Kazakhs in China

Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group and are among the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

History

During the fall of the Dzungar Khanate, the Manchus massacred the native Dzungar Oirat Mongols of Dzungaria in the Dzungar genocide and colonized the depopulated area with immigrants from many parts of their empire. Kazakhs from the Kazakh Khanates were among the peoples who moved into the depopulated Dzungaria. Dzungaria was subjected to mass Kazakh settlement after the defeat of the Dzungars. In the 19th century, the advance of the Russian Empire troops pushed Kazakhs to neighboring countries. In China there is one Kazakh autonomous prefecture, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, three Kazakh autonomous counties, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County and Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Russians originally referred to Kazakhs as Kirghiz.

In the 19th century, Russian settlers on traditional Kirghiz land drove many Kirghiz over the border to China, causing their population to increase in China. Compared to Russian-controlled areas, more benefits were given to the Kirghiz on the Chinese controlled areas. Russian settlers fought against the nomadic Kirghiz, which led the Russians to believe that the Kirghiz would be a liability in any conflict against China. The Muslim Kirghiz were certain that in an upcoming war China would defeat Russia.

To escape Russians slaughtering them in 1916, Kazakhs escaped to China. Xinjiang became a sanctuary for fleeing Kazakhs escaping the Russians after the Muslims faced conscription by the Russian government.

Soviet persecution of Kazakhs led to Kazakhs from Soviet Kazakhstan moving to Xinjiang.

An estimate of 65,000 Kirghiz, 92,000 Hui, 326,000 Kazakh, 187,000 Han and 2,984,000 Uyghur adding up to a total population of 3,730,000 in all of Xinjiang in 1941 was estimated by Toops and 4,334,000 people lived in Xinjiang according to Hoppe in 1949.

The Kazakhs had settled in the Dzungaria area of Xinjiang after the Dzungar genocide by the Manchus wiped out most of the native Dzungar Oirats and fleeing from Soviet engineered famines against the Kazakhs like the Kazakh famine of 1919–1922 and Kazakhstan famine of 1932–1933. The Kazakhs had defected to the Republic of China and fought against the Soviet Communist backed Uyghur Second East Turkestan Republic in the Ili Rebellion.

Kazakh exodus and tribal conflict

A Kazakh chief named Khaisan was skinned alive and his heart cut out of his chest by the Oirat Mongol Ja Lama. His and another Kazakh's skin were used as a religious implement. The skins were found by Cossacks in Khaisan's yurt in Muunjaviin Ulaan on 8 February 1914 under Captain Bulatov. A White Guard soldier's heart was eaten by the Mongol Choijon Lama. Mongol banners were sprinkled with Russian White Guard and Chinese blood from hearts according to A. V. Burdukov. Owen Lattimore described Mongol Sandagdorjiyn Magsarjav (1877-1927) as "a strange, romantic and sometimes savage figure." Magsarjav had served under Ungern-Sternberg. In Uriankhai, Kazakh bandits who were captured had their hearts cut out and sacrificed by Magsarjav.

In 1936, after Sheng Shicai expelled 30,000 Kazakhs from Xinjiang to Qinghai, Hui Chinese led by General Ma Bufang massacred Kazakhs, until there were only 135 of them left.

Claims by other ethnic groups against Kazakhs

Being forced to migrate to the Kokonor plateau in Qinghai, the nomadic Kazakhs resorted to plundering and robbing as they passed through Gansu and northern Xinjiang. In 1941, Ma Bufang agreed to settle the Kazakhs in several pasturelands in an attempt to avoid further conflicts and quell aggressions. However, with the Kokonor plateau being home to Hui, Tibetans and Kazakhs, the tribes continued to periodically engage in conflict with each other. Hisao Kimura, a Japanese spy, cited a Tibetan Lama telling him that Kazakhs were enemies of the Tibetans: "This land, is very unsettled compared with Inner Mongolia. To the west, the Kazakhs persecute our people, and we are powerless to stop them." The Kazakhs who migrated to Iran and Pakistan via India and Tibet moved to Turkey in the 1950s with some becoming guest workers in Germany in the 1960s.

