2023 4Q note
Apologies for the links below, several of which are now “dead.” Not sure how many died a natural death versus those that were pro-actively “disappeared” by the authorities in the wake of the large-scale incarceration of Uyghurs, including writers such as Perhat Tursun, implemented since 2017.
In 2013, it’s not easy to locate what I’d consider a good overview of Uyghur writing on the Chinese Internet.
Home to perhaps 10 million Uyghurs, the 1.6 million square kilometer Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region accounts for almost one-sixth of China’s territory and borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The Chinese government is hyper-sensitive about most anything “Uyghur,” particularly their religion (Islam), and the language, which has Turkic roots unrelated to Han Chinese.
Even so, I’ve found two articles in Chinese which are fairly informative. One by 祖姆拉提 · 克尤木 that focuses strictly on Uyghur literature in Xinjiang during 1949-2005 (新疆维吾尔文学), and another by 阿扎提·蘇勒坦 that looks at a broader topic, ethnic literature in Xijiang (新疆民族文学五十年) since the founding of the autonomous region in 1955.
Here are some factoids cited from the latter essay—all based on the 1955-2005 period—that offer a glimpse of published literary “output” of the various non-Han peoples in Xinjiang:
| Uyghur | Kazakh | Kyrgyz | Mongol | Xibe | |
| Novels |
150 (includes 60 “historical novels”) |
60 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
| Poetry
Collections |
(no figure) |
300 |
85 |
80 |
12 |
| Short stories & novellas |
(no figure) |
200 |
40 |
35 |
18 |
See below for my table listing a selection of Uyghur authors and their works.
Uyghur Authors in post-1949 China
(New Entries Welcome)
|
Author |
Ethnicity |
Works
|
Comments |
|
阿布都熱合曼·卡哈爾 |
Uyghur |
《鬧市裏的新百姓》；《滔滔的伊犁河》 | |
|
阿布都熱依木·烏鐵庫爾 |
Uyghur |
《蘇醒的大地》 | |
|
Uyghur |
《年代里的人们》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
|
阿舍 |
Uyghur |
《乌孙》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
艾海提·吐爾迪 |
Uyghur |
《飄蕩的靈魂》；《被遺忘的人們》；《不幸的 塞依德亞》 |
|
|
古力巴哈尔·艾则孜 |
Uyghur |
《我想倾听你的心声》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
古丽巴哈尔•纳斯尔 |
Uyghur |
《清晨的黑眼睛》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
哈孜·艾买提 |
Uyghur |
《我生命中难忘的画像》 |
Winner of Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 for his reportage, 《我生命中难忘的画像》 . |
|
加拉裏丁·巴合熱木 |
Uyghur |
《靈芝草》 |
|
|
加拉力丁·拜合拉木 |
Uyghur |
《陈旧的铁夹》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
柯尤慕·吐爾迪 |
Uyghur |
《紅山英雄》；《戰鬥的年代》(trilogy) |
The novel《紅山英雄》was published in 1974 and known as 《克孜勒山下》in Chinese. |
|
买买提沙力·买提肉孜/Muhemmedsalih Metrozi |
Uyghur |
《水灵灵的眼睛》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
买买提明·吾守尔/ Memtimin Hoshur |
Uyghur |
قۇم باسقان شەھەر/被沙漠淹没的古城/The City Buried under the Desert |
Best known for his novel, قۇم باسقان شەھەر//被/沙漠淹没的古城/The City Buried under the Desert |
|
買買提伊敏·托乎塔耶甫 |
Uyghur |
《血地》 |
60,000-word novel published in 1951 (西北文艺). |
|
穆泰力甫·赛普拉艾则孜 |
Uyghur |
《黑嘴驴驹的眼睛》 |
Nominated for 2012 National Literature Magazine Award (novel), 黑嘴驴驹的眼睛. |
|
Nurmuhemmet Yasin |
Uyghur |
Now imprisoned in China for writing tale of a bird who sets out on a journey of discovery, but is captured and caged by humans. In the end, the pigeon commits suicide rather than live a life in captivity. |
|
|
帕爾哈提·吉蘭 |
Uyghur |
《馬赫 穆德·喀什噶裏》 | |
|
帕蒂古丽 |
Uyghur |
Nominated for 2012 National Literature Magazine Award (essay) |
|
|
赛福鼎·艾则孜 |
《苏图克·布格拉汗》 |
||
|
色依提•提力瓦迪 |
Uyghur |
《茨菰》 |
Nominated for 2012 National Literature Magazine Award (novel). |
|
تۇرغۇن ئالماس/吐尔/洪•阿力马斯/ Turghun Almas |
Uyghur |
Uyghur historian and poet born in Kashgar. Wrote the controversial Uyghurlar (in English: The Uyghurs), an “alternative” history of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. |
|
|
吐尔逊江•买买提 |
Uyghur |
《天良之眼》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 |
|
瓦依提江·吾斯曼 |
Uyghur |
《响箭》 |
Winner of Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 for his poetry, 《响箭》 . |
|
夏米·尼扎米丁 |
Uyghur |
《回望人类发明之路》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012. Translates from Uyghur to Han. |
|
Uyghur |
《娜夜的诗》 |
Nominated for Junma Ethnic Literary Award (translation) in 2012. Translates from Han to Uyghur. |
|
|
亚生江·沙地克 |
Uyghur |
《诸王传》 |
Winner of Junma Ethnic Literary Award in 2012 for his novel, 《诸王传》 . |
|
祖爾東·薩比爾 |
Uyghur |
《阿布拉勒山的風》；《探索》 |
Ethnic ChinaLit 