@cloycy
I think you've made a mistake here. XinJiang is NOT their land, but more Han Chinese' land form historical point of view.
The ethnics in XinJiang started off by some nomad tribes such as Qiang, Xiongnu (hun), Kozaks, etc. Han Chinese was alongst the first ethncis to settle there in history, with constant migration happened proir to 220 BC. But mass migration of Han Chinese didn't occur until West Han Dynasty about 190 AD, when Han emporers defeated the nomads and started to promote this kind of Han settlements in the region. However, due to XinJiang's hash climate, it has never been a part of Han Chinese heartlands.
Uigurs originated in today's Tukey, thousands of miles away from XinJiang. How comes XinJing is their homeland, but not Han Chinese'??? Turkic Uigurs didn't mass-migrate into today's XinJing until around Tang Dynasty - about 600-800 AD according to history!!!
Therefore it is a misnomer to say that XinJiang is Uigurs' native land. Han Chinese , alongside with Kosaks, Qiang, Hun and even Moguls are much more entitled to the land objectively speaking.
Dear Sir,
Unfortunately, he is correct and your picture of the region's ethnicity is not.
The Turkish tribes were originally from the region now occupied by the CIS states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. However their first appearance in these regions was long after 220 BC.
What follows are taken from Chinese sources, which are the most accurate for these regions; they tie up beautifully with Indian literary references, and with Iranian references, especially in the much-later Shah Nama, but Chinese sources are always to be preferred, because they were given to recording annals long before anybody else in the region.
In 220 BC, the occupants of what is today called Xinjiang, and was historically called East Turkestan, were Caucasian/Indo-European people called the Tocharians. These Tocharians were blonde and red-haired, and wore tartans rather like those found in those times in Europe. Their mummies are to be seen to this day in their former settlements in Xinjiang, and are preserved by the government.
They were ruled by five clans, of which one was the Moon Clan; in Chinese, they were called the Yueh-Chi. The Yueh-Chi were hit hard in successive waves some hundred or hundred and fifty years apart by a barbarian Mongolian or proto-Mongolian tribe called the Hiung-nu, who first inflcted heavy casualties on the nascent Chinese states, and were then sent back in headlong defeat. The Hiung-nu in their retreat fell upon their western neighbours, the Yueh-Chi ruled Tochar, and the Tochar were defeated in battle. There are records that the Hiung-nu chief made a drinking cup of the defeated Yueh-chi king's skull. As you will gather, the Hiung-nu were uncomfortable neighbours to have. One branch of the Tochar stayed on in the region, as refugees, the main branch went on westward seeking shelter from the unceasing attacks of the Hiung-nu. There in the CIS states region, which cover the famous horse-breeding valley of Ferghana, present day Balkh, Samarkand, Bokhara and legendary cities such as these (not existent in that day and age), they encountered the Persian-speaking Scythian tribes, horse-riders in the steppes, and drove them west and south. The Scythians penetrated the lands now known as Afghanistan, wore down the last Indo-Bactrian/Indo-Greek kingdoms which were successors of Seleucus' empire, and ruled there for two or three generations. They are frequently mentioned in the company of the Pahlavas, a Parthian tribe.
Without taking you through the minute details, please learn that at the time that you are speaking of, the Xinjiang region was populated by the remnants of the Tocharians, and the incoming Hiung-nu.
Some considerable period later, Turkish tribes started appearing in the region. Nobody is absolutely certain where they came from, but the most informed opinion is that they were probably migrants southwards from Siberia. A branch of these fierce and war-like nomads were converted to Islam - I am skipping forward by around five centuries, and even later, as the Seljuk Turks, they swept into the area of the Khilafat and overthrew the Khilafat of the day.
You are correct in stating that the present Uighur residents probably entered Xinjiang, while most of their kinsfolk went west and south, roughly in the 600 to 800 AD time period. Chinese records indicate that the early encounters with the Turks were during the 4th and 5th centuries, during the 16 kingdoms period, after the Hiung-nu had captured and executed the last two Jin emperors. However, there were absolutely no Han Chinese in Eastern Turkestan at that time, although there had been military expeditions, some successful, some not. You will be interested to note that it is during the reign of Emperor Yong Le, of the Ming Dynasty, that records indicate that the Emperor gained influence over Eastern Turkestan. That should give you a hint regarding the relative precedence of Uighur and Han; there are a few years, as I am sure you know, between the Tang and the Ming (about 750 years, if we go by the annals). And this was not inhabitation; only an acquisition of influence.
As it is 01:00 HRS and it has been a long day, I beg that you will temporarily excuse me from putting in precise dates and details. Since you appear to be in Britain, a cursory examination of an encyclopaedia in your local library will give you further details if you need them, otherwise if you wish, it will be possible to post details both of the dates as commonly recorded, and of the Chinese sources, as well as other Arabic and Iranian sources, not to mention Byzantine sources; the Seljuk Turks found themselves in conflict with the eastern Roman empire.
It was at this point of time that the Seljuks, following in the footsteps of their predecessor Arabs, entered the region known historically as Anatolia, and with their settling down there in large numbers, caused the land to be known as Turkey. This was the first incursion of Turks into the land; the second, more permanent one was the Ottoman Turkish incursion.
I hope that this will settle your doubts. At the times that you speak of, 220 BC, China had just been unified by Emperor Qin Shih Huang Ti; even earlier, however, a northern Chinese predecessor kingdom had sent an expedition to find out the lie of the land in these regions, and our most accurate information is from the records of this expedition and its leader's report to his monarch.
The same Chinese records make it clear that Han Chinese started living here in numbers only from very recent centuries onwards - I hesitate to say precisely when since I have noticed that this seems to be a sensitive matter - not earlier.
As mentioned before, more details are available if you consult standard references. I beg that you will do so, and complete your homework, before posting in future, as a courtesy to all forum members. This is not intended to hurt your feelings, please be sure; just to remind you that references to historical events are not to be made lightly.
Please be sure to send me a personal message if you need more information, but be aware that I am able to check my mail and log in only infrequently, twice or thrice a week in good weeks, because of my location and the vicissitudes of my job.
Sincerely,
'Joe S.'
You don't know a thing about Turkic history, the Turks in Anatolia derive from Central Asia. The Turkic nation does not have to look exactly like the Turks in Anatolia. The Uyghurs look exactly like Central Asian Turks. Look at Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan all Muslim-Turkic states and the Uyghurs look just like their Turkic brethren. Are you seriously going to suggest that because Uyghurs don't look like Anatolian Turks that they are more Chinese than Turks...Very very foolish and very unscientific.
