian/Quxian and not Küshän or Kushan.

For a long time Kucha was the most populous oasis in the Tarim Basin. The language, as evidenced by ancient records, was Tocharian, an Indo-European language. It was located on a crossroad of the great cultures of India, Persia, Bactria and China. The extensive ruins of this ancient capital of the Kingdom of Guici [the 'City of Subashi'] lie 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Kucha.

Kuchan music was very popular in China during the Tang Dynasty, particularly the lute which became known in Chinese as pipa.

Francis Younghusband, who passed through the oasis in 1887 on his epic journey from Beijing to India, described the district as "probably" having some 60,000 inhabitants. The Chinese town was about 700 yards (640 m) square with a 25 ft (7.6 m) high wall, with no bastions or protection to the gateways, but a ditch about 20 ft (6 m) deep around it. It was filled with houses and "a few bad shops". The "Turk houses" ran right up to the edge of the ditch and there were remains of an old Turk city to the south-east of the Chinese one, but most of the shops and houses were outside of it. About 800 yards (732 m) north of the Chinese city were barracks for 500 soldiers out of a garrison he estimated to total about 1500 men, who were armed with old Enfield rifles "with the Tower mark."

Buddhism was introduced to Kucha before the end of the 1st century, however it was not until the 3rd century that the kingdom became a major center of Buddhism, primarily the Śrāvakayāna branch but also Mahāyāna. (In this respect it differed from Khotan, a Mahāyāna-dominated kingdom on the southern side of the desert.)

According to the Chinese Book of Jin, during the third century there were nearly one thousand Buddhist stupas and temples in Kucha. At this time, Kuchanese monks began to travel to China. The fourth century saw yet further growth for Buddhism within the kingdom. The palace was said to resemble a Buddhist monastery, displaying carved stone Buddhas, and monasteries around the city were numerous.

The Heart of a Continent: A Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Chitral, 1884-1894 by Francis Edward Younghusband

Turfan

A possible European person and Asian trader (left) with an Asian buddhist monk, Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves

Turfan or Tulufan (Uyghur: تۇرپان‎, Turpan, Turpan, Turkish: Turfan, 吐魯番) is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

Turfan has long been the centre of a fertile oasis (with water provided by karez) and an important trade centre. It was historically located along the Silk Road's northern route, at which time it was adjacent to the kingdoms of Korla and Karashahr to the southwest and the town of Qarakhoja (Gaochang) to the southeast.

In the early 2nd century BC the Yuezhi were defeated by the Xiongnu and fled eastward to Bactria, later founding the Kushan Empire. Later on the city came under control of the Chinese Han Dynasty and, in 60 BC, became part of the Protectorate of the Western Regions. During Later Han times the city changed hands between the Xiongnu and the Han interspersed with short periods of independence. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the region was virtually independent but tributary to various dynasties.

From 487 to 541 AD Turfan was an independent Kingdom ruled by a Turkish tribe known to the Chinese as the Gaoche. The Rouran Khaganate defeated the Gaoche and subjucated Turfan, but soon afterwards the Rouran were destroyed by the Göktürks. In the mid 7th century the Tarim Basin was reoccupied by the Chinese, now under the Tang Dynasty. During the 7th, 8th, and early 9th centuries the whole region was fought over by the Tang, the Empire of Tibet, and the Turks.

The Uyghurs established a Khanate in Turfan (known as the Kara-Khanids that lasted from 856 to 1369 AD, surviving as a vassal of the Mongol Empire. This Khanate was established after the fall of the Uyghur Empire to the Kyrgyz Turks.

Francis Younghusband, visited Turfan in 1887 on his overland journey from Beijing to India. He said it consisted of two walled towns, a Chinese one with a population of no more than 5,000 and, about a mile (1.6 km) to the west, a Turk town of "probably" 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. The town (presumably the "Turk town") had four gateways, one for each of the cardinal directions, of solid brickwork and massive wooden doors plated with iron and covered by a semicircular bastion. The well-kept walls were of mud and about 35 ft (10.7 m) tall and 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) thick, with loopholes at the top. There was a level space about 15 yards (14 m) wide outside the main walls surrounded by a musketry wall about 8 ft (2.4 m) high, with a ditch around it some 12 ft (3.7 m) deep and 20 ft (6 m) wide). There were drumtowers over the gateways, small square towers at the corners and two small square bastions between the corners and the gateways, "two to each front." Wheat, cotton, poppies, melons and grapes were grown in the surrounding fields.

Gaochang ruins

Gaochang (高昌) is the site of an ancient oasis city built on the northern rim of the inhospitable Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang, China. A busy trading center, it was a stopping point for merchant traders traveling on the Silk Route. The ruins are located 30 km southeast of modern Turpan

Gaochang was built in the 1st century BC. It was an important site along the Silk Road. It was burnt down in wars in the 14th century. Old palace ruins and inside and outside cities can still be seen today.

