A report on Xinjiang, Central Asia and Xiongnu

Domain and influence of Xiongnu under Modu Chanyu around 205 BC

Dzungaria (Red) and the Tarim Basin or Altishahr (Blue)

Expanded definition of Central Asia. Core definition that includes the five post-Soviet states in dark green. Afghanistan, the most commonly added country to Central Asia, in green.

Asia in 200 BC, showing the early Xiongnu state and its neighbors

Northern Xinjiang (Junggar Basin) (Yellow), Eastern Xinjiang- Turpan Depression (Turpan Prefecture and Hami Prefecture) (Red) and Altishahr/the Tarim Basin (Blue)

Three sets of possible boundaries for the Central Asia region (which overlap with conceptions of South and East Asia).

Plaque in the shape of a grazing kulan (wild ass), 2nd–1st century BC, Northwest China, Xiongnu culture.

Physical map showing the separation of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) by the Tien Shan Mountains

On the southern shore of Issyk Kul lake, Issyk Kul Region.

A traveling nomad family led by a man in belted jacket and trousers, pulling a nomadic cart. Belt Buckle, Mongolia or southern Siberia, dated to 2nd-1st century BC (Xiongnu period).

Map of Han Dynasty in 2 CE. Light blue is the Tarim Basin protectorate.

Central Asia map of Köppen climate classification.

Old Uyghur/Yugur art from the Bezeklik murals

Iranian-speaking people circa 170 BC. Eastern Iranian languages are in orange, Western Iranian languages are in red.

Xiongnu among other people in Asia around 1 AD.

Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chief, conferred by the Eastern Han government. Inscribed 漢匈奴/歸義親/漢長 ("The Chief of the Han Xiongnu, who have returned to righteousness and embraced the Han"). Seal, impression, and transcription in standard characters.

A Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel. Sancai ceramic statuette, Tang dynasty

The Chinese Tang dynasty at its greatest extension, controlling large parts of Central Asia.

Belt hook depicting an animal fight, Xiongnu, 200-100 BC, bronze. Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm.

Mongol states from the 14th to the 17th centuries: the Northern Yuan dynasty, Four Oirat, Moghulistan and Kara Del

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979

Southern and Northern Xiongnu in 200 AD, before the collapse of the Han Dynasty.

The Dzungar–Qing Wars, between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1756, between the Manchu and Oirat armies

Saadi Shirazi is welcomed by a youth from Kashgar during a forum in Bukhara.

Location of Xiongnu and other steppe nations in 300 AD.

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Hazrat-e Turkestan, Kazakhstan. Timurid architecture consisted of Persian art.

An embroidered rug from the Xiongnu Noin-Ula burial site. This luxury item was imported from Bactria, and is thought to represent Yuezhi figures.

Scene from the 1828 Qing campaign against rebels in Altishahr

Belt plaque in the shape of a kneeling horse, 3rd-1st century BCE, gilded silver, made in North China for Xiongnu patrons.

GDP growth trends in Central Asia, 2000–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.1

Belt Buckle, 2nd-1st century BCE, Xiongnu. Another naturalistic belt buckle made to the Xiongnu taste, showing a mounted warrior frontally, holding a dagger and grabbing the hair of a demon who is also attacked by a dog. Also appears a nomadic cart pulled by reindeers, and another dog on top of the cart.

19th-century Khotan Uyghurs in Yettishar

GDP in Central Asia by economic sector, 2005 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 14.2

Xiongnu Leather Robe, Han period, Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou

GDP per capita development in Central Asia, since 1973

Governor Sheng Shicai ruled from 1933 to 1944.

Trends in research expenditure in Central Asia, as a percentage of GDP, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: 2030 (2015), Figure 14.3

Belt plaque with design of wrestling men, Ordos region and western part of North China, 2nd century BC, bronze - Ethnological Museum, Berlin.

The Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic encompassed Xinjiang's Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay districts.

Central Asian researchers by sector of employment (HC), 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.5

Belt buckle with three Ibexes, 2nd-1st century BC, Xiongnu. Chinese foundries made bronze belt plaques to the taste of the Xiongnu, who preferred designs of real animals in naturalistic settings. These plaques have typically been excavated in Xiongnu tombs of the 1st century BC.

Central Asian researchers by field of science, 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.4

Belt buckle with animal combat scene, 2nd-1st century BCE, made in North China for the Xiongnu. These plates were inspired by the art of the steppes, but the design was flattened and compressed within the frame.

Scientific publications from Central Asia catalogued by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded, 2005–2014, UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.6

Belt Buckle with nomadic-inspired zoomorphic design, manufactured in China for the Xiongnu. Mercury-gilded bronze (a Chinese technique). North China, 3rd-2nd century BC.

Cumulative total of articles by Central Asians between 2008 and 2013, by field of science. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.6

2nd century BC – 2nd century AD characters of Xiongnu-Xianbei script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia).{{sfn|Ishjamts|1996|p=166, Fig 5}}

Ethnic map of Central Asia.
White areas are thinly-populated semi-desert.
The three northwest-tending lines are the Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers flowing from the eastern mountains into the Aral Sea and in the south the irrigated north side of the Kopet Dagh mountains.

