Good day all,

For my M.A., I am taking a course on ETHNIC MINORITIES OF MAINLAND CHINA, and am writing a paper dealing with a specific MINORITY GROUP and its AUTONOMY DEVELOPMENT.

I am wondering if anyone with knowledge of this topic would be interested in conducting an on-line interview with myself (thru msn or email), or if anyone knows of any good websites that deals with this issue.

I have done a background search already, read some academic journals and books, yet they more deal with the minority groups as a whole, and I am looking to deal with a specific group. I am going thru this site for additional info and I admit that I do not possess a wealth of knowledge regarding many of these minority groups outside from the above-mentioned research I have done, as well as my classtime discussion, but am eager to learn.

Any help would be appreciated, and I am hoping to hear a few interesting facts or stories, which would help in my decision as to which minority group to continue my study on.

Thanks in advance and feel free to post or to PM me.

Which ethnic minority in China are you looking for exactly?

Well, I haven't fully decided that part essentially becuase I have been hisotrical research on the policy from the PRC front.

And, also becuase I only know the overview facts of the minority groups, I am open to a suggestion from someone that feels one groups Autonomy Development is more interesting than the other.

Basically, I want to learn as much as I can about one group (well I actually want to learn on all, but most focus on one), and the best way to do that is too be interested in it, so if you have a suggestion I am all for it.

Hey thanks for the suggestion, and I was initially leaning towards HUI for many of the reasons you mentioned, but in the end I have decided to focus on the UYGUR minority. The Xinjiang area is most interesting to me and a few people from the region contacted me which was the deciding factor.

If anyone has any additional notes on this group or suggestions that would be greatly appreciated.

Uyghurs?
That's the same thing with the Tibeteans. There's three points, at least, you have to search on the Uyghurs, this could be very difficult.
1. Culture. Uyghurs live in China, but their culture is part of Central Asian Culture, Turkic Culture, and Islamic Culture. You have to work form these aspects. Although Uyghurs are Muslims, you can find some elements which have been maintained since even the Saman Era. The core of this people are still secular, unlike the extreme Muslims in Middle East. Islam is only part of the Culture.

2. History. Uyghurs have not a clear history like the Han-Chinese have. It's still on research. Chinese scholars believe, and strongly emphsizing their attitude on the viewpoint that Uyghurs have been rotted from Mongolia. Dingling, later Tiele are Uyghur's ancesters. Are the Huns or Gok Turks the ancesters of the Uyghurs? There are different opnions and conflicts. Most of the Uyghurs apart form who study history seems do not care with that.
However, most scholars tend to neglect the point that, Uyghurs could have been the decsendents of the aborigional people of the Tarim Basin. "The Kroran Beuaty" (a mummy has been found in Kroran City) is believed as a mother. And Uyghurs calim her as their mother. You can see how much love the Uyghurs have to this land. Despite it is true or not that the Uyghurs emmigrated from Mongolia, Tarim Basin, the Taklimakan Desert are the places where the Uyghur culture rooted from.

3. Politics There could be a political trouble. Politics always interferes the historical research, and you have to have an idea how to deal with it. You are not allowed to publish your work if it's against the government policy.

Anything you need, I'd like to help it.

The Uyghurs are a very interesting group, and also one that sparks alot of controversey on both sides.

Some things of interest:
-The Uyghurs of today and the Uyghur Khanate are two seperate entities. It is believed that the Uyghur minority is descended from the ancient Uyghurs and the Indo-European peoples who were the previous inhabitants.

-The Uyghurs can vary physically and the variation usually has a relation to which oasis they are from. For example Turfan/Turpan Uyghurs tend to have more mongoloid admixtures, while those from Kashgar show more Indo-European features.

-It is believed that the Yugurs (Sarigh Uyghur, aka Yellow Uyghurs) are the closest descendents of the ancient Uyghurs.

-The Aynu are classified by anthropologists as a seperate group.. however both the PRC's definition and the Uyghurs, consider the Aynu as a Uyghur tribe, even though the relationship is very questionable.

