Kazakhs in China

Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group and are among the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

Kazakhs in China

中国哈萨克族 قىتاي قازاقتارى
Total population
1,462,588
Regions with significant populations
Xinjiang (Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County, Mori Kazakh Autonomous County)
Languages
Kazakh, Russian, Mandarin
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Kazakhs, Turkic peoples

History

During the fall of the Dzungar Khanate, the Manchus massacred the native Dzungar Oirat Mongols of Dzungaria in the Dzungar genocide and colonized the depopulated area with immigrants from many parts of their empire. Kazakhs from the Kazakh Khanates were among the peoples who moved into the depopulated Dzungaria. Dzungaria was subjected to mass Kazakh settlement after the defeat of the Dzungars.^[1] In the 19th century, the advance of the Russian Empire troops pushed Kazakhs to neighboring countries. In China there is one Kazakh autonomous prefecture, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, three Kazakh autonomous counties, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County and Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Russians originally referred to Kazakhs as Kirghiz.

In the 19th century, Russian settlers on traditional Kirghiz land drove many Kirghiz over the border to China, causing their population to increase in China.^[2] Compared to Russian-controlled areas, more benefits were given to the Kirghiz on the Chinese controlled areas. Russian settlers fought against the nomadic Kirghiz, which led the Russians to believe that the Kirghiz would be a liability in any conflict against China. The Muslim Kirghiz were certain that in an upcoming war China would defeat Russia.^[3]

To escape Russians slaughtering them in 1916, Kazakhs escaped to China.^[4] Xinjiang became a sanctuary for fleeing Kazakhs escaping the Russians after the Muslims faced conscription by the Russian government.^[5]

Soviet persecution of Kazakhs led to Kazakhs from Soviet Kazakhstan moving to Xinjiang.^[6]

An estimate of 65,000 Kirghiz, 92,000 Hui, 326,000 Kazakh, 187,000 Han and 2,984,000 Uyghur adding up to a total population of 3,730,000 in all of Xinjiang in 1941 was estimated by Toops and 4,334,000 people lived in Xinjiang according to Hoppe in 1949.^[7]

The Kazakhs had settled in the Dzungaria area of Xinjiang after the Dzungar genocide by the Manchus wiped out most of the native Dzungar Oirats and fleeing from Soviet engineered famines against the Kazakhs like the Kazakh famine of 1919–1922 and Kazakhstan famine of 1932–1933. The Kazakhs had defected to the Republic of China and fought against the Soviet Communist backed Uyghur Second East Turkestan Republic in the Ili Rebellion.

Kazakh exodus and tribal conflict

A Kazakh chief named Khaisan was skinned alive and his heart cut out of his chest by the Oirat Mongol Ja Lama. His and another Kazakh's skin were used as a religious implement.^[8] The skins were found by Cossacks in Khaisan's yurt in Muunjaviin Ulaan on 8 February 1914 under Captain Bulatov.^[9][10] A White Guard soldier's heart was eaten by the Mongol Choijon Lama. Mongol banners were sprinkled with Russian White Guard and Chinese blood from hearts according to A. V. Burdukov.^[11][12] Owen Lattimore described Mongol Sandagdorjiyn Magsarjav (1877-1927) as "a strange, romantic and sometimes savage figure." Magsarjav had served under Ungern-Sternberg. In Uriankhai, Kazakh bandits who were captured had their hearts cut out and sacrificed by Magsarjav.^[13]

In 1936, after Sheng Shicai expelled 30,000 Kazakhs from Xinjiang to Qinghai, Hui Chinese led by General Ma Bufang massacred Kazakhs, until there were only 135 of them left.^[14][15][16]

Claims by other ethnic groups against Kazakhs

Being forced to migrate to the Kokonor plateau in Qinghai, the nomadic Kazakhs resorted to plundering and robbing as they passed through Gansu and northern Xinjiang. In 1941, Ma Bufang agreed to settle the Kazakhs in several pasturelands in an attempt to avoid further conflicts and quell aggressions. However, with the Kokonor plateau being home to Hui, Tibetans and Kazakhs, the tribes continued to periodically engage in conflict with each other.^[17] Hisao Kimura, a Japanese spy, cited a Tibetan Lama telling him that Kazakhs were enemies of the Tibetans: "This land, is very unsettled compared with Inner Mongolia. To the west, the Kazakhs persecute our people, and we are powerless to stop them."^[18] The Kazakhs who migrated to Iran and Pakistan via India and Tibet moved to Turkey in the 1950s with some becoming guest workers in Germany in the 1960s.^[19]