During his travels in Qinghai Office of Strategic Services agent Leonard Francis Clark reported that local Muslims told him about Kazakhs invading Tibet via the Nan Shan mountains in Xinjiang over the course of eight years in the 1940s. According to them, the Kazakhs were responsible for massacring 8,000 Buddhist Mongols during that period and claimed that this was only possible due to the Chinese Nationalist Government disarming the Mongols. Further inquiries did not lead to more information and when Clark questioned missionaries in Lanchow, they only confirmed occasional raids from a few stray bands of Kazakhs over the last years.

The advance of the Communists under Li Bao forced the Hui general Ma Dei-bio to leave Qinghai to confront him. The Communists triumphed and took all of Xinjiang, northwest China, northern China, Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and 300,000 anti-communist forces were lost. Hui governor Ma Bufang ordered the expedition under Clark to flee back to Xinjiang after the communist victory via radiogram. A group of dancers and musicians from Khotan were entertaining the Clark expedition when the news broke. Kazakhs stole Mongol horses from the expedition and the Hui leader was told by a Tibetan scout that the Kazakhs did it. The Kazakhs were fleeing to the India-Afghan border and the Mongols wanted to attack them and take the horses back before they made it but they had no resources to do it.

As China was falling to the Communists, Clark drafted a plan while he was in Qinghai for fighting communism all over Asia, planning to attack the Soviet Union. He planned to go to his headquarters in Lanzhou to give Ma Bufang the plans as it was a matter of time when all northwestern areas under Ma Bufang would come under communist control. He believed only a path to central and south Asia on land could keep Ma Bufang's forces in one piece. The plan was to save 30,000 Muslim soldiers for war against communism and smuggle in arms through Tibet. Clark said that Ma Bufang should visit Turkey and Cairo and undertake the hajj to Mecca while calling for support against international communism. Well armed Kazakhs over a period of eight years before Clark's expedition had slaughtered and devastated the Oirat Mongols in the Tsaidam Basin of Xinjiang, the 1,000 Kazakh families came to the Tsaidam via the Nan shan in Xinjiang and then came back to where they came from after 8 years of war against the Mongols. Clark noted they dwelled in yurts and they spoke Turki and were "fanatic Mohammedans, professional killers". Mongol Hoshun (banner) were divided into Sumon (arrow) and one arrow lost 1,000 horses in a single night to the Kazakhs. Northern Qinghai (Amdo) still had 26 fragmented Mongol banners after the Kazakh slaughters of Mongols. These banner divisions were created by the Qing dynasty who scattered the Mongols on the western borders.

Some Tibetans in Qinghai claimed descent from the Tanguts of Khara-Khoto and claimed that their ancestors fled to Qinghai after a Chinese army expelled them from Khara-Khoto. The Oirat Mongol Prince Dorje told Clark about how the Manchus committed the Dzungar genocide against his Oirat people and how they conquered Xinjiang from the Oirat Mongol Torgut West banner and destroying the south wing of the Mongols. They took control of the four Khanates of the Khalkha in Outer Mongolia and the 5th Khanate (the Oirat Torgut horde). He also spoke about those Torgut Oirats who had earlier migrated to Kalmykia in Russia and then fought against the Ottoman Empire, helped crush the Swedish king Charles XII, and how 400,0000 Torguts migrated back to Dzungaria in 1771, fighting against the Cossack armies of Catherine the great. They lost 300,000 children, women and men to the Cossacks as they went back to Xinjiang. He mentioned how this had made Russia "lose" the support of Mongols. 50,000 Oirats survived after 300,000 Oirat Mongols were slaughtered by Russian Cossacks on Catherine's orders. Prince Dorje then proclaimed that the Oirat Torghut banners were ready for revenge against the "Slavic masses", by fighting against the Soviet Russian red army and asked Clark for America to help the west Mongols against the Slavic Russians. Clark said that the Pentagon and White House would decide and that he could do nothing about it since he was busy with inciting Muslims in Qinghai to jihad against communists and on the Amne Machin mountain to find radioactive material.

The Oirat Mongols of Qinghai including Prince Dorje and Torja gathered with Clark. Clark noted the Lamaist Buddhist shrine which they prayed to. The Hui and Salars did not even want to stoop to entering the Mongol yurt. The Mongol women and their husbands whispered in fear on how afraid they were of the Hui and how three times in a century the Muslims would go on jihad against them in Qinghai and Torja feared the next one was soon. Torja had only one musket.

