Kyrgyz Minorities in China

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the main aim of this paper is to show the cultural specificity of the Kyrgyz minority living as an indigenous population in China. the materials are based primarily on longterm field research conducted in 2007–09 in Kyrgyzstan, China, tajikistan and afghanistan, along with previous research from 2000–06. the focus in China was on two areas of compact Kyrgyz settlement in Xinjiang: the tarbagatai mountains in the iliKazakh autonomous region, and Kizilsu, near Kashgar/Kashi, in the Kyrgyz autonomous region. research was conducted in the Kyrgyz language. inhabitants of Kizilsu use the local Kyrgyz language, which is relatively well understood and similar to codified Kyrgyz. the Kyrgyz in the iliKazakh autonomous region speak Kazakh, but because the Kyrgyz and Kazakh languages are close to each other, it was also possible to conduct research in Kyrgyz. there is a dearth of professional literature concerning the Kyrgyz minority in China. the reason is that, for many decades, it was not possible to do any field research in this sphere and even today the possibility of research is greatly limited in some places (in cities and villages closed to foreigners). From the historical literature concerning Chinese Kyrgyz, there are available only some older, mainly historically focused, publications by soviet authors – for example a. Baytur, s. Zakirov and a. turdueva – and the sevenvolume work Manas published by Zhusul Mamaj, the Chinese (Kyrgyz) manaschi (diseur of the Manas epic). Kyrgyz authors have not yet published on this topic. as for more recent russian authors, we can mention M.a. Chertykov from the state university of Khakasia, who conducted shortterm research in the tarbagatai Mountains in 2005. there exist only a few english publications related to this topic – for example, China’s Last Nomads: the History and Culture of China’s Kazaks by linda Benson and ingvar svanberg (1998), which concerns a close ethnic group (Kazakhs) in western China. Chinese authors address the topic of the Kyrgyz in China only in brief, providing not very detailed historical data – for example, Yu Xue Bin’s Heilongjiang Kirghiz (2003), describing the Kyrgyz in