Minority Ethnic Clothing

Uyghur

Population: 8.4 million

Distribution: The Uyghur people live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China with 80% concentrated in the Tarim Basin, a cold, desert area surrounded by mountains.⁴⁰

Economy: The Xinjiang Autonomous Region is abundant with fruits, produce, and animals (grapes, melons, pears, cotton, wheat, silk, walnuts, and sheep) as well as deposits of minerals and oil. These products are sold at market or exported for the livelihood of the people in the area.⁴⁰

Language: The Uyghur language belongs to the Turkic branch of the Arabic language family.⁴⁰

Traditions: The Uyghur harvest most of their crops through extensive irrigation projects in their arid land. They are famous for their food. Meter-long mutton (adult sheep) kebabs are cooked in an oven carved out of the ground called an earthen pit. Naan bread is a staple in this area. “Not a single day can pass without [naan].”²³ This bread is also cooked in the earthen pit, then stretched and laid out to cool. It has a long shelf life and has become a popular snack all over the country either paired with meat or by itself.

The Uyghur love singing and dancing. The national musical epic, Twelve Muqams, translates as “twelve big tunes”, is performed over the period of an entire day.²³ It is a fantastic combination of storytelling, music, and dance that brings out an array of emotions from the performers as well as the audience. This performance gives the Uyghur hope of life after death and gives livelihood to the otherwise dry desert life.

The performance of the Uyghur people is made even lovelier by the brilliant clothing that they wear. The men wear white, black, or other dark colors with comfortable pants; a short, front closing shirt; a long robe called a qia pan is worn over the shirt; and accent the outfit with a wide banded sash that doubles as a belt (and a place to store snacks).²³ Women select more vibrant colors and accents. The long, loose dress and flowing robe is comfortable for dancing and gives a visual flourish to their movements. A must have for every Uyghur is a duo pa, a handmade and exquisitely decorated hat. Walking outside without a hat is thought to be an insult to the heavens. The duo pa is an important feature that separates the Uyghur from the other ethnic minorities of China.

This work by China Learning Library @ George Mason University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.