During his travels in Qinghai Office of Strategic Services agent Leonard Francis Clark reported that local Muslims told him about Kazakhs invading Tibet via the Nan Shan mountains in Xinjiang over the course of eight years in the 1940s. According to them, the Kazakhs were responsible for massacring 8,000 Buddhist Mongols during that period and claimed this was only possible due to the Chinese Nationalist Government disarming the Mongols. Further inquiries did not lead to more information and when Clark questioned missionaries in Lanchow, they only confirmed occasional raids from a few stray bands of Kazakhs over the last years.^[20]

Kazakh claims against other ethnic groups

Over the space of 2 years of battles, 5,000 Kazakhs were killed by Hui Muslim Chinese and Tibetans in Gansu. There were 13,000 Kazakhs who survived out of 18,000 before the battles. They fled to India in September 1940. Tibetan cavalry numbering 1,000 attacked and fought the Kazakhs for 3 days to block their path but lost and the Kazakhs made it to the British Indian border. Many Kazakhs died when the British ordered Indian guards to shoot. When they found out they were civilians the 3,039 surviving Kazakhs were then let into India via Chuchul checkpoint in September 1941. In 3 years, 15,000 Kazakhs were killed. Eliskhan Batur Elifuglu (1919-1943) was their leader. The Kazakhs were expelled to the outskirts of Muzaffar Abad city in an open camp near the mountains by the Hindu Kashmir Majaraja Herisin who didn't want them there. 10-15 Kazakhs died daily from illness due to heavy Monsson rains over their tents. Their livestock died and Indian soldiers blocked them from leaving the camp. When Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah heard about their plight he helped them, arranging them to go to Gari Habibullah in April 1942 and then Indian Muslims hosted them in Ternova village. Illness and poor died as well as India's warm climate killed many Kazakhs. Kazakhs got residence permits to leave camp after Eliskhan appealed to Governor general Viceroy Sir Lord Halifax when he visited them in 1941. The news about the Kazakh situation appeared in newspapers so they received help from the Muslim Nawabs Hamidullah Khan of Bhohal and Osman Ali Khan of Hyderabad. 450 Kazakhs moved to the colder Bhohal province. Chatyral, Suvat and Abutabad received 700 Kazakhs. Then Delhi, Calcutta and Lahore received the Bhopal Kazakhs in 1944. Pakistan then received the majority of the Kazakhs after partition on 14 August 1947.^[21]

The Kazakhs accused Tibetans and Tungans (Hui Muslims) of attacking them in Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet when they reached British India and were debriefed by British officials.^[22][23]

The Kazakhs said they were fleeing from the Soviets and from the Soviet backed warlord Sheng Shicai in Xinjiang and said when they entered Qinghai and Gansu they originally numbered 18,000. These Kazakhs accused Tibetan raiders of killing their Kenzhebay, a relative of their leader Elisqan, and accused the Hui Muslim ruled Qinghai government of ignoring their complaint about the Tibetans murdering him so they decided to move in 1940 out of Qinghai towards India and Tibet and stopped at Altïnšöke on the way for pasture. The Kazakhs accused Tibet people called Qulïq of being warlike and attacking the Kazakhs and claimed that Elisqan and his Kazakhs defeated them. One of them shot a Kazakh named Omar. The Kazakhs then accused a Hui Muslim (Dungan) called Fulušan of leading an assault with Mongol and Tibetan troops against the Kazakhs in Altïnšöke (Алтыншёке).^[24][25][26]

From Northern Xinjiang over 7,000 Kazakhs fled to the Tibetan–Qinghai plateau region via Gansu and were wreaking massive havoc so Ma Bufang solved the problem by relegating the Kazakhs into designated pastureland in Qinghai, but Hui, Tibetans and Kazakhs in the region continued to clash against each other.^[27]

Tibetans attacked and fought against the Kazakhs as they entered Tibet via Gansu and Qinghai.

