Dolan (

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

: دولان, Долан;

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

: 刀朗 or 多朗) refers to a people or region of what is now Xinjiang Province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. People who call themselves Dolan can be found in Awat County, the

Yarkand River The Yarkand River (or Yarkent River, Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho) is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It originates in the Siachen Muztagh in a part of the Karakoram range and flows into the Tarim River or Neinejoung ...

valley, the Tarim River valley and the

Lop Nur Lop Nur or Lop Nor (, , from an Oirat Mongolic name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a now largely dried-up salt lake formerly located within the ''Lop Depression'' in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin in ...

region of present-day

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

. Though modern Dolan people now speak the vernacular dialect (usually

), the term refers to an earlier culture and civilization in the region. The history of this people is little known. Some scholars and travelers believed the Dolan of the

valley to be a Kazakh or Kyrgyz group that settled in the area during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. This belief was based on their noticeably different

physiognomy Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without referenc ...

and language and their semi-nomadic lifestyles. Some of the aspects of Dolan culture that remain to the present day include the unique style of music and dance. The music is performed with chants, plucked and bowed string instruments and drums. This music is now grouped into a category of Uyghur Muqam music, although the instruments and musical characteristics are very different from the Uyghur 12 Muqam. The plucked-string instruments used to perform Dolan Muqam or Dolan Meshrep are different from their counterparts in

folk music and usually contain a large set of sympathetic strings that resonate with certain key tones, similar to the lutes and fiddles of India and the near east.

References

* Svanberg, Ingvar. “Ethnic Categorizations and Cultural Diversity in Xinjiang: The Dolans along the Yarkand River.” ''Central Asiatic Journal'', 40/2 (1996): 260–282. Ethnic groups in Xinjiang {{ethno-stub