Black yaks and Bactrian camels with 2 humps in caravans with Afghans, Afridis, Salars, Kazakhs, Quergares, Oiuzhurs, Turki, Taranchi, Hui, Han Chinese, Mongols and Tibetans numbering 60,000 were moving around Xining (Sining) as Clark noticed.

From the Khyber pass some Sharaunis and Afridis came to Qinghai to join the Tungan Hui and Salar cavalry of Ma Bufang. One of the Tungn and Salars had 19 shotgun, sword and gunshot injuries and his name was Habibu. They came from Hezhou (Hochou) and Shengwha and numbered 50 wearing black Cossack polished boots or Tibetan boots, red robes and fur caps. One of the Muslims was Tan Chen-te, forty with a sword which he used to behead people in fighting and Abdul. There were 20 Tibetan Buddhists who sought death in battle to achieve Nirvana and were all over 6 feet tall. They had Tibetan broadswords, chained Tibetan short daggers, fifty shot magazines with Belgian and German automatic battle pistols and European rifles. Clark was afraid of these men and that he could have no authority over them as they went further and further way from Governor Ma Bufang (Ma Pu-Fang).

One of the Hui and Salar Muslims assigned to guard Clark was named Hassan. Clark had bought an American cavalry saddle from a missionary in Xinjing for 30 dollars and a Mongol saddle. He put a sheepskin robe on it to make a pillow. Ma Bufang's son was Marshal Ma Jiyuan (Ma-yuan) who fought against the communists as the northwestern supreme field commander. One of Ma Jiyuan's personal bodyguards was a Salar, 26 years old, named Ma Wei-shan (Abdul) and he was called the "deadliest gunman in China". He was assigned to the Clark expedition and Clark favourable compared Abdul and the other Salar and Hui Muslims to Pashtun Khyber pass Waziri and Afridi tribesmen and believed them to be fierce warriors. Abdul fought in Persia and Afghanistan. He was a Qinghai Peace Preservation Corps sergeant serving under Ma Bufang and a guerilla strategist. Clark complimented him again by saying in a European army he would have been made a captaincy, and personally led 300 cavalry men into battle and could easily create and make his own battle plan which would make majors envious across the world. He refused to use a tent like other non-commissioned officers. He would just use buttermilk cured sheepskin robes unless it was raining or snowing. Colonel Ma said that Abdul killed communists, bandits, Tungans, Tibetans, Turks, Mongols, Japanese and Russians in battle. Abdul claimed that Tibetans were far superior to Japanese. These Salar and Hui Muslims if the geography allowed mostly charged enemy flanks on horseback if they were not pinned down by gunfire. These Salar and Hui Muslims were both well trained with guns and horse and mostly did not take prisoners in Tibet unless they needed questions. They usually cut the fallen throats after winning a battle. Clark favourable compared these Hui and Salar Muslims and Tibetans with Gurkha warriors in the British Indian army and Pashtun Muslims of the Northwest Frontier Province of British India. Abdul used his right hand as his gun hand which he didn't wear a glove on, he could sing, he didn't drink alcohol, he was extremely intimidating but mannered, disciplined and quiet, on his forehead he had a bayonet scar, he was handsome, blue eyed, white skinned, over 6 feet tall. He had buckhorn resting forks (bifurcated) on his chased silver inlaid .30 caliber Skoda rifle, a dagger hafted with gold and bone, a sub-machine automatic pistol of German designed but manufactured in China, and wool, fur, cloth and sheepskin robes. He was paid in his equipment, food and a monthly pay in Chinese silver yuan equivalent to $30. Abdul knew Chinese, Tibetan and Salar languages and could sing in them. Abdul became a commissioned officer under Colonel Ma. Abdul led the songs for the march. Abdul smoked a Chinese water pipe out of aluminum and he told of his military's tactics against Tibetan brigands to Clark (Clark-ah). He fought off 5 Tibetan attacks. Abdul led 1,000 riflemen and horses to protect caravans. Colonel Ma and Abdul fought off many Tibetan attacks and cavalry charges and said that in northwest China the best guerilla fighter was the colonel. He was assigned to guard against Tibet and protect the south flank of ma Bufang for this reason, but said that even Ngoloks were too much for colonel Ma. The Muslims with the Clark expedition moderately smoked and some drank alcohol but many orthodox Muslims in the region did not drink alcohol or smoke tobacco. Prince Dorje then started discussing security and scouts for the expedition. Captain Tan and Colonel Ma tried to conscript Tibetans to work for them at Fort Ta Ho Pa but were unsuccessful.

