Just across Ladakh, in the Upper Himalayas of J&K, is situated the Eastern Turkistan or what presently constitutes China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang), famous after the ancient cities of Kashghar, Yarkand, Khotan, Aksu etc.
Kashmir had intimate relations with the region during the heydays of Buddhism and the ancient Silk Route through a network of routes traversing Shahidullah Pass in Ladakh and Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit Pakistan.
I periodically visited Xinjiang in 2008, 2010 and 2011 respectively and observed following to share with the GK readers, in the spirit of a nostalgia.
The region is a conflict zone. The native Turkic ethnic Uighur Muslims challenge the Chinese rule on Xinjiang. While they consider it as their ‘homeland’, the Chinese claim it as their ancestral heritage. The two communities, ruling Han Chinese and the ruled Uighurs, contest for the retention or reassertion of political control on Xinjiang: China by enforcing “coercive measures” and “colonial strategy” and the Uighurs through an organised Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM)- a separatist platform daring the Chinese rule and its colonial docket, aimed at benefitting the Han Chinese to the neglect of the Uighurs.
Thus, their human development indices are asymmetrical notwithstanding China’s claim of disproportionate growth to all the ethnicities. The Han Chinese predominate the shares in Xinjiang’s mineral wealth, trade, investment and the GDP, since they are in power, police, and army; control regional resources, trade and industries, and man and master the regional planning and development.
Consequently, the urban development patterns vary. Excepting few road buildings, concrete structures and communications networks, the Uighur cities are still traditional, lacking hustle and bustle and medium or large scale industries around. The Uighurs mostly engage in small scale cottage industries, and produce exquisitely designed articles of souvenirs, pottery, silken, woollen and cotton clothing, hats, gold and silver jewellery, copper ware, shoes, jackets, carpets, rugs, felts, musical instruments and knives. The ancient Zhireen art Street around Kasghar Idgah with around 4,000 trading stalls, is representative of the aforesaid handmade Uighur art and craft, contributing persistently to the tourism and economy of Xinjiang.
The olden parts are typically traditional as regards housing pattering, material conditions and life style of the Uighur inhabitants. The houses are clay-made and clay-plastered like the ancient Turfan city, to resist the intensive summer heat and chilly winters. These are densely structured in medieval cities, creating a labyrinth of narrow and complex lanes and by-lanes like in the downtown Kashmir.
The associated towns and villages are no different as I found during my travel along the major roadways and highways connecting Urumchi with Kashghar via Turfan, Korla and Kucha villages; Kashghar with Tashkurgan via Aktu, Shafoo, Czcan, Kalasu, Karakul and Mustagh villages and check posts; Kashghar with Yarkand via Shule, Yangi-shahr and Shaone villages and Yarkand with Khotan via Zebu,Markit, Bachu, Sanchaku, Awat, Aksu and Khotan villages and cities.
The villages are sparsely, with a medieval look, presupposing less pressure on land. The villagers, economically poor and technologically backward, dwell in the earthen house. Their material possessions comprise of few articles of pottery, ceramics, clothing, furnishing and bedding. Modern kitchen gadgets are non-existent.
Their dress is majorly made of a gown-like chapan or caftan and a round skull-cap doppa for the men, and a long-sleeved dress, blowing out at the waist, for the women. Few articles of jewellery and braided plaits or plaited pigtails affixed to the head, don the women dress. Few of them wear head cover or veil even.
Their meals and drinks are customary, the Uighur pullao, potato-cooked meat balls (kofta) and sheep and lamb trotters (Kashmiri paa’chi), parboiled and stewed and taken with the Chinese tea in the cities and the salt-milky tea in the highlands. It is brewed in the fire pots, the Russian samavars, and devoured hot, cup after cup. Metallic kettle and basin, (Kashmiri tasht-nari or Tajik dast shu) is used for washing hands before meals in the countryside. The chicken soup, chilly chicken and the grilled and skewed shoulder and loin chops (Kashmiri tabakmaaz), fried fish, pulao etc. are served in the urban restaurants.
The Uighur constitute the major peasant community. Following two crop pattern, they produce cotton, wheat, rice, cereals, maize and high-quality fruits of grapes, melons, water melons, pomegranates, apples, pears and other seasonal fruits. The vegetables are grown in the gardens attached with their houses. The arable land, facing the open fields, is irrigated by the mountainous waters of the Tuman, Kyzl, Naryn and Aksu Saryjaz Rivers. The agricultural tools, techniques and fertilisers (animal residue and hay) are classical. The tractors and trollies are the Chinese additions. During the off-season, the peasants weave clothes, leather jackets and shoes, etc. for which raw material is procured from the yaks, sheep, lamb and cow, reared for self-consumption and marketing in case of surplus.
The village surplus is exchanged in the traditional weekly or Sunday bazaars alongside a wide ranging mix of carpets, felts, rugs, clothes, shoes, jackets, scarves, souvenirs, beads, bracelets, ethnic food, spices, tea, camels, horses, flea, sheep, lamb, carts, fruits, and other local and regional varieties.
The on-road bazars deal in the farm and cottage products and their tools, besides eggs, bread (togush, na’n or tchechwaroo as it is called in Kashmir), skewed meat, spices, shoes, jackets, crockery, knives, and an endless variety of colourful and artistic crafts. The on-road tea stalls sell tea and beverages to the travellers as in the past.
Despite hostile political and geographical conditions, the villagers are mostly contented since they produce almost everything for their minimum requirement. During the leisure time, the women wash clothes on the river banks, men relax under the mulberry trees and the kids play in the fields.
Broadly, the Uighur are open to change, but not at the cost of their real Islamic faith and local traditions. The keep the beard, wear the traditional dress, perform pilgrimage, offer animal sacrifice and alms and visit the mosque for prayers, no matter, under strict state caveats. Usually, no policeman is seen around the mosques. There is, however, a high-level security vigil of around 1500 Chinese tech. surveillance companies to overlook the mosques, lest the Imams fuel anti-Beijing sentiments and spread “radical Islamic” thought.
Relatively, Beijing is lenient towards the Sufi Islam and visitation to and worship at the shrines of Sufis, saints, scholars, warriors etc. Whole Xinjiang abounds with such shrines including the major shrines of Apa Khoja (Iparhan), the Uighur concubine in the harem of Manchu King Qienlong in 1640; Ataliq Ghazi, the 19th century Muslim ruler of Eastern Turkestan and Muhammad Kashghari, the compiler of the famous dictionary, Lugate Qanun-e Turkic, on the Uighur history, culture and language.
Beijing justifies the leniency to Sufi Islam’s innate quality of multiculturalism and human coexistence, although it has security undertones. Beijing exploits it to counter the “tawhidi” or monotheistic Islam and neutralise the international protest against its human rights abuses versus the restive ethnic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, which China persistently denies. Instead, it boasts of ensuring interethnic and intercultural dialogue by allowing the bilingual use (Han and Uighur) on the name plates, sign boards and announcements in the Xinjiang-bound flights from Beijing, besides retaining two instead of one children and using the mother language as a lingua franca in the primary and elementary Uighur schools.
Prof. Mushtaq A. Kaw, Former Director, Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.