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????Nearly 90 per cent of the Yugur people live
in the Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, and the rest in Huangnibao
area near the city of Jiuquan in western Gansu Province.
Due to historical reasons, this
ethnic minority uses three languages: a Turkic branch of the Altaic
language family (Raohul) used by the Yugurs in the western part
of the autonomous county; a Mongolian branch of the same language
family (Engle) by those in the eastern part of the county; and the
Chinese language by those in Huangnibao. Chinese is also a common
medium of communication among all Yugurs.
Origins
The Yugur ethnic minority can trace
its origins to the nomadic ancient Ouigurs in the Erhun River valley
during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). In the mid-9th century, the ancient
Ouigurs, beset by snowstorms, feuding within the ruling group and
attacks from the Turkic Kirgiz, had to move westward in separate
groups. One of the groups emigrated to Guazhou (present-day Dunhuang),
Ganzhou (present-day Zhangye) and Liangzhou (present-day Wuwei)
in the Hexi Corridor -- the most fertile area in central-western
Gansu Province -- and came under the rule of Tubo, a Tibetan kingdom.
They were thus called the Hexi Ouigurs. Later, they captured the
city of Ganzhou and set up a khanate -- thus they were also called
Ganzhou Ouigurs.
The Hexi Ouigurs had all along maintained
very close ties with the central empire and regarded these ties
as relations of "nephew to uncle." During the Northern
Song Dynasty (960-1126), the Khan of the Ganzhou Ouigurs often sent
special envoys to the imperial capital to present tribute to the
emperor, and, in return, the Song court gave "the nephew Ouigur
Khan in Ganzhou" special products from central China. The Khan's
emissaries went to the capital of the Song Dynasty on several missions
to offer camels, horses, coral and amber as tribute to the imperial
court in the fifth year (980) of the reign of Emperor Taizong and
the third year (1010) of the reign of Emperor Zhenzong.
In the mid-11th century, the Western
Xia Kingdom conquered Ganzhou and toppled the Ouigur regime. The
Hexi Ouigurs then became dependants of the former and moved to pastoral
areas outside the Jiayu Pass. However, their links with the Song
court were still maintained. Ouigur envoys came to the Song capital
with tribute again during the first year of the reign of Emperor
Shenzong (1068) and requested a copy of a Buddhist scripture. According
to an envoy in 1073, there were more than 300,000 Ouigurs at that
time. In 1227 the Mongols conquered Western Xia Kingdom and put
the Hexi Ouigurs under their direct rule.
Part of the Hexi Ouigurs were assimilated
with neighboring ethnic groups over a long period of co-existence
from the mid-11th to the 16th century, and developed into a community
-- the present-day Yugurs. They lived around Dunhuang in western
Gansu and Hami in eastern Xinjiang.
The Ming (1368-1644) rulers moved many
of the Yugurs farther east as the frontier became unsettled.
The Yugurs underwent changes in the
mode of economic production after their eastward move. Those in
the Huangnibao area, availing themselves of exchanges with the Hans,
learned farming and gradually substituted it for animal husbandry,
while those in the Sunan area still engaged in livestock breeding
and hunting. Thanks to the introduction of iron implements from
the Hans, the Yugur peoples' skills in farming, animal husbandry
and hunting all improved.
The Qing government (1644-1911), in
an attempt to strengthen its rule, divided the Yugurs into "seven
tribes" and appointed a headman for each and a powerful chieftain
-- the "Huangfan Superintendent of the Seven Tribes" --
over them all.
The Qing government made it a law for
the Yugur tribes to offer 113 horses every year in exchange for
tea. At first, they got some tea, but later, virtually none. The
horses thus contributed were tribute pure and simple. The tribute
demanded by the central government also included stag antlers, musk
and furs. The Suzhou Yugurs had to deliver grain or silver.
Lamaism began to get the upper hand
in the Yugur area in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Each tribe had
its own monastery. The lamas worked closely with the chiefs in important
tribal matters; some tribes practiced integration of religion and
politics. The Lamaist monasteries had their own feudal system of
oppression and exploitation: courts, prisons and instruments of
torture. They could order compulsory donations and gratuitous forced
labor, and compel children to join the clergy. Some lamas extorted
large amounts of money and property out of the common people by
way of fortune telling and exorcism. Donations for religious purposes
accounted approximately for 30 per cent of the annual income of
a middle-class family.
All these hardships reduced the ethnic
group virtually to extinction. At the time of the mid-20century,
its population was less than 3,000.
Development
In February and April of 1954, the
Sunan Yugur Autonomous County and Jiuquan Huangnibao Yugur Autonomous
Township were established. This development ushered in a new period
of cultural progress and economic growth among the Yugur people.
Culture
The Yugurs have a rich literary tradition
handed down orally, such as legends, folk tales, proverbs and ballads.
The folk songs feature uniquely simple yet graceful tunes, and vivid
content.
They are skilled at the plastic arts,
weaving beautiful patterns on bags, carpets and harnesses. Vivid
patterns in harmonious colors of flowers, grass, insects, birds
and domestic animals are woven on women's collars, sleeves and cloth
boots. Geometrical patterns made of coral beads, sea shells and
green and blue stone chips, and silk threads in bright colors are
used as hair decorations.
The Yugurs have their own peculiar
way of dressing. A typical well-dressed man sports a felt hat, a
high-collared long gown buttoned on the left, a red-blue waist band
and high boots. A woman of marriageable age combs her hair into
many small pigtails which are tied up into three big ones, with
two thrown over the chest and one over the back after marriage.
The women usually wear a trumpet-shaped white felt hat with two
black lines in front, topped by red tassels.
In the last few decades, wool shearing
has been mechanized, animal stocks improved and steps taken to have
the herdsmen settle down and pastures grazed by rotation. Reservoirs
have been built, ponds dug and underground water tapped to irrigate
large tracks of dry pastures and provide drinking water for animals.
The situation of "worried herdsmen having sheep but no water,
wandering from place to place" has been fundamentally changed.
The Yugurs used to hunt wild animals
without trying to domesticate any, but in 1958 they began to set
up farms to domesticate wild deer.
In industry, the area now has farm
and livestock-breeding machinery factories, carpet, fur, and food
processing industries, and coal mining. Electricity reaches all
townships and most Yugur homes. Wool shearing, threshing and fodder-crushing
machines are now in extensive use.
There
is a developed network of highways now. Before 1950 there was "not
a meter of smooth ground and not a single bridge across the rivers"
as the saying went. Merchants made use of this backwardness to exploit
the local Yugurs: a mere five or six pieces of brick tea could buy
a horse.
At the time there were only four primary
schools with a total student body of 70, mostly children of tribal
chiefs, herd owners and landlords. In the early 1980s Sunan County
had two senior middle schools, eight junior middle schools and 76
primary schools. Many young Yugurs were able to finish secondary
technical or college education. The ethnic group now has its own
teachers as well as technicians.
Medical care has markedly improved,
whereas, in the old society, people's only recourse was to pray
to Buddha when they suffered from illnesses.
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