tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post5873899603194877537..comments2024-02-02T00:21:02.687+13:00Comments on stargazer: language mattersstargazerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00430290445762377335noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post-21481429888551132812009-07-12T14:31:17.205+12:002009-07-12T14:31:17.205+12:00Katy, it's kind of ironic what you say - once ...Katy, it's kind of ironic what you say - once again the comparison with Tibet is instructive. Tibet was also a rapacious kingdom that often plundered and conquered its neighbours, but seems to have totally erased that memory from popular culture.<br /><br />Also... I'd be a bit careful with your phrasing. When you talk about "the Turkic people who settled in this part of the very west of China" you're implying that the area was under the authority of the Chinese state when they settled there - very much not the case. More accurately these people settled here, formed their own autonomous statelets and were then gradually brought under Chinese control - a process not really fully consolidated until 1949.DPF:TLDRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06372937855256319716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post-88191758667831112092009-07-11T13:25:12.733+12:002009-07-11T13:25:12.733+12:00Interesting post. I wonder what is behind the fac...Interesting post. I wonder what is behind the fact that "Uighur" almost always goes with "Muslim", my suspicion in the past had been that it was because no-one knows who the Uighur are, so it was just a kind of reference point. <br /><br />"Uighur" is not an ethnic term, Turkic is the ethnic group, historically "Uighur" was used broadly to refer to people in Central Asia but more recently the term has been used to refer to the Turkic people who settled in this part of the very west of China, as opposed to the Turkic who remained nomadic in Central Asia.<br /><br />From the little I have read it seems that the issue of autonomy has become more urgent as the proportion of "Uighur" people in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region has declined. Historically the Uighur were very powerful; they were horse traders who held the Chinese court ransom and made them buy horses they didn't want in exchange for silk cloth. Hard to imagine now! Central Asian friends have said that these people terrorised other people in the region and bad feeling remains. None of which is that relevant to what is happening now, which is awful. I just find the history of this part of the world absolutely fascinating (as my friends know).katyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7515713317068251331.post-53322150045975764372009-07-10T10:52:59.756+12:002009-07-10T10:52:59.756+12:00I've often felt that the reason the situation ...I've often felt that the reason the situation in Xinjiang doesn't have nearly as high a profile in the West as that in Tibet is at least partly because Muslims don't have as positive an image in the Western eye as Buddhists do.<br /><br />(The other part is that, in the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans have a leader who is very aware of the way Westerners see Buddhism, and ruthlessly exploit it)<br /><br />All of that being said I am not sure that an erasing of the Uighur's muslim status, which plays such a large part in their cultural heritage, from news reports on the situation would be a good thing.DPF:TLDRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06372937855256319716noreply@blogger.com