Gao Chang (Pronounced Qara-hoja (قئارئاهوجئا) in Uyghur) played a key role as a transportation hub in western China. There is not much documented history surviving today, only stories passed on through oral tradition exist to detail the history. The archaeological remains are just outside the town at a place originally called Idykut-schari or Idikutschari by local residents. Artistic monuments of the city have been published by Albert von Le Coq.

In 439, remnants of the Northern Liang fled to Gaochang led by Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou where they would hold onto power until 460 when they were conquered by the Rouran. There were more than ten thousand Han Chinese households in Gaochang, and the Rouran appointed a Han named Kan Bozhou as their vassal King of Gaochang in 460.

At this time the Gaoche (高車) was rising to challenge power of the Rouran in the Tarim Basin. The Gaoche king Afuzhiluo (阿伏至羅) killed Kan Shougui and appointed a Han from Dunhuang, named Zhang Mengming (張孟明), as his own vassal King of Gaochang. Gaochang thus passed under Gaoche rule.

Later, Zhang Mengming was killed in an uprising by the people of Gaochang and replaced by Ma Ru (馬儒). In 501, Ma Ru himself was overthrown and killed, and the people of Gaochang appointed Qu Jia (麴嘉) of Jincheng (in Gansu) as their king. Qu Jia at first pledged allegiance to the Rouran, but the Rouran khaghan was soon killed by the Gaoche, and he had to submit to Gaoche overlordship. Later, when the Göktürks emerged as the supreme power in the region, the Qu dynasty of Gaochang became vassals of the Göktürks. In 640, Gaochang was annexed by the Chinese Tang dynasty and renamed Xizhou (西州).

From the mid fifth century until the mid seventh century there existed four independent kingdoms in the narrow Turpan basin. These are known as the Kan Family, Zhang Family, Ma Family, and Qu family. In the second year of Tang Zhen Guan (628 AD), the famous monk Xuanzang passed through Gaochang. In the 13th year of Tang Zhen Guan (640 AD), Gaochang county was established. According to documents from the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Qara-hoja referred to Gao Chang as "Halahezhuo" (哈拉和卓) and Huozhou

Buddhism spread to China from India along the northern branch of the Silk Route predominantly in the 4th and 5th centuries AD at the same time as the beginning of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The building of Buddhist grottos probably began during this period There are clusters close to Gaochang, the largest being the Bezeklik grottos.

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History of Silk

A picture from the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert, showing the different steps in sericulture and the manufacture of silk.

According to Chinese tradition, the history of silk begins in the 27th century BC. Its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter half of the first millennium BC. China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years. Not confined to clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing, and the colour of silk worn was an important indicator of social class during the Tang Dynasty.

Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 AD, and by 522 the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time. As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market. The Crusades brought silk production to Western Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe. Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing. During the 16th century France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, though the efforts of most other nations to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful.

Allusions to the fabric in the Old Testament show that it was known in western Asia in biblical times. Scholars believe that starting in the 2nd century BC the Chinese established a commercial network aimed at exporting silk to the West. Silk was used, for example, by the Persian court and its king, Darius III, when Alexander the Great conquered the empire. Even though silk spread rapidly across Eurasia, with the possible exception of Japan its production remained exclusively Chinese for three millennia.

The wealth that silk brought to China stirred up envy in neighbouring peoples. Beginning in the 2nd century BC the Xiongnu, regularly pillaged the provinces of the Han Chinese for around 250 years. Silk was a common offering by the emperor to these tribes in exchange for peace. For more than a millennium, silk remained the principal diplomatic gift of the emperor of China to his neighbours or to his vassals.

Silk would eventually leave China in the hair of a princess promised to a prince of Khotan. This probably occurred in the early 1st century AD. The princess, refusing to go without the fabric she loved, would finally break the imperial ban on silk worm exportation.

A number of archaeological discoveries showed that silk had become a luxury material appreciated in foreign countries well before the opening of the Silk Road by the Chinese. For example, silk has been found in the Valley of Kings in a tomb of a mummy dating from 1070 BC. First the Greeks, then the Romans began to speak of the Seres (people of silk).

The silk road toward the west was opened by the Chinese in the 2nd century AD. The main road left from Beijing, going either to the north or south of the Taklamakan desert, one of the most arid in the world, before crossing the Pamir Mountains. The caravans that employed this method to exchange silk with other merchants were generally quite large, including from 100 to 500 people as well as camels and yaks carrying around 140 kg (300 lb) of merchandise. They linked to Antioch and the coasts of the Mediterranean, about one year's travel from Beijing. In the South, a second route went by Yemen, Burma, and India before rejoining the northern route.

Not long after the conquest of Egypt in 30 BC regular commerce began between the Romans and Asia, marked by the Roman appetite for silk cloth coming from the Far East, which was then resold to the Romans by the Parthians. The Roman Senate tried in vain to prohibit the wearing of silk, for economic reasons as well as moral ones. The import of Chinese silk resulted in vast amounts of gold leaving Rome, to such an extent that silk clothing was perceived as a sign of decadence and immorality.

