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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

bibliography, Uighur Turks, religious history, China

College

Humanities

Department

Asian and Near Eastern Languages

Abstract

The Uighur Turks are a minority group several million strong now living primarily in the desert oasis towns of western China. They first appeared on the world stage during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) as a fierce nomadic tribe threatening China from the Mongolian steppe. By raiding the border they forced the Tang government into doling out lavish protection payments, but later as allies to the Chinese the Uighur cavalry was instrumental in rescuing the government from destruction by civil war. Chinese dynastic records give vivid accounts of official processions to the capital at Changan and magnificent weddings between Chinese princesses and Uighur nobility. Eventually the Uighurs were pushed out of Mongolia by another Turkish tribe (the Kyrgyz), and they settled down to a sedentary life in desert towns along the silk roads. Never again returning to a nomadic way of life, they soon became famed for their scholarship and high culture, even serving the later Mongols as advisers and providing them with the first Mongolian script. Perhaps most interesting is the Uighur’s religious history. Beginning as typical nomads shamanists, while still in Mongolia they converted en masse to Manichaeanism, thereby creating the only Manichaean state in world history. Later they converted to Buddhism then dabbled with Nestorian Christianity before finally converting to Sunni Islam, to which they are now devoted.

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