Kyrgyz Diaspora in China
Kyrgyz in China
The Kyrgyz in the People's Republic of China are mainly settled in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), with a small group also living in Fuyu village in Inner Mongolia (Heilongjiang) - their ancestors migrated here in the Middle Ages directly from the Minusinsk Basin. Today, the Kyrgyz of Xinjiang number about 200,000 and are distributed in valleys and foothills throughout the region: from the east (Altai) to the west (Pamir), from the south (Hotan - in northern Tibet), from the Kuen-Lun mountains to the north (Tian Shan) - in the basins of the Ili, Ak-Suu, Kyzyl-Suu rivers, and others.
The Chinese Altai was populated by Kyrgyz in ancient times and the Middle Ages from the 10th to the 13th centuries during their westward movement from the Sayan-Altai. By now, there are no groups of ethnic Kyrgyz remaining in Altai. Only in recent years has a small number of young Kyrgyz appeared here, coming from other regions, especially from the northeastern part of Xinjiang in search of work and education.
The Kyrgyz of Tarbagatai live to the west of Altai in small settlements near the district center of Derbelzhun, in the village of Orkoshkar (Orgokchor), as well as in the regional center of Cheychek surrounded by Kazakhs. This group's population is 3,000 people, represented by tribes: munduz, baarin, sarybagysh, sart, kalmak, nayman, kerey, sayak, sarybagysh, and others. The emergence of Kyrgyz in Tarbagatai is not yet fully studied; it is associated with the Dzungar state of the 17th-18th centuries: they may have been brought as captives, or it was a group of allies. After the defeat of the Dzungars, the Kyrgyz remained in Tarbagatai (Attokurov, 2002). This group practices Lamaism Buddhism.
The Kyrgyz of the Ili River basin are settled in the western part of Tarbagatai, in a water-rich plain, in a plateau with alpine meadows, in the foothills of a forest massif. The Ili River and Lake Sayram create favorable conditions for livestock breeding and agriculture. The Ili Valley was developed by Kyrgyz as early as the 14th century. The most numerous here were representatives of the Bughu tribe, who prevail in the Kyrgyz autonomous aiyl of Kek-Terek in the Tekes district and in the villages of Ak-Suu and Shaty in the Mongol Kure district. The Kyrgyz of Tekes live in close contact with Kazakhs, who have their own autonomous region. In other areas of the Ili Valley (Kuldja, Chapzhal, Nylky, Toguz-Toro, Kunes), the Kyrgyz live dispersed among Kazakhs, as well as Uyghurs, Chinese, and other peoples.
In the Kyrgyz autonomous aiyls of Boz-Dets in the On-Suu district and Jamansuu in the Uch-Turpan district, in the village of Kara-Bak in the Bay Ak-Suu region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (bordering the Issyk-Kul region), a small number of Kyrgyz live surrounded by Uyghurs. Since ancient times, trade caravans have passed through the Bedel Pass between China and present-day Kyrgyzstan. In the 15th-16th centuries, the Kyrgyz participated in the political life of Ak-Suu, Kuche, Turpan, and Kakshaale (Bartold, 1996). The current population of the village of Boz-Dets is mainly descendants of Kyrgyz who fled through the passes to escape from the soldiers of the Russian Empire in 1916, as well as those who did not recognize Soviet power in the 1920s-1930s.
In total, there are more than 10,000 ethnic Kyrgyz in the Ak-Suu region.
The Lobnor Kyrgyz, settled near the Tarim Basin, or in the eastern part of the Taklamakan Desert, ended up in a large Uyghur mass, became isolated, and lost their ethnic characteristics: language, everyday culture, self-consciousness. The residents of the Shaya area believe that their ancestors were Kyrgyz, but they are now Uyghurs.
About 80% of the Kyrgyz in the PRC live in the northwestern part of Xinjiang, in three major districts: Uluu-Chat, Ak-Chiy, and Ak-Tuu of the Kyzyl-Suu Kyrgyz Autonomous Region, bordering the Naryn and Osh regions of Kyrgyzstan and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. These Kyrgyz had close ties with the main ethnic mass of the Tian Shan and the Fergana Valley and together formed a single economic and historical-cultural area.