Hellenistic Greece appreciated the high quality of the Chinese goods and made efforts to plant mulberry trees and breed silkworms in the Mediterranean basin. Sassanid Persia controlled the trade of silk destined for Europe and Byzantium.

It was not until 552 AD that the Byzantine emperor Justinian obtained the first silkworm eggs. He had sent two Nestorian monks to Central Asia, and they were able to smuggle silkworm eggs to him hidden in rods of bamboo.

The Arabs, with their widening conquests, spread sericulture across the shores of the Mediterranean. Included in these were Africa, Spain and Sicily, all of which developed an important silk industry.

Seres

Detail of Asia in the Ptolemy world map. Gulf of the Ganges left, Southeast Asian peninsula in the center, China Sea right, with "Sinae" and "Serica" to the North.

Seres (Gr. Σῆρες, Lat. Sērēs) was the ancient Greek and Roman name for the inhabitants of the northwestern part of modern China, (in other words modern Xinjiang or Eastern Turkestan). It meant "of silk," or people of the "land where silk comes from." The name is thought to derive from the Chinese word for silk, "si" (絲). It is itself at the origin of the Latin for "silk", sērĭcă.

Serica, the land of the Seres, was the name by which the Ancient Greco-Romans referred to a country in Eastern Asia. The Ancients' knowledge of this nation was indistinct and often distorted by the wildest fables and myths, though Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder present a description which is tolerable in its scope and detail. Serica was explained by Ptolemy as bordering Scythia extra Imaum or "India beyond the Himalayas" on the West, Terra Incognita to the North-East, the Sinae or Chinese to the East and by India to the South. India in Antiquity, as for all of Western history until the Early Twentieth Century, was a broad geographic toponym which embraced all of the Indian subcontinent, Indochina and the Malay Archipelago. Most modern geographers assert that the position of Serica would nowadays be situated in the North-Western section of the People's Republic of China in Xinjiang province.

Before we hear of the country Serica, many ancient authors mention the people the Seres, the manufacturers and distributors of the precious material silk. Some geographers believe that the Greco-Romans denominated the Chinese when approached from the Pacific Ocean as Sinae, whereas when reached from the Asiatic steppes they were called Seres. Others contend however, that the Sinae were the Ancient Chinese while the Seres were an assimilated melange of Indo-European and perhaps Turkic people who had formed a loose confederacy and dealt with the Indians, the Chinese and through the Parthians and later the Sassanid Persians, the Romans as well. The descriptive accounts inscribed by Pliny do intimate to us that the Seres were indeed a "Caucasoid" people and whereas some tribes did cohabit with them, they did not constitute the distinguishing strain of the nation. This opinion is substantiated by the portrayal of the Sericans written by Pausanias, which assorts them as being the mixed offspring of the Scythians and the Indians, both Indo-European peoples. Further, in the early 19th Century the celebrated German explorer, cosmographer and natural philosopher Alexander von Humboldt postulated from his researches that, as with the present (both his and ours), Central Asia contained a mixed population of doubtful origin. He specifically cited the Massegetae tribe north of the Oxus River as a Mongolic people cohabiting with the Indo-European Sogdians, Bactrians and Indians (See: Fragments de géologie et de climatologie asiatiques (2 vols. 8vo, 1831), and in central Asia (3 vols. 8vo, 1843). The Serican physiognomy is described as being of extraordinary size, with blue eyes, red hair, a rough voice and a body quite unfamiliar with infirmity or contagion. The final characteristic, most likely the wistful hyperbole of the Mediterranean writer, is probably drawn from the fame of the region's salubrious climate. Once again it is tempting for the modern geographer or ethnologist to correspond the Seres with any number of patently Indo-European tribes with fair complexion enumerated and described by the Ancient Chinese authors. That the description of the Mediterranean authors pertains to an Indo-European people is evident, though the precise extent of Mongolic admixture into the nation has yet to be satisfactorily ascertained or theorized.

The Greco-Roman writers have preserved the names of over a dozen tribes and fifteen cities of the Seres. From reading their portrayals, it is evident that not all are of the same ethnicity, though they share a common national appellative. The capital of the Seres is denominated Sera, a city whose ruins are more likely to be located in the Xinjiang plains of modern China rather than closer to Beijing . possible candidates include Kashgar, a major mart of Central Asian trade and transnational interaction, and Yarkand, a place of some regional importance. Issedon, the metropolis of the principal Serican nation the Issedones, is thought to have been situated on the eastern declivity of the Pamirs or even the Altai.

The Silk Road

The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. The trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the Han Dynasty (114 BC), although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. Geographically, The Silk Road or Silk Route is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China, with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, extending over 8,000 km (5,000 miles) on land and sea. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Indian subcontinent, and Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world.

As it extends westwards from the commercial centers of North China, the continental Silk Road divides into north and south routes to avoid the Tibetan Plateau.

The Northern Route travels northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu, and splits into three further routes, two of them passing north and south of the Taklamakan Desert (through modern day Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang) to rejoin at Kashgar; and the other going north of the Tien Shan mountains through Turfan, Talgar and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan).

