[GreYandBlue]

Without a doubt Uighurs are a hybrid Eurasian people with at least 45% Mongoloid blood, the other half is of course Tocharian blood and blood from lord knows what else that came in through the silk road. These pics were originally in color, but the author of these photos chose to paint them in black and white to add a soft mystique to them. I like them. One look at these pics and you'd never guess these people were from China.










This Uighur boy has a great smile.

[General_Zhaoyun]

The Uighurs have 'central asian look"..

[Karakhan]

its a bit too convenient to just simply label Uighurs as being xx% of this and yy% of that.
there's different mixtures, and these mixtures more or less fall among city lines. Prior to the Soviet and Chinese definition of defining ethnicities in a modern sense, Central Asians were not as clear cut as people make them out to be. There were differences but these differences are gradual.. in both physical looks. language and culture.

some pics of not so Caucasoid Uighurs:



In general (and I'm being very general).. Uighurs from Turfan have stronger Mongoloid features, probably influences from the original Uighurs of Mongolia and other northern Turkic lineage. While those from Kashgar show stronger caucasoid features, probably influences from the original Indo-European inhabitants of the Tarim basin. Some from the farther south even show features that are more associated with Indians.

random youtube videos of Uighurs:
a Uighur rap group from Kazakhstan singing in Russian
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nfaDq035rIY

a Uighur clip in Uighur
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuYhYuAzgOI

[William O'Chee]

Karakhan, on Mar 19 2008, 05:43 PM, said:

its a bit too convenient to just simply label Uighurs as being xx% of this and yy% of that.
there's different mixtures, and these mixtures more or less fall among city lines. Prior to the Soviet and Chinese definition of defining ethnicities in a modern sense, Central Asians were not as clear cut as people make them out to be. There were differences but these differences are gradual.. in both physical looks. language and culture.

some pics of not so Caucasoid Uighurs:



In general (and I'm being very general).. Uighurs from Turfan have stronger Mongoloid features, probably influences from the original Uighurs of Mongolia and other northern Turkic lineage. While those from Kashgar show stronger caucasoid features, probably influences from the original Indo-European inhabitants of the Tarim basin. Some from the farther south even show features that are more associated with Indians.

random youtube videos of Uighurs:
a Uighur rap group from Kazakhstan singing in Russian
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nfaDq035rIY

a Uighur clip in Uighur
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuYhYuAzgOI

Thanks Karakhan,

I shall endeavour to pull some sort of article together on the Yuezhi and the Tocharians for the next CHF newsletter. Unfortunately the Yuezhi do not get a mention in Nicola di Cosmo's excellent book on Ancient China and her Enemies.

[fireball]

When U.S. got into Afghanistan and I was watching CNN and other American news channels about the Afghanistan people and culture, I was extremely surprised when I saw this young (in his 20's) and pure-blooded (or as pure-blooded as it could possibly be in central Asia) Afghanistan baker in a small Afghanistan village (out of the beaten path, so NO Western tourists) who looked exactly like my elder half brother (of the same mother) when my brother was in his 20's WITHOUT my brother's lighter colored (lighter than dark black) hair artificially darkened and straightened with a whole lot (I mean dripping!!! ) hair oil (sometimes with the black hair dyes as well --my father used those for his white hairs)!!! I knew my brother looks like a Westerner or a non-Chinese, but this was a direct proof!!!

Btw, my brother really hates to be pointed out by kids (and sometimes adults!!!) on the streets of Taiwan (and later on mainland China) and called "American kid" or "foreign devil"!!! He got those stares and calls and actions all his life since he was born (even nowadays in mainland China's major cities and some parts of Taiwan)!!! I look at his baby pictures (before 4 years old) and wouldn't call him a Han Chinese child for sure if I do not know that was him!!! I would totally consider him as at least half Western or shall we say, "Caucasian".

