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The Ozbek ethnic minority,
with a population of 14,800, is scattered over wide areas of the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Most of them being city dwellers,
the Ozbeks live in compact communities in Yining, Tacheng, Kashi,
Urumqi, Shache, and Yecheng.
History
The name Ozbek first originated
from the Ozbek Khan, one of the local rulers under the Mongol
Empire in the 14th century. Himself a Moslem, the Ozbek Khan
spread Islam in his Khanate. In the 15th century, a number of
Ozbeks moved to the Chuhe River valley, where they were called
Kazaks. Those who remained in the area of the Khanate continued
to be known as Ozbeks, who later formed the Ozbek alliance.
The ancestors
of the Ozbek group moved to China's Xinjiang from Central Asia
in ancient times. In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Ozbek merchants
often traveled along "the Silk Road" through Xinjiang
to do business in inland areas. In the 16th and 17th centuries,
Ozbek trading caravans from Buhara and Samar Khan used Yarkant
in Xinjiang as an entrepot for business deals in silk, tea,
chinaware, fur, rhubarb and other such products. Some Ozbek
merchants moved goods to inland areas via Aksu, Turfan and Suzhou
(present-day Jiuquan of Ganzu Province). During this period,
Ozbeks from Central Asia began to settle in certain cities in
Xinjiang, and the number grew with each passing year. Later
on Ozbeks also settled in Kashi, Aksu, Yarkant and other cities
in southern Xinjiang and a number of places in northern Xinjiang.
Custom
The Ozbek people
have frequent exchanges with various other ethnic groups in
Xinjiang, and have particularly close relations with the Uygurs
and Kazaks. The Ozbek, Uygur and Tatar languages all belong
to the Tuskic branch of the Altaic language family and are very
close to each other. The Ozbek script is an alphabetic writing
based on the Arabic letters. The Ozbeks believe in Islam, and
their customs, dressing and eating habits are basically the
same as those of the Uygurs.
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