All routes join up at Kokand in the Fergana Valley, and the roads continue west across the Karakum Desert towards Merv, joining the northern route briefly.

One of these routes turns northwest along the Amu Darya (river) including Bukhara and Samarkand the center of Silk Road trade to the Aral Sea, through ancient civilizations under the present site of Astrakhan, and on to the Crimean peninsula. From there it crosses the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and the Balkans to Venice; another crosses the Caspian Sea and across the Caucasus to the Black Sea in Georgia, thence to Constantinople.

The Southern Route is mainly a single route running through northern India, then the Turkestan–Khorasan region into Mesopotamia and Anatolia; having southward spurs enabling the journey to be completed by sea from various points. It runs south through the Sichuan Basin in China and crosses the high mountains into northeast India, probably via the Ancient tea route. It then travels west along the Brahmaputra and Ganges river plains, possibly joining the Grand Trunk Road west of Varanasi. It runs through northern Pakistan and over the Hindu Kush mountains to rejoin the northern route briefly near Merv

It then follows a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant. From there, Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, and land routes went either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa.

Marco Polo: The Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China, and his tales, documented in Il Milione, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the widest-read.

* Videos - Marco Polo in Xinjiang: 1, 2, 3****

Cities Along the Silk Road

The Northern Route Along the Taklamakan Desert from Kashi, Xinjiang to Anxi, Gansu: Li Jien. (An ancient, possibly Roman settlement), Aksu (Xinjiang), Kuqa or Kucha (Xinjiang), Korla (Xinjiang), Jiaohe, Loulan (Xinjiang), Turpan or Turfan (Xinjiang), Gaochang (Xinjiang), Kumul/Hami (Xinjiang).

The Southern Route Along the Taklamakan Desert from Kashi, China to Anxi, China: Hotan or Khotan (Xinjiang), Minfeng (Xinjiang), Niya (Xinjiang), Miran (Xinjiang), Dunhuang (Gansu).

Bactrian Camel

A Western on a Bactrian Camel, a sancai glazed figurine from the Tang Dynasty

The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of north eastern Asia. It is one of the two surviving species of camel. The Bactrian Camel has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped Dromedary Camel.

Nearly all of the estimated 1.4 million Bactrian Camels alive today are domesticated, but in October 2002 the estimated 950 remaining in the wild in northwest China and Mongolia were placed on the critically endangered species list.

It is thought that the Bactrian Camel was domesticated (independently from the dromedary) sometime before 2500 BC, probably in northern Iran, Northeast Afghanistan, or southwestern Turkestan. The dromedary is believed to have been domesticated between 4000 BC and 2000 BC in Arabia. The wild population of Bactrian Camels was first described by Nikolai Przhevalsky in the late 19th century.

Bactrian Camels have been the focus of artwork throughout history. For example, western foreigners from the Tarim Basin and elsewhere were depicted in numerous ceramic figurines of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618–907).

Canadian researcher William Sommers found that these wild camels had the ability to drink saltwater slush, although it is not yet certain the camel can extract useful water from it. Domesticated camels do not attempt to drink salt water, though the reason is unknown.

The Bactrian Camel was identified as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2007 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project. EDGE identifies species that are evolutionarily distinct and need better protection to prevent extinction.

Karakoram Highway

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is the highest paved international road in the world. It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass. It connects China's Xinjiang region with Pakistan's Northern Areas and also serves as a popular tourist attraction. It is also referred to as National Highway 35 or N35. Due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is also referred to as the "Ninth Wonder of the World."

The Karakoram Highway, also known as the Friendship Highway in China, was built by the governments of Pakistan and China, and was completed in 1986, after 20 years of construction. 810 Pakistani and 82 Chinese workers lost their lives, mostly in landslides and falls, while building the highway. The route of the KKH traces one of the many paths of the ancient Silk Road.

There are more than 20,000 pieces of rock art and petroglyphs all along the highway that are concentrated at ten major sites between Hunza and Shatial. The carvings were left by various invaders, traders and pilgrims who passed along the trade route, as well as by locals. The earliest date back to between 5000 and 1000 BC, showing single animals, triangular men and hunting scenes in which the animals are larger than the hunters. These carvings were pecked into the rock with stone tools and are covered with a thick patina that proves their age.

The highway, connecting the Northern Areas of Pakistan to the ancient Silk Road, runs approximately 1,300 km from Kashgar, a city in the Xinjiang region of China, to Havelian, located in the Abbottabad District of Pakistan. An extension of the highway meets the Grand Trunk Road at Hasan Abdal, west of Islamabad, Pakistan.

The highway cuts through the collision zone between the Asian and Indian continents, where China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India come within 250km of each other. Owing largely to the extremely sensitive state of the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, the Karakoram highway has strategic and military importance.

Western Regions

The Western Regions or Xiyu (西域) was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Jade Gate, most often Central Asia or sometimes more specifically the easternmost portion of it (the Tarim Basin).

