Yugurs

History

The Turkic-speaking Yugurs are considered to be the descendants of a group of Old Uyghurs who fled from Mongolia southwards to Gansu after the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840, where they established the prosperous Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom (870–1036) with capital near present Zhangye at the base of the Qilian Mountains in the valley of the Ejin River.

In 1037, the Yugurs came under Tangut rule. As a result of Khizr Khoja’s invasion of Qumul, many residents who rejected conversion to Islam escaped to nearby Dunhuang and Hunan in China proper. These were the ancestors of the Yugurs, who have remained Vajrayana Buddhists to the present day.

The Yugurs adopted the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism in the late 16th century, under the influence of Sonam Gyatso, the third Dalai Lama.

In 1893, Russian explorer Grigory Potanin, the first Western scientist to study the Yugurs, published a small glossary of Yugur words, along with notes on their administration and geographical situation.

Language

About 4600 Yugurs speak Western Yugur, a Siberian Turkic language, and about 2800 Eastern Yugur, a Mongolic language. Western Yugur has preserved many archaisms of Old Uyghur. Both Yugur languages are now unwritten, although the Old Uyghur alphabet was in use in some Yugur communities until the end of 17th century.

References

Literature

• Tamm, Eric Enno. (2010) "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China." Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. . http://horsethatleaps.com/chapter-11 --

References

1. (1997). "Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism Along China's Silk Road". Columbia University Press.
2. Justin Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie. (2009). "Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world". Elsevier.
3. Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson, Justin Jon Rudelson. (1997). "Oasis identities: Uyghur nationalism along China's Silk Road". Columbia University Press.
4. Wong, Edward. (28 September 2016). "Modern Life Presents Nomads of China's Steppe With a 'Tragic Choice'". [[New York Times]].
5. Allworth, Edward A.. (1994). "Central Asia, 130 Years of Russian Dominance: A Historical Overview". Duke University Press.
6. Dillon, Michael. (2004). "Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest". Taylor & Francis.
7. (2020). "The Great Dispossession: Uyghurs between Civilizations". LIT Verlag Münster.
8. Berzin, Alexander. "Tibetan Buddhism among Yellow Yugurs of Gansu".
9. Tamm, Eric Enno. (10 April 2011). "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China". Catapult.
10. (2000). "Studies on Turkish and Turkic Languages: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Turkish Linguistics". Harrassowitz.
11. Lars Johanson, Éva Csató. (1998). "The Turkic languages". Taylor & Francis.
12. Dru C. Gladney. (2004). "Dislocating China: reflections on Muslims, minorities and other subaltern subjects". C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.