Colonel Ma and the expedition with Clark were armed with miscellaneous weapons and had 3 Japanese Nambu machine guns and 50 rifles. They sent a 2 Tanguts to find water. They had Chinese potato-masher hand grenades, American Tommy sub machine guns manufactured in China, Skoda rifles and a small Japanese mortar. They kept their safeties on with bullets in chambers and guns loaded and protected their flanks and rear by riding in fan formation against Tibetan brigand attacks. The Hui Tungans used the word yeh ma and Tibetans used the word kyang for kulan, the feces of wild asses. Eagles were called yeh ying and rabbits were called yeh tu. Tse shar meant "peak shining time". Tibetan drivers whipped yaks and used wooden saddles for their yaks while they dressed in sheepskins.

Kazakh claims against other ethnic groups

Over the space of 2 years of battles, 5,000 Kazakhs were killed by Hui Muslim Chinese and Tibetans in Gansu. There were 13,000 Kazakhs who survived out of 18,000 before the battles. They fled to India in September 1940. Tibetan cavalry numbering 1,000 attacked and fought the Kazakhs for 3 days to block their path but lost and the Kazakhs made it to the British Indian border. Many Kazakhs died when the British ordered Indian guards to shoot. When they found out they were civilians the 3,039 surviving Kazakhs were then let into India via Chuchul checkpoint in September 1941. In 3 years, 15,000 Kazakhs were killed. Eliskhan Batur Elifuglu (1919-1943) was their leader. The Kazakhs were expelled to the outskirts of Muzaffar Abad city in an open camp near the mountains by the Hindu Kashmir Majaraja Herisin who didn't want them there. 10-15 Kazakhs died daily from illness due to heavy Monsson rains over their tents. Their livestock died and Indian soldiers blocked them from leaving the camp. When Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah heard about their plight he helped them, arranging them to go to Gari Habibullah in April 1942 and then Indian Muslims hosted them in Ternova village. Illness and poor died as well as India's warm climate killed many Kazakhs. Kazakhs got residence permits to leave camp after Eliskhan appealed to Governor general Viceroy Sir Lord Halifax when he visited them in 1941. The news about the Kazakh situation appeared in newspapers so they received help from the Muslim Nawabs Hamidullah Khan of Bhohal and Osman Ali Khan of Hyderabad. 450 Kazakhs moved to the colder Bhohal province. Chatyral, Suvat and Abutabad received 700 Kazakhs. Then Delhi, Calcutta and Lahore received the Bhopal Kazakhs in 1944. Pakistan then received the majority of the Kazakhs after partition on 14 August 1947.

The Kazakhs accused Tibetans and Tungans (Hui Muslims) of attacking them in Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet when they reached British India and were debriefed by British officials.

The Kazakhs said they were fleeing from the Soviets and from the Soviet backed warlord Sheng Shicai in Xinjiang and said when they entered Qinghai and Gansu they originally numbered 18,000. These Kazakhs accused Tibetan raiders of killing their Kenzhebay, a relative of their leader Elisqan, and accused the Hui Muslim ruled Qinghai government of ignoring their complaint about the Tibetans murdering him so they decided to move in 1940 out of Qinghai towards India and Tibet and stopped at Altïnšöke on the way for pasture. The Kazakhs accused Tibet people called Qulïq of being warlike and attacking the Kazakhs and claimed that Elisqan and his Kazakhs defeated them. One of them shot a Kazakh named Omar. The Kazakhs then accused a Hui Muslim (Dungan) called Fulušan of leading an assault with Mongol and Tibetan troops against the Kazakhs in Altïnšöke (Алтыншёке).

