|
T h e U i g h u r s WWW.UIGHUR.NAME русский
|
|
|
I N T R O D U C T I O N www.Uighur.name - Cайт посвященный уйгурскому народу. История уйгуров, культура уйгуров, все последние новости об уйгурах.
Toward the end of the 19th century and into the first decades of the 20th, scientific and archaeological expeditions to the region of Eastern Turkestan’s Silk Road discovered numerous cave temples, monastery ruins, wall paintings, as well as valuable miniatures, books and documents. Explorers from Europe, America and even Japan were amazed by the art treasures found there, and soon their reports were capturing attention of an interested public around the world. These relics of the Uighur culture constitute today major collections in the museums of Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo, Leningrad (St-Petersburg) and the Museum of Central Asian Antiquities in New Delhi. The manuscripts and documents discovered in Eastern Turkestan reveal very high degree of civilization attained by the Uighurs. Throughout the centuries the Uighurs used the following scripts. 1. Confederated with the Kok Turks in the 6th and 7th centuries, they used the Orkhon script, which was developed from the Sogdian alphabet. 2. In the 5th century they adopted Sogdian italic script which became known as the Uighur script. This script was used for almost 800 years not only by the Uighurs, but also by other Turkic peoples, the Mongols, and by the Manchus in the early stage of their rule in China. 3.
After embracing Islam in
the 10th century the Uighurs adopted the Arabic alphabet, and its use became
common in the 11th century. 4. The Uighurs of the former Soviet Union use Cyrillic. 5. The Uighurs of Eastern Turkestan use the Arabic and Latin alphabets and the Uighurs of Turkey use the Latin alphabet. Most
of the early Uighur literary works were represented by translations of Buddhist and
Manichean religious texts, but there were also narrative, poetic and epic works.
Some of these were translated into German, English, Russian and Turkish. After
embracing Islam the Uighurs continued to preserve their cultural dominance in
Central Asia. World-renowned Uighur scholars emerged, and Uighur literature
flourished. Among hundreds of important works surviving from that era are "Qutatqu Bilik" by
Yüsüp Has Hajip (1069-70), Mähmut Qäşqäri's "Divan-i Lugat-it Türk", and
Ähmät Yüknäki's "Atabetul Hakayik". The
Uighurs had an extensive knowledge of medicine and medical practice. Chinese
Sung Dynasty (906-960) sources indicate that a Uighur physician Nanto traveled
to China and brought with him many kinds of medicine not known to the Chinese.
There are 103 different herbs for use in the Uighur medicine recorded in a
medical compendium by Li Shizhen (1518-1593), a Chinese medical authority.
Tartar scholar, professor Rashid Rahmeti Arat in Zur Heilkunde der Uighuren
(Medical Practices of the Uighurs) published in 1930 and 1932, in Berlin,
discussed the Uighur medicine. Relying on a sketch of a man with an explanation
of acupuncture, he and some Western scholars suspect that acupuncture was not a
Chinese, but a Uighur discovery. The
Uighurs were also advanced in fields such as architecture, art,
music and
printing. Western scholars who have studied Uighur history, culture and
civilization have often expressed a high regard for the cultural level of the
Uighurs. For instance, according to Ferdinand Sassure, "Those who preserved
the language and written culture in Central Asia were the Uighurs". Albert
von Lecoq wrote, "The Uighur language and script contributed to the
enrichment of civilizations of the other peoples in Central Asia. Compared to
the Europeans of that time the Uighurs were far more advanced. Documents
discovered in Eastern Turkestan prove that a Uighur farmer could write down a
contract, using legal terminology. How many European farmers could have done
that at that period? This shows the extent of Uighur civilization of that
time". Prof. Dr. Laszlo Rasonyi wrote, "the Uighurs knew how to print
books centuries before Gutenberg invented his press". In the judgment of
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Eberhard, "in the Middle Ages, Chinese poetry,
literature, theatre, music and painting were greatly influenced by the
Uighurs". Chinese
envoys such as Hsuan Chang, Wang Yen De and Chang Chun who traveled through
Eastern Turkestan within the seventh to the thirteenth centuries reported that
they were impressed by the high degree of the Uighur power, prestige and culture
they encountered there. Wang
Yen De, who served as an ambassador to the Qarakhoja Uighur Kingdom between the
years 981 and 984, wrote in his memoirs: "I was impressed with the
extensive civilization I found in the Uighur Kingdom. The beauty of the temples,
monasteries, wall paintings, statues, towers, gardens, houses and the palaces
built throughout the kingdom cannot be described. The Uighurs are very skilled
in handicrafts of gold and silver, vases and potteries. Some say God has infused
this talent into this people only". This
Uighur power, prestige, and culture dominated Central Asia for more than 1000
years went into a steep decline after the Manchu invasion in Eastern Turkestan
in 1759, and under the rule of the Nationalist and especially the Communist
Chinese. Source: Eastern Turkestan Information, Volume 1, No.2, July 1991 |
|
|
All materials herein are copyrighted and protected by Law. Usage of materials hereafter in any way without written authorization of authors and publishers of the articles and books is strictly prohibited and prosecuted by Law.
|