-Uyghur identity owes much to Chinese and Soviet anthropologists. Prior to the 20th century, Uyghurs identified themselves first by their oasis (i.e Turpanlik, Kashgarlik, etc), then by nomadic or oasis dweller (i.e Kazakhs and Kyrgyz vs Uyghur and Uzbeks).. then whether they are Turkic or not (Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz vs Hui).. then by their religion (Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Hui, vs Han Chinese, Manchu, etc). The term Uyghur was rarely ever used. Of course many Uyghurs would argue against this. Linguistically, culturally and even physically, the Uyghurs are very close to the Uzbeks.. to the point that their languages are very intelligible with each other. Both are also Oasis dwellers, compared to other Turkic groups who are nomadic and steppe dwellers.

It's interesting to talk about the concept " Ethnicity or nationality". If anyone speaks here a Turkic language may know that the word " MILLET" in Uyghur, "ULIT" in Kazakh (the Kazakhs of China use this word) is equal to the chinese word "minzu 民族". There are clear conception about what a minzu means in Chinese, and what a millet means in Uyghur, or Uzbek. Sometimes we emphsizing on this concept ethnicity in English, actually as this English word not stuitable to describe the meaning of the concept exactly. I don't know how to say this in Russian. But it's clear that the concept of millet was origionally invented by Russians. According to the Marx's or Lenin's theory of what millet is, the millet have five features, i.e the common language, the common terretory where the members of this group have been living together for a long time, the common religion, same culture, and I forgot the last one. Therefore, there are 56 official nationalities, or ethnic groups, or mizu in China, as there are about 130 in Russia.
However, the western concept about the theory is different. So it's hard to explain this in English. Despite which language you speak in China, you are believed to an ethnic Chinese to a Westerner, couse you have a Chinese citizenship. The Westerners never noticify your ethnicity, religion etc. in your ID nothing but your nationality. If a Uyghur immigrated to Canada, he/she'll be considered as a Canadian, and Uyghur identity is no longer nothing to do with him/her. Only he/she reminds this. Unlike the West, in China, wherever you go, you are always a Uyghur.

Let's back to our topic. Those are the modern conceptions. If you want to research the Old Uyghurs, you should have clear opinions about these conceptions and mustn't mix them together. In ancient times, Turk was a common name for all Turks doesn't depend on their triable identity. Uyghur was also a common symbol for all the tribes who lived in the Uyghur Qaghanate. Whether the modern day Uyghurs a direct descendents of the ancient Uyghurs were unclear. Despite how much connection the modern Uyghurs or the Yugurs have with their ancient ancesters, we believe that these two peoples are Turks, and their ancesters are also Turks. So there's no doubt that we cannot seperate the modern Uyghurs from the ancient Uyghurs, and the Gök Türks.

Now all the Uyghurs believe that they are Uyghurs, although once they had know their own identity by their osais origion. This is also actually what the Uzbeks did during that period. According to their viewpoint about the concepts such as, Kashgarlik, or Turpanlik, we can imagine that it was the same thing who an American, a British, or a French mean in English. British is not a 民族 actually.
The current terms such as Uzbek, and Uyghur was the excellent invitation of dear Mister Stalin whose origional intention was seperate the Turkic speaking nations by their background. THat's why the Uzbek language and the Uyghur languages are somuch similar, and Kazakh and Kyrgyz are so much close.

Can somebody show me a picture of Hui, I always thought they are some kind of Persian people who live in China, but apparently I am wrong.

check the Hui thread a few pages back.

Physically the Hui can vary, because they are simply any Muslim group that does not fit the description of the other nationalities. meaning you have Northern Chinese Hui, So. Chinese Hui, Bai Hui, Tibetan Hui, Hui that actually are descended from Persians and Arabs. Hui that aren't descended from them, etc.

look no further. i'm a half hui.

my grandpa,100% hui



and my uncle