From Northern Xinjiang over 7,000 Kazakhs fled to the Tibetan–Qinghai plateau region via Gansu and were wreaking massive havoc so Ma Bufang solved the problem by relegating the Kazakhs into designated pastureland in Qinghai, but Hui, Tibetans and Kazakhs in the region continued to clash against each other.

Tibetans attacked and fought against the Kazakhs as they entered Tibet via Gansu and Qinghai.

In Northern Tibet, Kazakhs clashed with Tibetan soldiers and then the Kazakhs were sent to Ladakh.

Tibetan troops robbed and killed Kazakhs 400 miles east of Lhasa at Chamdo when the Kazakhs were entering Tibet.

From 1934 to 1938 Qumil Eliqsan led about 18,000 Kerey Kazakhs to migrate to Gansu and Qinghai.

Distribution

By province

By county

;County-level distribution of the Kazakh

(Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >1% of county population. 2000)

Culture

Some Kazakhs are nomadic herders and raise sheep, goats, cattle and horses. These nomadic Kazakhs migrate seasonally in search of pasture for their animals. During the summer, the Kazakhs live in yurts while in winter, they are settled and live in modest houses made out of adobe or cement blocks. Others live in the urban areas and tend to be highly educated and hold much influence in integrated communities. The Islam practiced by the Kazakhs in China contains many elements of shamanism, ancestor worship and other traditional beliefs and practices.

Notable Kazakh Chinese

* Osman Batur, Kazakh chieftain who fought both for and against the Nationalist Chinese government in the 1940s and early 1950s.
*Nazaerbieke Bieken, pro cyclist.
* Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, Kazakh chieftain who fought against the Nationalist Chinese government and sought to join the Chinese Communists in 1949.
* Jumabieke Tuerxun, mixed martial arts fighter. He previously fought as a Bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
* Kanat Islam, boxer. Bronze medals winner at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Championships and the 2006 Asian Games.
*Mamer, Kazakh folk singer
* Yerjet Yerzat, Chinese footballer Chongqing Dangdai Lifan FC.
*Ashat Kerimbay (Kazakh: Асхат Керімбай) is a Chinese politician.
*Mayra Muhammad-kyzy (Maira Kerey, Kazakh: Maıra Muhamedqyzy) is a Kazakh opera singer. She was the first Kazakh at the Parisian Grand Opera. She is a Honored Artist of the Republic.
* Qazhyghumar Shabdanuly (Kazakh: Қажығұмар Шабданұлы) was a Kazakh Chinese political activist and an author writing in Kazakh language. For more than forty years, Shabdanuly was imprisoned by the People's Republic of China for his political views.
* Xiakaini Aerchenghazi (Kazakh: Шакен Аршынғазы), speed skater. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
* Rehanbai Talabuhan, speed skater. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
* Yeljan Shinar (Kazakh: Елжан Шынар) is a footballer currently playing as a defender for Shenzhen.
*Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed (Kazakh: Мұхтар Абрарұлы Құл-Мұхаммед) is a politician and a public figure of Kazakhstan, First Deputy Chairman of "Nur Otan" party.
* Yeerlanbieke Katai (Kazakh: Ерланбек Кәтейұлы) is a freestyle wrestler. He competed in the men's freestyle 65 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Bronze medals winner at the 2014 Asian Games.
*Yushan Nijiati is amateur boxer, bronze medal winner at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships. in the 91 kg.
*Janabil Jänäbil Smağululı (Kazakh: Жәнәбіл Смағұлұлы) is a male Chinese politician.
* Walihan Sailike (Kazakh: Уалихан Сайлық) is a Greco-Roman wrestler. Bronze medal winner in the 60 kg event at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships. Bronze medal winner in the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.
* Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan (Kazakh: Тоқтарбек Танатхан) is amateur boxer. He competed in the men's middleweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
* Adake Ahenaer Ақнар Адаққызы
* Rayzha Alimjan ( Kazakh: رايزا ٴالىمجان, Риза Әлімжан) is an actress and model in China.

See also

* Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang
* Kyrgyz in China
*2020 Dungan–Kazakh ethnic clashes

References

External links

Map of Kazakh share by county

{{Kazakh diaspora

China
Xinjiang
Ethnic groups officially recognized by China

Muslim communities of China