Because of its strategic location astride the Silk Road, the Western Regions have been historically significant since at least the 3rd century BC. It was the scene of conflict between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu until the middle of the 2nd century.

The region became significant in later centuries as a cultural conductor between East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Islamic world and Europe. One of the most significant exports of the Western Regions was Buddhism, which was carried by traders and pilgrim monks to China. The Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang crossed the region on his way to study in India, penning the classic Great Tang Records of the Western Regions upon his return to the Tang capital Chang'an.

In the 18th century, the Qing Dynasty conquered part of this region and put it under military administration. In 1884, the region was established as a province under the name Xinjiang.

The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (大唐西域記) is a narrative of Xuanzang's nineteen year journey through Chang'an to India between 626 and 645. It was compiled in 646 by Bianji, a disciple of Xuanzang, who spent more than one year editing the book through Xuanzang's dictation.

The book contain about 100,000 words and is divided into twelve volumes, which describe the geography, land and maritime transportation, climate, local products, people, language, history, politics, economic life, religion, culture, and customs in 110 countries, regions and city-states from present-day Xinjiang to Sri Lanka. It has considerable historical material on India, the condition of Buddhist monasteries at the time, and has a high historical value for its descriptions of Central Asia during the early seventh century.

Journey to the West (西遊記) is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Originally published anonymously in the 1590s during the Ming Dynasty, and even though no direct evidence of its authorship survives, it has been ascribed to the scholar Wú Chéng'ēn since the 20th century.

In western countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley. The Waley translation has also been published as Adventures of the Monkey God; and Monkey: [A] Folk Novel of China; and The Adventures of Monkey.

The novel is a fictionalised account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras. The Bodhisattva Guānyīn, on instruction from the Buddha, gives this task to the monk and his three protectors in the form of disciples — namely Sūn Wùkōng, Zhū Bājiè and Shā Wùjìng — together with a dragon prince who acts as Xuánzàng's horse mount. These four characters have agreed to help Xuánzàng as an atonement for past sins.

Some scholars propose that the book satirises the effete Chinese government at the time. Journey to the West has a strong background in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and value systems; the pantheon of Taoist immortals and Buddhist bodhisattvas is still reflective of Chinese folk religious beliefs today.

Part of the novel's enduring popularity comes from the fact that it works on multiple levels: it is an adventure story, a dispenser of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeying toward India stands for the individual journeying toward enlightenment.

The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions by Xuanzang

e-book

Monkey: Folk Novel of China by Wu Ch'eng-en, Arthur Waley (Translator)

e-book

Autonomous Areas of China

In a similar fashion to the former Soviet Union's titular nations, a number of areas associated with one or more ethnic minorities are designated as autonomous within the People's Republic of China (PRC). These areas are recognized in the PRC's constitution and are nominally given a number of rights not accorded to other administrative divisions. The actual degree of autonomy of such regions is questioned. This is because their authority rests with the Constitution and the Law on Regional Autonomy, requiring leaders to seek prior approval from the National People's Congress (NPC) to pass legislation. This is not true for other provinces, which can pass legislation without such prior approval. For this reason, it has been contended that Autonomous regions are in fact "less autonomous."

Autonomous regions, prefectures, counties, and banners were established after communist takeover, following Soviet practice. At first, the nomenclature of these autonomous areas were somewhat confused, with autonomous regions appearing at the province, prefecture, county, and township levels. Eventually the nomenclature was standardized to the conventions used today.

The first autonomous region to be established was Inner Mongolia, created within communist-held territory in 1947, two years before the establishment of the People's Republic. Xinjiang was converted from a province to an autonomous region in 1955. Guangxi and Ningxia followed in 1957, and Tibet Autonomous Region was formally established in 1965.

Of the five autonomous regions, only Tibet has an absolute majority (>50%) of the designated ethnic group, namely, the Tibetans. Xinjiang has a plurality (<50%) of the designated ethnic group, the Uyghurs, though this is disputed by Uyghur independence advocates, who claim that the Han Chinese population in Xinjiang has been severely understated. The remaining 3 autonomous regions have absolute majorities of Han Chinese, the majority ethnicity of China.

Tartary

"A new Map of Great Tartary and China..." by Edward Wells (1704)

Tartary or Great Tartary (Latin: Tataria or Tataria Magna) was a name used by Europeans from the Middle Ages until the twentieth century to designate a great tract of northern and central Asia stretching from the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean inhabited by Turkic and Mongol peoples of the Mongol Empire who were generically referred to as "Tartars", i.e. Tatars. It incorporated the current areas of Siberia, Turkestan (including East Turkestan - Xinjiang), Greater Mongolia, Manchuria, and sometimes Tibet.

Geography and History: Tartary was often divided into sections with prefixes denoting the name of the ruling power or the geographical location. Thus, western Siberia was Muscovite or Russian Tartary, eastern Turkestan (later Chinese Xinjiang) and Mongolia were Chinese or Cathay Tartary, western Turkestan (later Russian Turkestan) was known as Independent Tartary, and Manchuria was East Tartary.

