Kazakhs in China are one of the many peoples living on the territory of this country. They are less nomadic than other national minorities. Traditionally, they make a living from animal husbandry. Only a small number of them have settled and are engaged in agricultural production.
Most Kazakhs are Muslims. Since they are part of a multinational state, researchers are studying a number of problems related to the development of this ethnic group. Important, in particular, is the question of how many Kazakhs live in China. The problem of preserving national identity and self-consciousness is also important.
Geography of Settlement
The number of Kazakhs in China is about 1.5 million people. This equals 13% of the total number of all representatives of this people in the world (more than 12 million live in Kazakhstan).
Kazakhs made up about 9% of Xinjiang's population in the 1940s and only 7% at present. They live inmostly to the north and northwest of it. Most of them are settled in three autonomous regions - Ili, Mori and Burkin and in villages around Urumqi. The territory in the vicinity of the Tien Shan mountains is considered their homeland. Some representatives of the people live in the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. The largest Kazakh tribes in China are Kerei, Naiman, Kezai, Alban and Suvan.
They settled mainly in Altai Prefecture, the Ili-Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, as well as in the Mulei and Balikun Autonomous Prefectures in Ili, northern Xinjiang. A small number of this ethnic group is found in the Haixi-Mongol-Tibet Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, as well as in the Aksai Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.
Origin
The history of Kazakhs in China dates back to very old times. The inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom themselves consider them to be the descendants of the Usun people and the Turks, whose ancestors, in turn, were the Khitan (nomadic Mongol tribes), who migrated to western China in the 12th century.
Some are sure that these are representatives of the Mongol tribe, which grew up in the XIII century. They were part of the nomads who spoke Turkic languages, separated from the Uzbek kingdom and migrated east in the 15th century. They come from the Altai Mountains, Tien Shan, the Ili Valley and Lake Issyk-Kul in the northwestern part of China and Central Asia. The Kazakhs were among the first to travel along the Silk Road.
Start
In the history of the country there are many records of the origin of ethnic Kazakhs in China. Over 500years since Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD) went as a special envoy to Wusun in 119 BC. e., in the valley of the Ili River and around Issyk-Kul, the Usuns lived mainly - the Saichzhong and Yuesi tribes, the ancestors of the Kazakhs. In 60 BC. e. The government of the Han Dynasty created a duhufu (local government) in Western China, seeking to make an alliance with the Wusun and act together against the Huns. Therefore, a vast territory from the east and south of Lake Balkhash to the Pamirs was included in the territory of China.
In the middle of the VI century, the Turkmens founded the Turkic Khanate in the Altai mountains. As a result, they mixed with the Usun people, and later the descendants of the Kazakhs mixed with the nomadic or semi-nomadic Uighurs, Khitan, Naimans and Mongols of the Kipchak and Jagatai khanates. The fact that some of the tribes retained the names Usun and Naiman in subsequent centuries proves that the Kazakhs in China are an ancient ethnic group.
Middle Ages
At the beginning of the 13th century, when Genghis Khan went west, the Usun and Naiman tribes were also forced to move. Kazakh pastures were part of the Kipchak and Yagatai khanates of the Mongol Empire. In the 1460s, some shepherds in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, led by Dzhilai and Zanibek, returned to the valley of the Chukha River south of Lake Balkhash. They then mixed with the southward displaced Uzbeks and the settled Mongols of the Jaghatai Khanate. As their population grew, they expanded their pastures northwest of Balkhash in the Chu River valley and as far as Tashkent, Andijan, and Samarkand in Central Asia. Asia, gradually turning into an ethnic group of Kazakhs.
Involuntary resettlement in modern times
From the middle of the 18th century, tsarist Russia began to invade Central Asia and absorb Kazakh meadows and areas east and south of Lake Balkhash - part of China's territory. In the second half of the 19th century, the Middle and Small hordes and the western branch of the Great Horde were cut off from the country. From 1864 to 1883, the tsarist government and the Qing signed a series of treaties on the delimitation of the Sino-Russian border. Many Mongols, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz returned to Chinese-controlled territory. Twelve Kazakh clans grazing herds near Lake Zhaisan moved their animals south of the Altai Mountains in 1864. Over 3,000 families moved to Ili and Bortala in 1883. Many followed suit after the delimitation of the border.
The Yi Uprising during the 1911 revolution overthrew Qing rule in Xinjiang. However, this did not shake the foundations of the feudal system, as warlords Yang Zengxin, Jin Shuren, and Sheng Xikai gained control of the region. More than 200,000 Kazakhs fled to China from Russia after an uprising due to the conscription of young people for forced labor in 1916. More moved during the revolution and during the period of forced collectivization in the Soviet Union.
Modern history
The Communist Party of China began to carry out revolutionary activities among the Kazakhs in 1933. Fearing a possible encroachment on their feudalprivileges, the rulers of the ethnic group boycotted the establishment of schools, the development of agriculture and other activities. Under the rule of the warlord Sheng Xikai, some Kazakhs in China were forced to leave their homes, while others, due to threats and deceit from the leaders, from 1936 to 1939 moved to the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. There, many of them were robbed and killed by the warlord Ma Bufang. He sowed discord among the Kazakhs, Mongols and Tibetans and incited them to fight each other. This led to an uprising in 1939.
The inhabitants of Gansu and Qinghai, before the national liberation of China in 1949, led a largely nomadic life. In the 1940s, many Kazakhs participated in the armed struggle against the Kuomintang. After the establishment of communist power, they actively resisted attempts to force them to live in pastoral communities. According to some reports, in 1962, about 60,000 Kazakhs fled to the Soviet Union. Others have crossed the India-Pakistan border or received political asylum in Turkey.
Religious views
Kazakhs in China are Sunni Muslims. However, it cannot be said that Islam plays a very important role for them. This is due to the nomadic lifestyle, animistic traditions, remoteness from the Muslim world, close contacts with the Russians, and the suppression of Islam under Stalin and the Chinese Communists. Scholars believe that the absence of strong Islamic sentiments is explained by the Kazakh code of honor and law - adat, which was more practical for the steppe than Islamic sharia law.
Kazakh life in China
Currently, traditional pastoral settlements are found only in the Altai region, Western Mongolia and Western China. In these places, the semi-nomadic life of the Kazakhs continues to be preserved.
Today, many representatives of this people live in apartments or stone or mud-brick houses in winter, and in summer in yurts, which are also used for ceremonies.
Nomadic Kazakhs in China sell lamb, wool and sheepskin to make money. Local merchants supply them with clothes, consumer goods, sweets.
Kazakhs breed sheep, horses and cattle. Animals are usually slaughtered in autumn.
There are few roads in the vast pastures of the steppe, and horses are still the ideal way to get around. Kazakhs in China love their freedom and space, and often yurts are set up miles from their nearest neighbors. Some families use camels to transport their belongings.
Considering the question of how the Kazakhs live in China, it should be noted that they are making significant efforts to preserve the traditional culture, language, religion, customs, art and spirit of their people. In particular, a lot of literature is published in the Kazakh language, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio programs.
To this day, many folk crafts and crafts have survived almost unchanged, in particular, the production of wooden and leather utensils, women's needlework (felt production, embroidery, weaving).
