Thread by @CarlZha

Some accused @CGTNOfficial documentary on #Xinjiang #Uyghur textbooks of fabricating charges substitute Han for Manchu. I will make a thread abt the Uyghur legend of Nuzugum, the woman who resisted her Qing captors, a story of Uyghur nationalism...

1st little history background, Manchu burst out of frozen waste of Manchuria by 1600s to conquer a vast empire after subjugating both Mongol Khanates and Ming dynasty. Manchu Qing dynasty conquered present-day #Xinjiang by 1760 but rebellions continued

Afaq Khoja family ruled Kashgar as vassal of Dzungar Mongols before Qing conquest. A Khoja heir escaped to neighbor Kokand Khanate. A grandson Jahangir Khoja fled back to Kashgar to lead a revot against the Qing in 1826 and managed to capture Kashgar before been defeated by Qing

The story of Nuzugum was 1st recorded by historian Bilal Nazim in 1882 as set in Jahangir Khoja's 1826 attack in Kashgar. Chinese (Hitay) forces suppressed Khoja attack, killed men and send captured women across Mt Tianshan to Ili valley to be given to Kalmyks (Mongols) as wives

Beautiful young woman Nuzugum along w her brother were given to a Kalmyk (Mongol) as slave. bro urged her to flee “If you don't, the Kalmaks will have you. All the children born to you will be Kalmak, and you yourself will be like the wretched infidels”. Nuzugum fled

The great Qing general send a band of Solon warriors after her. Solon are group of reindeer herders in Amur River Valley that had been sent to Xinjiang by Qing emperor as conquest force (today known as Daur, Evenki, Oroqen) because Manchus r getting "soft" growing up in Han China

Solon warriors captured Nuzugum. 1 Solon took her to his tent to be his wife. But Nuzugum waited til the overjoyed Solon got drunk and slit his throat “This bod of mine, given by God, Was not destroyed by the infidel Solon. Nuzugum was not made a wife In the infidel Solon's home”

Nuzugum is captured again and ordered decapitated by Qing Emperor. 200 Dungans (Hui aka Chinese speaking Muslims) gathered her body and head and perform Islamic rites.

Bilal Nazim wrote the story of Nuzugum in the aftermath of another rebellion agst Qing, Dungan Revolt that started by Hui Muslims and spread to #Xinjiang by 1864. Manchu/Solon/Mongol/Han have been massacred by Muslim rebels in Ili Valley where Bilal Nazim was born and raised.

As Dungan (Hui) and Uyghur rebels start fighting among themselves, Tsarist Russia moved in to occupy Ili Valley. Only eastern Ili Valley was returned to China, w Russia keeping western part ostensibly to house Hui/Uyghur who refused to return to Qing. Bilal Nazim wrote frm there

But the legend of Nuzugum predates Bilal Nazim. Nuzugum story already circulated among Ili Valley in 1860s abt her being taken frm her home in Kashgar and enslaved by wicked Chinese infidel (hitay kafir), pursued by Kalmyks(Mongol) and Solons and sentenced to die

Bilal Nazim version stress on religious identity of Nuzugum. Kalmyks (Mongol) and Solon soldiers r non-Muslim enemies who threaten group identity by forced marriage. 1920s Soviet descendants of Ili exiles would rewrite story to stress created Uyghur identity

After Sino-Soviet split, Soviet made Nuzugum movie to portray Nuzugum as a fighter in a Uyghur national struggle against Chinese tyranny

Nuzugum story also retold in #Xinjiang albeit w emphasis on class struggle rather than national struggle

A reply on Zhihu on CGTN documentary on 2003 #Uyghur textbooks by a person who went thru Uyghur elementary education. Mentions Nuzugum and 7 girls force to jump over cliff by Qing forces.

says Uyghur kids will not make distinction btw Han and Manchu zhihu.com/question/45249…

In some old telling of Nuzugum story, Manchu-Chinese (manjur-hitaylar) is used. But Hitay in current usage mostly denotes Han. Also interestingly 200 Dungan (Chinese speaking Hui Muslim) give Nuzugum Islamic burial no longer included in later retellings.

CGTN documentary on #Xinjiang textbook quoted Shehide Yusup, an #Uyghur art editor who was quoted saying "Han Chinese soldiers forced 7 #Ugyhur women off a cliff" even tho text said Manchu. Either outright lie or subconsciously Han/Manchu interchangable

I will start telling the history of #Xinjiang and the Silk Road on the Silk and Steel podcast from the beginning of Bronze Age to present patreon.com/silknsteel