The Kyrgyz of the Chinese part of Pamir have been developing this harsh land since the 17th-18th centuries. The Kipchaks, Naymans, Teiyts, Kydyrsha, and Keseq, part of the tribal union of Ichkilik, were pushed by the Dzungars into the highlands from northwestern Xinjiang.
In the 17th-18th centuries, the city of Kashgar was surrounded by Kyrgyz. The settlements and plains near the city, where there are good conditions for agriculture, were developed by the Kyrgyz of the mountainous Ak-Tuu, who mainly engaged in farming from the 16th to the 18th centuries. In these settlements among the Uyghurs live Naymans, as well as a small percentage of Sarts and Kipchak Khans.
In the southwestern part of Xinjiang, in the Kuen-Lun mountains, in the southern part of the Taklamakan sands and in the northern part of the Tibetan mountains in the Hotan region, in the high-altitude Ken-Kyr Kyrgyz national autonomous village (Kyrgyz uluttuk aiyly), which consists of two settlements - Sary-Kiya and the actual Kets-Kyr in the Guma district, about 2,000 Kyrgyz live compactly together with Uyghurs.
The village of Sary-Kiya is located about 80 km from Kets-Kyr, 250 km from Hotan, at an altitude of 4,500-5,000 m above sea level and borders the Tibetan mountains. There is still not even a path for a two-wheeled cart to Sary-Kiya, let alone a road. The residents of this inaccessible village maintain contact with the outside world by moving on yaks, horses, and donkeys; the journey to Kets-Kyr takes 2-3 days.
As a result of the collectivization and consolidation of rural settlements that took place in China in the 1950s-1960s, some Kyrgyz descended from the mountains. They settled in the villages of Ken-Kyr and Sanzy, where they began to live together with Uyghurs. Some of the population remained in Sary-Kiya, preferring to continue engaging in livestock breeding despite the harsh living conditions in the inaccessible mountainous area.
In the Kargalyk district of Kashgar region, 350-400 km from the district center, at an altitude of 4,000-4,500 m, there is an inaccessible village called Kulan-Argy, where about 1,000 Kyrgyz live. To this day, residents can only reach the "big land" on horseback. Since the 1950s-1960s, some Kyrgyz numbering about 1,000 people have descended into the lower valley and started farming, while another group of families moved to the district center of Kargalyk (about 300 people). Those who did not wish to engage in agriculture remained in Kulan-Argy. The Kyrgyz of Sary-Kiya in Hotan and Kulan-Argy in Kashgar regions are represented by the tribes of the Ichkilik-Kipchak group: Bostony, Teiyts, Naymans. In this high-altitude border area, the Kyrgyz appeared in the second half of the 18th century. The ruling Qing Empire, in order to protect the southwestern part of its border, asked the Kashgar Khanate to relocate some residents to the border zone, in northern Tibet. Young mountain Kyrgyz with their families from various regions of Pamir and Ak-Tuu voluntarily resettled as "Kyrgyz border guards of China."
Thus, the Kyrgyz are settled over a vast territory of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, mainly in the mountains and foothills.
Only a small part of them lived on the plain - in the sands of the Taklamakan in the Tarim Basin.
The Kyrgyz of Xinjiang until the second half of the 20th century led a complex economy with a predominance of nomadic livestock breeding. In winter, they moved to relatively warm valleys, and in summer, they went high into the mountains, to alpine meadows. They raised horses, camels, cows, and sheep, except for the residents of Pamir and Kuen-Lun, who, due to the harsh climate, kept yaks and a few horses for riding. The Kyrgyz of Pamir and Kuen-Lun still engage in livestock breeding, as there are no conditions for agriculture in the mountains.
Oxen serve as pack animals.
Now, the vast majority of Kyrgyz in Xinjiang engage in agriculture, with each family cultivating 3-4 hectares of land in the plains and owning up to 40 hectares of pastures.
Until the mid-20th century, they mainly sowed grain crops (barley, millet, proso, wheat). Later, they also began to grow potatoes, cotton, corn, persimmons, and grapes. State support for agriculture and proximity to Han Chinese and Uyghur farmers predetermined the economic orientation of the Kyrgyz. With the penetration of market relations into the rural areas of the PRC, entrepreneurship began to develop among rural and urban Kyrgyz. Young people, moving to cities and industrial regions, are mastering business, including in tourism, trade, and services. In Urumqi, Kashgar, and other cities of Xinjiang, there are Kyrgyz entrepreneurs in the mining industry, and residents of Pamir are getting involved in the tourism business.
