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????Alphabetic writing
systems of a fairly advanced type had already been devised
and used by the minority peoples living in Yanqi, Guizi
and Yutian as early as the Han Dynasty. The 11th century
saw the compilation of The Great Turkic Dictionary by
the Uygur scholar Mahmut Kashgar. Many Chinese words
and expressions still in use by the Han people are assimilated
from the languages of minority nationalities. The famous
Dunhuang murals, the Yungang and Longmen caves and the
Thousand-Buddha Caves of Kizir are all creations of
the Xianbei, Tufan and other groups in the Western Regions
as well as of the Han. Murals on the cliffs of the Huashan
Mountain towering over the Zuojiang River in Guangxi
are reportedly works of ancient artists of the Zhuang
ethnic group, dating back to the Qin Dynasty. The thousand
lively figures, animals, bronze drums and gongs in the
murals are of high artistic quality. In the Jianchuan
Cave of Yunnan is a large collection of stone carvings
done by the Baiman and Wuman peoples. The "Ten
Books of Music" handed down from the Tang Dynasty
can be traced to ethnic minorities living in Qiuci,
Sule, Yutian and Gaochang of the Western Regions.
Among the folk musical instruments
now in general use throughout China are flutes, pipas,
plucked stringed konghou, two-stringed bowed hu fiddles,
waist drums, copper gongs and cymbals, all of which
came from ethnic minorities since the Han Dynasty. There
is a wealth of literary works by minority writers. Among
these outstanding literary works are: Song
of the Sules of the Xianbei group, An
Anthology from Yamen by the Hui poet Sha Duci of
the Yuan Dynasty, the Inside History of Mongolia, the first literary work of the Mongolians
in the Ming Dynasty, A
One-Story House and Weeping
Scarlet Pavilion by the Qing Dynasty Mongolian writer
Inzanashi, ??Knowledge Gives Happiness??, a long narrative
poem of the Uygur people dating back to the 11th century,
Life of King Gessar,
an 11th-century epic of the Tibetans, Junggar,
a long epic of the Mongolians, Manasi,
the epic of the Kirgiz people, and Ashima, a long narrative
poem by the Sani people of the Yi ethnic group.
In the field of science and technology,
the Ten-Thousand-Year
Almanac published by the Yuan government was compiled
by Jamal al-Din, a Hui. His contributions to astronomy
included the founding of an observatory in Dadu (Beijing)
and the design of seven scientific instruments, including
the armillary sphere.
The design and construction of Yuan
Dynasty palaces in Dadu by the Hui architect Yehdardin
had a great influence on the development of the city
in Ming Dynasty and the building of the Imperial Palace
now standing. A Uygur agronomist of the Yuan Dynasty,
Liu Mingshan, wrote Essentials
of Agriculture, Sericulture, Clothing and Food.
And a celebrated Mongol mathematician of the Qing Dynasty,
Ming Antu, wrote A
Quick Method for Determining Segment Areas.
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