In Northern Tibet, Kazakhs clashed with Tibetan soldiers and then the Kazakhs were sent to Ladakh.^[28]

Tibetan troops robbed and killed Kazakhs 400 miles east of Lhasa at Chamdo when the Kazakhs were entering Tibet.^[29][30]

From 1934 to 1938 Qumil Eliqsan led about 18,000 Kerey Kazakhs to migrate to Gansu and Qinghai.^[31]

Distribution

By province

By county

County-level distribution of the Kazakh

(Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >1% of county population. 2000)

Сounty/City	% Kazakh	Kazakh pop	Total pop
Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region	6.74	1,245,023	18,459,511
Aksay Kazakh autonomous county	30.5	2,712	8,891
Ürümqi city	2.34	48,772	2,081,834
Tianshan district	1.77	8,354	471,432
Saybag district	1.27	6,135	482,235
Xinshi district	1.06	4,005	379,220
Dongshan district	1.96	1,979	100,796
Ürümqi county	8.00	26,278	328,536
Karamay city	3.67	9,919	270,232
Dushanzi district	4.24	2,150	50,732
Karamay district	3.49	5,079	145,452
Baijiantan district	3.35	2,151	64,297
Urko district	5.53	539	9,751
Hami city	8.76	43,104	492,096
Yizhou district	2.71	10,546	388,714
Barkol Kazakh autonomous county	34.01	29,236	85,964
Yiwu county	19.07	3,322	17,418
Changji Hui autonomous prefecture	7.98	119,942	1,503,097
Changji city	4.37	16,919	387,169
Fukang city	7.83	11,984	152,965
Midong district	1.94	3,515	180,952
Hutubi county	10.03	21,118	210,643
Manas county	9.62	16,410	170,533
Qitai county	10.07	20,629	204,796
Jimsar county	8.06	9,501	117,867
Mori Kazakh autonomous county	25.41	19,866	78,172
Bortala Mongol autonomous prefecture	9.14	38,744	424,040
Bole city	7.10	15,955	224,869
Jinghe county	8.27	11,048	133,530
Wenquan county	17.89	11,741	65,641
Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture	1.78	5,077	285,299
Kuytun city	1.78	5,077	285,299
Ili prefecture direct-controlled territories	22.55	469,634	2,082,577
Ghulja city	4.81	17,205	357,519
Ghulja county	10.30	39,745	385,829
Qapqal Xibe autonomous county	20.00	32,363	161,834
Huocheng county	7.96	26,519	333,013
Gongliu county	29.69	45,450	153,100
Xinyuan county	43.43	117,195	269,842
Zhaosu county	48.43	70,242	145,027
Tekes county	42.25	56,571	133,900
Nilka county	45.15	64,344	142,513
Tacheng prefecture	24.21	216,020	892,397
Tacheng city	15.51	23,144	149,210
Usu city	9.93	18,907	190,359
Emin county	33.42	59,586	178,309
Shawan county	16.23	30,621	188,715
Toli county	68.98	55,102	79,882
Yumin county	32.42	15,609	48,147
Hoboksar Mongol autonomous county	22.59	13,051	57,775
Altay prefecture	51.38	288,612	561,667
Altay city	36.80	65,693	178,510
Burqin county	57.31	35,324	61,633
Koktokay county	69.68	56,433	80,986
Burultokay county	31.86	24,793	77,830
Kaba county	59.79	43,889	73,403
Qinggil county	75.61	40,709	53,843
Jiminay county	61.39	21,771	35,462

Culture

Some Kazakhs are nomadic herders and raise sheep, goats, cattle and horses. These nomadic Kazakhs migrate seasonally in search of pasture for their animals. During the summer, the Kazakhs live in yurts while in winter, they are settled and live in modest houses made out of adobe or cement blocks. Others live in the urban areas and tend to be highly educated and hold much influence in integrated communities. The Islam practiced by the Kazakhs in China contains many elements of shamanism, ancestor worship and other traditional beliefs and practices.^[32]