As the Russian Empire expanded eastward and more of Tartary became known to Europeans and East Asians, the term fell into disuse.

European areas north of the Black Sea inhabited by Turkic peoples were known as Little Tartary

East Turkestan Independence Movement

East Turkestan Independence Movement is a broad term that refers to advocates of an independent, self-governing Xinjiang, also referred to as East Turkestan. Currently the area is an autonomous region in the People's Republic of China.

In general, the wide variety of groups who seek independence for Xinjiang can be distinguished by the type of government they advocate and the role they believe an independent Xinjiang should play in international affairs. Groups who use the term East Turkestan tend to have an orientation towards western Asia, the Islamic world, and Russia. These groups can be further subdivided into those who desire secularity, and identify with the struggle of Kemal Atatürk in Turkey, versus those who want an Islamic theocracy and identify with Saudi Arabia, the former Taliban government in Afghanistan, or Iran. In many cases the latter diminish the importance or deny the existence of a separate Uyghur ethnicity and claim a larger Turanian or Islamic identity. These groups tend to see an independent East Turkestan in which non-Turkic, and especially non-Islamic minorities, such as the Han Chinese would play no significant role.

Those that use the term Uyghuristan tend to envision a state for the Uyghur people. Those groups that adopt this terminology tended to be allied with the former Soviet Union while it still existed. Since then some of the leaders of these groups have remained in Russia, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, or have emigrated to Europe and North America. In any future independent Uyghuristan, non-Uyghur peoples such as the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Kyrgyzs, the Han Chinese, or the Hui would exist only as tolerated minorities.

It is worth noting that none of these identities are exclusive. Some groups support more than one such orientation. It is common to support both an Islamic and Turkic orientation for Xinjiang. The founders of the Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (also known as the East Turkestan Republic) are a good example of this.

Since 1995 the Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization has been Erkin Alptekin, the son of the Uyghur separatist leader Isa Yusuf Alptekin.

Some Uyghur issues being brought to attention in the international arena include a great many alleged injustices. One of the main resources in the area of East Turkestan or Uyghuristan is oil. The Han Chinese have been accused of seizing this wealth, and then bringing in Han Chinese from the other side of the country to fill the jobs to run the drilling and refineries. Also, the Han Chinese government has been accused of taking Uyghur children away from East Turkestan and forcing them to attend schools in other parts of the country, in which they are separated from their families, their culture and their native language, which is very different from Han Chinese. The Han Chinese say that the reason for this is the schools in East Turkestan are not sufficient.

The desire for independence isn't merely because of cultural or religious differences, but also due to perceived injustices. However, more and more the Uyghur movement is being recognized internationally.

Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877 by Hodong Kim

Autonomy in Xinjiang: Han Nationalist Imperatives and Uyghur Discontent by Gardner Bovingdon

Uyghur Human Rights Project

China: Human Rights Concerns in Xinjiang

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

Rebiya Kadeer

Rebiya Kadeer (born 21 January 1947) is a prominent Uyghur businesswoman and political activist from the northwest region of Xinjiang in the People's Republic of China (PRC). She has been the president of the World Uyghur Congress since November 2006.

Kadeer has been active in defending the rights of the largely Muslim Uyghur minority, who she says has been subject to systematic oppression by the Chinese government. Kadeer is currently living in exile in the United States.

Early Life and Career: Rebiya Kadeer was born into poverty in the city of Altay, Xinjiang. She married in 1965 and moved to the city of Aksu, Xinjiang. During the Cultural Revolution, she was purged as a class enemy after a clothing business which she ran with her husband was branded as "speculation", resulting in her divorce.

Following her divorce, Kadeer opened a laundromat In 1976. She later remarried in 1981 to Sidik Rouzi, then an associate professor, and moved to Ürümqi. In Ürümqi, Kadeer leased a market in the local business district, converting it into a department store that specialized in Uyghur ethnic costumes. In 1985, Kadeer converted the site again to a 14,000 square meter commercial building.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kadeer engaged in cross-border trade, accumulating assets which at their peak were worth more than 200 million yuan. She became one of the five richest people in China, and her success earned her the nickname "the millionairess". The trading company she established had businesses operating in China, Russia and Kazakhstan. She has given birth to eleven children.

Kadeer was an active philanthropist within the community, most notably through her foundation, 1,000 Families Mothers Project, a charity intended to help Uyghur women start their own local businesses. In 1993, Kadeer was appointed delegate to the eighth session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the National People's Congress and was a representative to the UN Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing in 1995. Kadeer has also been vice chairwoman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Federation of Industry and Commerce, and vice chairwoman of the Xinjiang Association of Women Entrepreneurs.

In 1997, Kadeer established the "Thousand Mothers Movement", to promote job training for Uyghur women, as well as evening schools for Uyghurs who did not have chance to go to ordinary school.

