The origin, formation, and strengthening of Uyghur modern identity and nationalism have strong roots in the historical, political, social-economic and cultural processes of the Uyghur homeland of East Turkistan (or Xinjiang, as known by China , who always had demographic dominance). Uyghurs are the indigenous people of the land now known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also called East Turkistan). Uyghurs have a long and rich ethno-political and cultural history with ancient and middle-age states established in this region of Central Eurasia . The Uyghurs constituted 75 percent of the population of the province and kept their demographic dominance in the region until the 1950s.1
Modern Uyghur ethnic identity and nationalism can be described as having two distinct stages, with 1949 as the year of division between the periods. In the two different stages, Uyghur ethnic identity and nationalism experienced formation, development, frustration, and prosperity that were strong enough to attract not only China’s attention but also the attention of the international community. In the formation, development, and strengthening of Uyghur nationalism, interior political, demographic, and social-cultural policies, as well as other factors, played conclusive roles; however, external factors that had strong ethnic, cultural, and political ties with Uyghurs and their land also played critical roles. One of the most important external factors came from neighboring parts of the Uyghur region, especially from Central Eurasia . This is because Uyghurs are geopolitically located in the Central Asian landscape and the chessboard of the Great Game , which was for a long time under Russian dominance . As a result, Uyghurs share a common culture with Central Asian Turkic peoples, who are very close to Uyghurs in many aspects.
In the 1920s, modern Uyghur nationalism started to grow with the introduction of new ideas and a reformist education system, but it did not become the dominant force in society due to the Uyghurs’ backwardness, superstitions, and Yang Zengxin’s2 political dictatorship. Nevertheless, more and more people began to spread nationalistic views. The increase in the number of Uyghurs who understood Uyghur nationalism laid the foundation for a national independence movement that became popular in 1930s and 1940s.
At the beginning of the 1920s, Yang Zengxin realized development in Central Asia and other parts of Islamic world would influence Uyghurs and play an important role in the formation of Uyghur nationalism, which in turn would result in a demand for more political rights for Uyghurs. Therefore, he pursued a policy that would thwart the new education movement and perpetuate ignorance among the population. He took advantage of the superstitious and fundamental beliefs of Uyghurs in implementing his tactics. He stirred up the most adamant and ignorant people against the new education system by labeling the movement as antireligious. He built mosques in every village and confined people in those mosques to keep them ignorant of what was happening outside. He brainwashed religious hardliners to stand up against intellectuals who opened new schools by offering them petty government positions. Furthermore, he stopped domestic and foreign scholars’ attempts to interpret Islam in a more progressive and liberal way to develop Uyghur culture. He eventually succeeded in his campaign against Uyghur national independence. M. Bughra, a prominent Uyghur political leader and historian of twentieth century, pointed out that the religious hardliners and community elders who benefited from the Chinese had played a crucial role in keeping East Turkistan under the control of the dictatorship.3
The factors described in the following sections played an important role in the formation of Uyghur nationalism during the early and mid-twentieth century.
Jadidism Movement with Turkic Nationalism
One important factor in the formation of Uyghur nationalism was Jadidism, an education movement to open a new style of school at the beginning of the twentieth century. The origins of the Uyghur new educational movement have strong ties with the Central Asian, Turkish , and Tatar Jadidist movements in the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Central Asian and Tatar Jadidism belong within the broad framework of reformist and revolutionary movements among the Muslims of Russia and the neighboring Islamic countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The efforts among the Volga Tatars and Crimean Tatars beginning in the 1880s and by Ismail Gasprinskiy (the founder of a new-method school in Bakhchisaray in the Crimea in 1884 and the publisher of the influential reformist newspaper Terjümān beginning in 1883) were crucial sources of ideas for the Jadids.
Uyghur businessmen , who had the opportunity to witness the new development in the Russian Central Asia and Volga-Ural regions, Germany , and Turkey , played a very important role in spreading the new educational movement among Uyghurs. Being the first representative of Uyghur Jadidism, or new educational movement, among Uyghurs, brothers Hussein Bay (1844–1926) and Bawudun Bay (1855–1928) laid the foundation for the new education system and developed it among Uyghurs.
All of the new Uyghur schools opened at the beginning of the twentieth century had teachers educated in Kazan , Istanbul , and other Central Asian cities who were determined to liberate people in Xinjiang by educating them with modern ideas. Central Asian Uzbek Jadidists normally referred to themselves by the Turkic terms Taraqqiparvarlar (progressives), Ziyaliylar (intellectuals), or simply Yäshlär/Yoshlar (youths).4 In the Uyghur region, local people also called Uyghur Jadidists by such terms as Ziyali (intellectual), Ependi (teacher), Maaripchi (educationalist), or Meripetchi (educationalist) and their movement Aqartish Herikiti (enlightenment movement), among others. The Jadids were also inspired by political movements in the Islamic world: the anti-colonial struggles in India , the constitutional movement in Persia (1905–1911, q.v.), and above all, the Young Turk movement in the Ottoman Empire. They could not help but feel a strong sense of solidarity with their fellow Muslims.
The Musabayev brothers , so called by their Russian counterparts and later referred to by that title among Uyghurs, were the first representatives of Uyghur capitalists. They were influenced by Tatar capitalists and accepted their ideas of Jadidism when they were doing business in Russia . With the help of their strong financial capabilities, they started to educate Uyghurs by using what they had learned from Tatars so that the Uyghurs could be liberated with new ways of thinking. They established a new European style school, Hüseyniye , in the Iksak village of Artush in 1885.5 Huseyin and Bawudun also opened new schools and teacher training centers in the cities of Kashgar and Ghulja . In 1904, they started to send students to Russia and Turkey in order to train more supporters of the new education system in Xinjiang.
In 1910–1915, Dr. Mesud Sabri (1887–1952) and Tursun Ependi (1886–1937), among the first round of students who were sent by Musabayevs to Turkey , came back to teach at the Hüseyniye School and trained new teachers so that they could go to other parts of Xinjiang to establish new schools. In 1907, the Musabayevs imported factory machinery from Germany and ope...