Notable Kazakh Chinese

• Osman Batur, Kazakh chieftain who fought both for and against the Nationalist Chinese government in the 1940s and early 1950s.
• Nazaerbieke Bieken, pro cyclist.
• Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, Kazakh chieftain who fought against the Nationalist Chinese government and sought to join the Chinese Communists in 1949.
• Jumabieke Tuerxun, mixed martial arts fighter. He previously fought as a Bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.^[33]
• Kanat Islam, boxer. Bronze medals winner at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Championships and the 2006 Asian Games.
• Mamer, Kazakh folk singer
• Yerjet Yerzat, Chinese footballer Chongqing Dangdai Lifan FC.
• Ashat Kerimbay (Kazakh: Асхат Керімбай) is a Chinese politician.
• Mayra Muhammad-kyzy (Maira Kerey, Kazakh: Maıra Muhamedqyzy) is a Kazakh opera singer. She was the first Kazakh at the Parisian Grand Opera. She is a Honored Artist of the Republic.
• Qazhyghumar Shabdanuly (Kazakh: Қажығұмар Шабданұлы) was a Kazakh Chinese political activist and an author writing in Kazakh language. For more than forty years, Shabdanuly was imprisoned by the People's Republic of China for his political views.
• Xiakaini Aerchenghazi (Kazakh: Шакен Аршынғазы), speed skater. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
• Rehanbai Talabuhan, speed skater. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
• Yeljan Shinar (Kazakh: Елжан Шынар) is a footballer currently playing as a defender for Shenzhen.
• Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed (Kazakh: Мұхтар Абрарұлы Құл-Мұхаммед) is a politician and a public figure of Kazakhstan, First Deputy Chairman of "Nur Otan" party.
• Yeerlanbieke Katai (Kazakh: Ерланбек Кәтейұлы) is a freestyle wrestler. He competed in the men's freestyle 65 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Bronze medals winner at the 2014 Asian Games.
• Yushan Nijiati is amateur boxer, bronze medal winner at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships. in the 91 kg.
• Janabil Jänäbil Smağululı (Kazakh: Жәнәбіл Смағұлұлы) is a male Chinese politician.
• Walihan Sailike (Kazakh: Уалихан Сайлық) is a Greco-Roman wrestler. Bronze medal winner in the 60 kg event at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships. Bronze medal winner in the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.
• Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan (Kazakh: Тоқтарбек Танатхан) is amateur boxer. He competed in the men's middleweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
• Adake Ahenaer Ақнар Адаққызы
• Rayzha Alimjan (Kazakh: رايزا ٴالىمجان, Риза Әлімжан) is an actress and model in China.

See also

• Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang
• Kyrgyz in China
• 2020 Dungan–Kazakh ethnic clashes