Imprisonment: Having been a witness to the Gulja Incident in 1997, Kadeer says she failed in her repeated attempts to persuade Beijing that change was needed. Feeling that she had no choice, she openly criticised the government in a speech before parliament, and was promptly removed from the National People's Consultative Conference; authorities revoked her passport. In 1999 she sent newspaper clippings to her exiled husband, Sidik Rouzi, who was living in the United States and who is active in protesting against Chinese policies towards the Uyghur people. Kadeer was detained in August 1999 while on her way to meet a US Congressional Research Service delegation investigating the situation in Xinjiang at the time, and was alleged to be in possession of a list of 10 people "suspected of having a connection with national separatist activities". She was detained by PRC authorities on charges of "leaking state secrets", and was convicted on 10 March 2000 in the Ürümqi Intermediate People's Court, of "endangering state security", after sending her husband newspaper clippings on the treatment of the Uyghur community.

Whilst in prison, Kadeer spent two years in solitary confinement, but was not tortured. She speculates that this was because that guards were aware of her international reputation. In 2004, her sentence was reduced by a year based on citations of good behaviour where she was being held.

Release and Exile: In 2004 she won the Rafto Prize for human rights. On 14 March 2005, Kadeer was released early, nominally on medical grounds, into United States' custody in advance of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region. The U.S., which had pressured for her release, agreed to drop a resolution against China in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch moderated their criticism somewhat as a consequence. On 17 March, Kadeer flew to the U.S. and joined her family in Washington, D.C. In an interview with Phoenix Television before her departure to the US, she stated that she would remain a citizen of the People's Republic of China, and as a person born in the new China, she would sacrifice her own life for the integrity of China.

In April 2007, one of her sons, Ablikim, was sentenced to 9 years in prison and 3 years deprivation of political rights, reportedly after confessing to charges of "instigating and engaging in secessionist activities." In November 2006 Alim, another of her sons, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined $62,500. Qahar Abdurehim, yet another of her sons, was fined $12,500 for tax evasion but not jailed. In June 2006, Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar were officially charged with state security and economic crimes shortly following Kadeer' election as president of the Uighur American Association.

Kadeer stated her belief that all Uyghur organizations fight peacefully. On 5 June 2007, at a conference on democracy and security held in Prague, Kadeer met privately with President George W. Bush, who praised people like her for being "far more valuable than the weapons of their army or oil under the ground." On 17 September 2007, the United States House of Representatives passed by a voice vote House Resolution 497, demanding that the Chinese Government release the imprisoned children of Rebiya Kadeer and Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, and change its suppressive policy towards the Uyghur people.

July 2009 Riots: While the protests that preceded the July 2009 riots were ostensibly a response to the death of two Uighur workers in Guangdong, the Chinese government catapulted Kadeer into the limelight when it claimed the WUC, which she heads, had planned the riots. That said, Taiwan denied a visa to Mrs. Kadeer in Sept 2009, alleging she had links to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, classed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and USA.

Kadeer has denied that the riots were organised.

The 10 Conditions of Love: Director Jeff Daniels shot a documentary film in 2009 about Kadeer, called "The 10 Conditions of Love". It was destined to be screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival. The organisers refused a request from Chinese consulate in Melbourne for the film to be withdrawn and for Kadeer's invitation to the festival to be rescinded. Several Chinese directors pulled out of the event. The festival website was hacked and festival information replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans, and booked out all film sessions on the site; a denial-of-service attack forced it to shut down. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China was "firmly opposed to any foreign country providing her with a stage for her anti-China separatist activities". However, Daniels said it was good that "people were able to see different sides of the story" and criticised the heavy pressure from the Chinese government.

Australian Federal Labor Member of Parliament, Michael Danby, transmitted a message of support for the screening from 14th Dalai Lama, saying: "...[Kadeer] is another one of the national leaders who is a paradigm of non-violence." Danby said the Dalai Lama, "wanted to make it very clear to people that the claims of this woman being a violent person or instigating violence, is from his point of view, and with all of his authority, wrong."

The documentary was scheduled to be shown at the Kaoshiung Film Festival, Taiwan, in October 2009, but was later rescheduled to September, before the festival due to opposition from the PRC. Wang Yi of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China opposed the film, saying it "beatifies the ethnic separatists" and sends "the wrong signals about terrorism and violence", while the Chinese government warned the Kaoshiung city government not to "stir up trouble". The website for the festival was also hacked. It was later announced that the film would be shown at the film festival as originally planned. Premier Wu Den-yih said the government would protect freedom of speech.

* Video: The 10 Conditions of Love

TaiwanDNA.com

Origins and Diversity of the Taiwanese People

TaiwanDNA.com Homepage

Xinjiang

Major Cities:

Taklamakan Desert

Tian Shan

Kunlun Mountains

Grand Bazaar (Ürümqi)

XINJIANG

Excerpts from Wikipedia.org

Geography and Geology

Economy

Demographics

Northwestern China

Demographics

Among ethnic groups who are of the Muslim faith, most notable are Muslim Turkic peoples including the Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tatars and the Kazakhs

Distribution of the Turkic Peoples

Uyghur

* Video: Surprised Result DNA Check on Uyghurs, Reasons of Riots

Uzbek

Uzbeks of Afghanistan in 1841

Kyrgyz

The Kyrgyz one som banknote pictures Abdylas Maldybaev, one of the composers of the state anthem of the Kirghiz SSR..