Both of my half elder brother's parents (our mother and his father) are classified as Han Chinese for many generations, so how could that be!? I believe the cause lay entirely or mostly in my mother's family. Her family was from Hangzhou area for many generations. Her ancestor was also fairly high officials in Qing dynasty!!! With those two facts, I know that her family probably have Persian or Jewish blood from Song or even earlier dynasties and/or other later periods all the way to the late 19th or early 20th century when Hangzhou had huge Persian and Jewish populations, Turkish or Mongolian or Semu (people of colored eyes, most likely central Asians as well as some Europeans or European descendents from Italy and France and other parts of Europe, like British Isles with Richard the Lion Heart) from Yuan dynasty, She (畲) people's blood from Ming and/or Qing dynasties, Spanish or Portuguese or British or Dutch blood from late Ming or Qing dynasty time frame from merchants or pirates, and Mongolian or Manchurian blood from Qing dynasty. Her family might also have some Japanese blood for the reason that Japanese had been doing business in Hangzhou area (and her ancestor's hometown area) since the Warring States period or at least the Qin dynasty -- I say this because the Japanese archeologists have found a Yue-Wang-Jian (the Sword of Kingdom of Yue 越王劍) or something from the kindgom of Yue in Japan in recent years, so it seemed that Japan had trades with my mother's (as well as my father's) hometown area, the kingdom of Yue 越, since the Warring States -- My mother's ancestral village was located in 會稽 in Shaoxing area (Zhejiang province), and her family gone to Xiaoshan (蕭山 - closer to city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province) later on, and both places were ancient Yue's important counties for sword making as well as centers of resisting Wu's (吳) invasions (so, again, sword making and martial art centers) in addition to the already very popular Hangzhou's silk and tea trades!!! Most of my mother's family members (even her nephews and grandnephews -- after a few more generations of marrying Han Chinese) look Spanish, central Asians, Persians, and/or other Caucasions, and totally NOT like pure-blooded Han Chinese!!!

Last weekend, my Mongolian friend came to visit me, and she was sitting behind me in our car. It was very sunny that day, and she, all of a sudden, yelled out, "Your hair is NOT totally black or even dark brown!!! It has very light brown (close to blond color -- she picked the hair to show it to me) and reddish hair mixed in your hair!!!" I told her, "I have told you about it, but you do not believe me!" Anyway, my mother and my brother and I have very fair skins almost like those red Irish men or women's (Celtic?) skins with the same problems!!! Even though I look extremely like a classical example of Han Chinese (the perfect Tang dynasty beauty in the royal court), my hair is totally like the Central Asian's or Middle Easterners' hair in both texture and thickness and waviness and colors -- I know that because I have a lot of Middle Eastern female friends, including both Persians and Afghanistan people. I also grew up with a fair amount of Chinese Muslims and had female Muslim friends and co-workers from various Middle Eastern countries including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, and South East Asia. My, my mother's, and my brother's hairs are a lot more like (and almost no different from) these Central Asian's or Middle Easterners' hair, and totally NOT like the Han Chinese hair!!!

Anyway, the fact that my brother's father was from the North and probably had nomadic or central Asian bloood in him is probably why my brother's looks have more non-Han Chinese looks!!!

This post has been edited by fireball: 19 March 2008 - 08:45 AM

[GreYandBlue]

I got these pics of of flickr.

Uighurs are a hybrid race. Being that they are hybrid, their appearance can range from one end of the spectrum to the other. Some uighurs look just like Chinese.


Most Uighurs look like these men. Mixed Mongoloid/Caucasoid




A good number of Uighurs look middle eastern like this Uighur man.



And a few Uighurs can pass as white like this man. This Uighur man looks european IMO.

This post has been edited by GreYandBlue: 21 March 2008 - 11:44 PM

[GreyShades]

Interesting looking people of China.

[GreyShades]

Operation Smile comes to Xinjiang.

The caption of these photos from the author state: "This is a selection of photos taken during a visit to a hospital in Kashgar, China.

The hospital was having a screening day organised by Operation Smile where families can bring children suffering from Cleft Palates and other facial deformities and have them reviewed by medical volunteers. The lucky ones will then be eligible for free corrective surgery.

Some of these people, many of whom are living very impoverished lives, had travelled hundreds of miles to be at the screenings, with no guarantee of a successful decision regarding their children, so the level of expectation/desparation was very high."

Operation Smile is a Not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organization that provides reconstructive facial surgery to children and young adults. You can visit their website and make donations here: www.operationsmile.org

I wish the Chinese government would do more to help these children so they can lead normal lives. Not just for Uighur children, but children in all of China of course. The PRC government has more than enough money than to have some charity come in and help.



This girl has had reconstructive surgery done once already. On the comiputer screen is what she looked like before the surgery.


They are back to see if they can qualify for a 2nd surgery.

This post has been edited by GreyShades: 13 August 2008 - 08:49 PM

[mariusj]

GreyShades, on Aug 13 2008, 08:48 PM, said:

I wish the Chinese government would do more to help these children so they can lead normal lives. Not just for Uighur children, but children in all of China of course. The PRC government has more than enough money than to have some charity come in and help.

Certainly they could.
But when did any government became a charitable organization, and how often do charities gave away for plastic surgery?

I think its more realistic when you put your hopes on regular citizen who have a heart to donate.

This post has been edited by mariusj: 18 August 2008 - 09:32 AM

[l0ckx]

oh god...another "this group looks like...." thread.