References

1. Smagulova, Anar. "XVIII - XIX CENTURIES. IN THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE KAZAKHS OF CHINA". East Kazakhstan State University. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
2. Alexander Douglas Mitchell Carruthers; Jack Humphrey Miller (1914). Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-west Mongolia and Dzungaria. Hutchinson & Company. p. 345.
3. Marshall, Alex (22 November 2006). The Russian General Staff and Asia, 1860-1917. Routledge. pp. 85–. ISBN 978-1-134-25379-1.
4. Sydykova, Zamira (20 January 2016). "Commemorating the 1916 Massacres in Kyrgyzstan? Russia Sees a Western Plot". The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst.
5. Andrew D. W. Forbes (9 October 1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. CUP Archive. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-0-521-25514-1.
6. Genina, Anna (2015). Claiming Ancestral Homelandsː Mongolian Kazakh migration in Inner Asia (PDF) (A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in The University of Michigan). p. 113.
7. Bellér-Hann, Ildikó (2008). Community Matters in Xinjiang, 1880-1949: Towards a Historical Anthropology of the Uyghur. BRILL. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-90-04-16675-2.
8. Lattimore, Owen; Nachukdorji, Sh (1955). "THE PROBLEM OF PERSONALITY: SKETCHES OF TWO CAREERS". Nationalism and Revolution in Mongolia. Brill Archive. p. 61.
9. Croner, Don (5 June 2009). . Don Croner. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012.
10. Croner, Don (13 May 2008). .com/2008/05/mongolia.html "Mongolia - Khovd Aimag - Ja Lama and the Siege of Khovd". {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
11. Kuzmin, Sergius L. (2011). Terentyev, Andrey (ed.). Hidden Tibet: History of Independence and Occupation. Dmitry Bennett. Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. p. 125. ISBN 978-9380359472. Archived from the original on 2021.
12. "Life of Ja Lama". Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia.
13. Dillon, Michael (2019). Mongolia: A Political History of the Land and its People. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 55. ISBN 978-1788316958.
14. American Academy of Political and Social Science (1951). The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 277. American Academy of Political and Social Science. p. 152. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
15. American Academy of Political and Social Science (1951). Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volumes 276–278. American Academy of Political and Social Science. p. 152. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
16. American Academy of Political and Social Science (1951). The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 277. American Academy of Political and Social Science. p. 152. Retrieved 29 September 2012. A group of Kazakhs, originally numbering over 20000 people when expelled from Sinkiang by Sheng Shih-ts'ai in 1936, was reduced, after repeated massacres by their Chinese coreligionists under Ma Pu-fang, to a scattered 135 people.
17. Lin, Hsaio-ting (2011). Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928-49. Contemporary Chinese Studies Series. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0774859882. The Kazakhs were plundering and robbing on the Tibetan-Kokonor plateau in Qinghai as they came through Gansu and northern Xinjiang. There were over 7,000 of them between 1938-1941. On the Kokonor plateau, Hui (Tungans), Tibetans and Kazakhs continued to battle each other despite the Kazkah nomads being settled in demarcated pasturelands under Ma Bufang's watch in 1941.
18. Kimura, Hisao; Berry, Scott (1990). Berry, Scott (ed.). Japanese Agent in Tibet: My Ten Years of Travel in Disguise. Contributor Scott Berry (illustrated ed.). Serindia Publications, Inc. p. 58. ISBN 0906026245.
19. Sheryazdanova, Kamilla (2013). "Chapter 8 The Role and Place of Migration and Diaspora's Policy in Bilateral Relations Between Kazakhstan and Germany". In Banerjee, Santo; Erçetin, Şefika Şule (eds.). Chaos, Complexity and Leadership 2012. Springer Proceedings in Complexity (illustrated ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 50, 51. ISBN 978-9400773622. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021.
20. Clark, Leonard Francis (1954). The Marching Wind. Funk & Wagnalls. p. 317-318.
21. DEVLET, PROF. DR. NADİR (2004). "STUDIES IN THE POLITICS, HISTORY AND CULTURE OF TURKIC PEOPLES". Istanbul: Yeditepe University: 191, 192. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
22. ZINDIE. I. (June 1948). "THE WANDERERS.". Blackwood's Magazine, Volume 236. Vol. 263. pp. 401–409.
23. East Asian History, Issues 19-22. Contributor Australian National University. Institute of Advanced Studies. Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University. 2000. p. 82.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
24. Benson, Linda (1988). Benson, Linda; Svanberg, Ingvar (eds.). The Kazaks of China: Essays on an Ethnic Minority. Vol. 5 of Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Studia multiethnica Upsaliensia. Contributors Linda Benson, Ingvar Svanberg (illustrated ed.). Ubsaliensis S. Academiae. pp. 193, 195. ISBN 9155422551.
25. Казахи Китая: очерки по этническому меньшинству. Vol. 3 of История Казахстана в западных источниках XII-XX в.в. Linda Benson, Ingvar Svanberg. Санат. 2005. p. 180. ISBN 9965664331. ... разгневанный Елисхан переселился подальше от Цинхая и разместился в местности, именуемой Алтыншёке (Altinsoke), расположенной за пределами Цинхая ...{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
26. @mediyafiltr (29 June 2021). "Казахи Кашмира, 1953 год. Фото из журнала National Geographic" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
27. Hsaio-ting Lin (1 January 2011). Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928-49. UBC Press. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-0-7748-5988-2.
28. Hsaio-ting Lin (1 January 2011). Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928-49. UBC Press. pp. 231–. ISBN 978-0-7748-5988-2.
29. Blackwood's Magazine. William Blackwood. 1948. p. 407.
30. DEVLET, NADİR (2004). "STUDIES IN THE POLITICS,HISTORY AND CULTURE OF TURKIC PEOPLES". Yeditepe University: 192. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
31. Benson, Linda (1988). The Kazaks of China: Essays on an Ethnic Minority. Ubsaliensis S. Academiae. p. 195. ISBN 978-91-554-2255-4.
32. Elliot, Sheila Hollihan (2006). Muslims in China. Philadelphia: Mason Crest Publishers. pp. 62–63. ISBN 1-59084-880-2.
33. "Jumabieke Tuerxun: From The Rural Edges of China to the UFC". Fightland. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

External links

• Map of Kazakh share by county