In Beijing, Urumqi, Kuldja, Kashgar, Ak-Suu, Artush, and other cities of the PRC, including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the number of Kyrgyz engaged in intellectual labor - in management, education, science, and technology - is gradually increasing.
The interaction of Kyrgyz with other peoples, primarily Kazakhs and Uyghurs, has determined the peculiarities of language and culture in various regions. Kyrgyz from Ak-Suu, Lobnor, Kashgar, Hotan, Ak-Tuu, and Ili have been influenced by Uyghurs. Children mainly study in Uyghur schools or in schools with Chinese as the language of instruction. In Ak-Suu, Kashgar, Ak-Tuu, Hotan, and Ili, Kyrgyz autonomous villages have been organized, and there are Kyrgyz schools. Other measures have been taken in the field of governance and culture. In the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Region, the Kazakh diaspora numbers more than 1 million people, with various educational and cultural institutions and media in the Kazakh language. The Kyrgyz of Ili and Tarbagatai have been influenced by Kazakh culture. However, the Kyrgyz living surrounded by Uyghurs and Kazakhs have preserved their identity and ethnic characteristics.
Despite the numerical predominance of Kazakhs in Tarbagatai, more than 3,000 Kyrgyz have fully preserved their ethnic identity. Kazakhs have influenced all aspects of social, especially cultural life in this area, and there are no educational institutions in the Kyrgyz language. The adoption of Lamaism by the Tarbagatai Kyrgyz, paradoxically, has served as a kind of "protective measure and barrier," preventing their rapprochement and merging with the ethnos related by genetic ties, language, and economic-cultural type - the Kazakhs. The linguistic and cultural differences with the Chinese hindered family closeness with them. The Kyrgyz of Tarbagatai have remained in a kind of "natural isolation," and thanks to this, their ethnic identity is preserved.
In those regions where the Kyrgyz live relatively compactly - in Tekes (the aiyls of Kek-Terek and Shaty), Pamir, and the Kyzyl-Suu Kyrgyz Autonomous Region (the Uluu-Chat and Ak-Chiy districts, mountainous and foothill settlements of the Ak-Tuu district, the aiyls of Tegermenti and Karajul), there are Kyrgyz cultural and educational institutions and media. The language and ethnic traditions continue to develop, and the ethnic self-consciousness of the Kyrgyz is preserved.
In northwestern Xinjiang, where about 80% of the Kyrgyz in the PRC are concentrated, the Kyzyl-Suu Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was established in 1954 with the administrative and political center in the city of Artush. Currently, more than 25,000 Kyrgyz live in Artush. The Kyrgyz of Xinjiang have a rich oral folk art. In Urumqi, an 18-volume edition of the epic "Manas" has been published based on the version of the outstanding manaschi of modernity from Ak-Chiy (Kyzyl-Suu Kyrgyz Autonomous Region) Jusup Mamay: "Manas," "Semetey," "Seitek," "Kenenim," "Seiit," "Asylbacha-Bekbacha," "Sombilek," "Chigitay." Among the Kyrgyz of Ili and the Kyzyl-Suu Autonomous Region, all widely known as well as lesser-known small epics are prevalent. Since the 1930s, written literature using Arabic script has been developing among the Kyrgyz of China. Prose, poetry, and other artistic works, as well as scientific works, are published not only in Kyrgyz but also in Chinese and Uyghur. There are professional popular writers, poets, composers, artists, and also scholars, primarily in the humanities. Since 1957, the newspaper "Kyzyl-Suu kyrgyz geziti" has been published, and since 1981, the magazine "Xinjiang Kyrgyz Literature" (the organ of the Union of Kyrgyz Writers). The Kyrgyz section of the Xinjiang Scientific and Technical Publishing House operates in Urumqi, where popular scientific publications are released in the Kyrgyz language. Here, for the Kyrgyz of Xinjiang, Kyrgyz radio broadcasts for 4 hours and television broadcasts for 2 hours a day. The Kyrgyz of Xinjiang, along with Kyrgyz, also speak Chinese, Uyghur, and other languages. Many obtain higher education and work in various corners of the People's Republic of China.
Diasporas