Tartars

Kazakhs

Kazakh stamps featuring a traditional bride's dress, groom's clothing

Kazak Exodus by Godfrey Lias (e-book)

There are also Muslim Iranian peoples including Tajiks and the Sarikolis/Wakhis (often conflated as Tajiks)

Map of Greater Iran

“Tajiks” in China

Wakhi

Other PRC ethnic groups in the region include Han Chinese, Mongols, Russians, Xibes, and Manchus

Russians in Xinjiang

Xibe

"Sibo military colonists", picture drawn by Henry Lansdell during his visit to today's Qapqal Xibe County in 1882

Muslim Sino-Tibetan peoples such as the Hui

Hui

Genetic Studies

* The Emerging Limbs and Twigs of the East Asian mtDNA Tree by Toomas Kivisild, et al.

Phylogenetic Reconstruction and Geographic Distribution of Haplogroup M7

Phylogeography of Haplogroup A

* Genetic Distances Between Chinese Populations Ccalculated on Gene Frequencies of 38 Loci by DU Ruofu, et al.

Phylogenic Tree of Han Subpopulations in 30 Provinces, Cities and Autonomous Regions

* Allele Polymorphism and Haplotype Diversity of HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 Loci in Sequence-Based Typing for Chinese Uyghur Ethnic Group by Chun-mei Shen, et al.

Neighbor-Joining Tree Based on the Allelic Frequencies of HLA-B Locus

* Geographical Distributions of Y-chromosomal Haplogroups P*(xR1a), R1a, and J from Male Demography in East Asia: A North–South Contrast in Human Population Expansion Times by Yali Xue, et al.

Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup P (Y-DNA)

Subgroups

* Study About the FUT2 Gene Structure of Xinjiang Uighur and Han Nationality by Wei Tianli, et al.

* Genetic Analysis on Tuoba Xianbei Remains Excavated from Qilang Mountain Cemetery in Qahar Right Wing Middle Banner of Inner Mongolia by Yu Changchun, et al.

Unrooted Neighbor-joining Tree of Tuoba Xianbei Group and 13 Populations Compared

* Genetic History of Southeast Asian Populations as Revealed by Ancient and Modern Human Mitochondrial DNA Analysis by P. Lertrit, et al.

Populations Selected for Genetic Comparison

Unrooted NJ Tree of 22 Selected Populations Based on Net Genetic Distances

PC Map of 22 Selected Populations Based on Net Genetic Distances

Haplogroup Frequencies

* Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup Distribution in Chaoshanese with and without Myopia by Qin Wang, et al.

Principal Component Map of Mmitochondrial DNA Variation

* A Homeland or Hostland? The power and challenges of genetic studies on Austronesian’s expansion by Mutsu Hsu and Shu-Juo Chen

Neighbor-joining Tree of Taiwan AN Populations, East Asians, Southeast Asians and Other Populations Worldwide (from Chu et al. 2001)

* Analysis of Genomic Admixture in Uyghur and Its Implication in Mapping Strategy by Shuhua Xu, et al.

* Sample Profile - Uyghur (Western China) by DNA Tribes

* Tracing the Origins of Hakka and Chaoshanese by Mitochondrial DNA Analysis by Wen-Zhi Wang, et al.

Population Analyzed

Two-dimensional PC Plot of mtDNA of Han Populations

PC Map of Y Chromosome of Han Chinese

* The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity by R. Spencer Wells, et al.

Neighbor-joining tree of 61 Eurasian populations, based on Y-chromosome biallelic haplotype frequencies

Geographic Distribution of Y-chromosome Haplotypes in Selected Eurasian Populations

The haplotype frequencies in selected populations are shown graphically with related haplotypes combined into common colors.

YAP lineage - Haplogroup_DE, Haplogroup D and Haplogroup E; M130 lineage - Haplogroup C; M89 lineage- Haplogroup F; M9 lineage- Haplogroup K; M45 lineage - Haplogroup P; M173 lineage - Haplogroup R1; M17 lineage - Haplogroup R1a

Haplogroups: A, B, C, D, ExE3b, E3b, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, RxR1, R1a, R1b

* Spoligotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Different Provinces of China by H. Dong, et al.

Ancient DNA from Xinjiang

* Early Eurasian Migration Traces in the Tarim Basin Revealed by mtDNA Polymorphisms by Y Cui, et al.

* Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Ancient Sampula Population in Xinjiang by Chengzhi Xie, et al.

* Ancient Xinjiang Niya People Are the Scythians or Not ——The evidence from mitochondrial DNA study by Chengzhi Xie, et al.

* Ancient Xinjiang Niya People Are the Scythians or Not ——The evidence from mitochondrial DNA study by
Chengzhi Xie, et al.