Black Irtysh river in Burqin County is a famous spot for sightseeing.

"Pastoralist expansion into Mongolia ca. 3000 BCE, and by the Late Bronze Age, Mongolian populations were biogeographically structured into three distinct groups, all practicing dairy pastoralism regardless of ancestry. The Xiongnu emerged from the mixing of these populations and those from surrounding regions".

Tartar prostrating before Qianlong Emperor of China (1757).

Uniparental haplogroup assignments by group and sex-bias "z" scores of Xiongnu.

Political cartoon from the period of the Great Game showing the Afghan Amir Sher Ali with his "friends" Imperial Russia and the United Kingdom (1878)

Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Government between 2007 and 2015

Islam Karimov (President, Uzbekistan) in the Pentagon, March 2002

The distribution map of Xinjiang's GDP per person (2011)

Ürümqi is a major industrial center within Xinjiang.

This flag (Kök Bayraq) has become a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement.

"Heroic Gesture of Bodhisattvathe Bodhisattva", example of 6th-7th-century terracotta Greco-Buddhist art (local populations were Buddhist) from Tumxuk, Xinjiang

Sogdian donors to the Buddha, 8th century fresco (with detail), Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin

People engaging in snow sports by a statue of bodhisattva Guanyin in Wujiaqu

Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Ürümqi

Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture

Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China

Xinjiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is a landlocked autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia.

- Xinjiang

After their previous rivals, the Yuezhi, migrated west into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of East Asia, centred on the Mongolian Plateau.

- Xiongnu

The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang.

- Xiongnu

The Russian geographer Nikolaĭ Khanykov questioned the latitudinal definition of Central Asia and preferred a physical one of all countries located in the region landlocked from water, including Afghanistan, Khorasan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uyghuristan (Xinjiang), and Uzbekistan.

- Central Asia

Nomadic tribes such as the Yuezhi, Saka, and Wusun were probably part of the migration of Indo-European speakers who had settled in western Central Asia long before the Xiongnu and Han Chinese.

- Xinjiang

Russian historian Lev Gumilev wrote that Xiongnu, Mongols (Mongol Empire, Zunghar Khanate) and Turkic peoples (First Turkic Khaganate, Uyghur Khaganate) played a role to stop Chinese aggression to the north.

- Central Asia

4 related topics with Alpha

Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE

Silk Road

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Network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.

Chinese jade and steatite plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. British Museum.

Achaemenid Persian Empire at its greatest extent, showing the Royal Road.

Soldier with a centaur in the Sampul tapestry, wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.

A ceramic horse head and neck (broken from the body), from the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty (1st–2nd century CE)

Bronze coin of Constantius II (337–361), found in Karghalik, Xinjiang, China

The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism first entered the Chinese Empire (Han dynasty) during the Kushan Era. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".

Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road

A Westerner on a camel, Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)

Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's Southern dynasties period of fragmentation.

Coin of Constans II (r. 641–648), who is named in Chinese sources as the first of several Byzantine emperors to send embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty

A Chinese sancai statue of a Sogdian man with a wineskin, Tang dynasty (618–907)

The empires and city-states of the Horn of Africa, such as the Axumites were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.

After the Tang defeated the Gokturks, they reopened the Silk Road to the west.

Marco Polo's caravan on the Silk Road, 1380

Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870

The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.

A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara

Yuan Dynasty era Celadon vase from Mogadishu.

Map of Marco Polo's travels in 1271–1295

Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the voyages of Zheng He.

Plan of the Silk Road with its maritime branch

The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China

Fragment of a wall painting depicting Buddha from a stupa in Miran along the Silk Road (200AD - 400AD)

A blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching an East-Asian monk, Bezeklik, Turfan, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly Tocharian, although more likely Sogdian.

Bilingual edict (Greek and Aramaic) by Indian Buddhist King Ashoka, 3rd century BCE; see Edicts of Ashoka, from Kandahar. This edict advocates the adoption of "godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma. Kabul Museum.

A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, from Sarnath, 3000 km southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century

Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from Hadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from Kizil, Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century.

Two-Storeyed Caravanserai, Baku, Azerbaijan

Bridge in Ani, capital of medieval Armenia

Medieval fortress of Amul, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel, sancai ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)

The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province

A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns

A Chinese Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) bronze rhinoceros with gold and silver inlay

Han dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang on the Silk Road.

Green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb, Guangxi, southern China

First coined in the late 19th century, the name "Silk Road" has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, which more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Europe.

The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern China, were first used for jade and not silk, as long as 5000 BCE, and is still in use for this purpose.

These mummified remains may have been of people who spoke Indo-European languages, which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern day Xinjiang region, until replaced by Turkic influences from the Xiongnu culture to the north and by Chinese influences from the eastern Han dynasty, who spoke a Sino-Tibetan language.

The countries and autonomous regions where a Turkic language has official status or is spoken by a majority

Turkic peoples

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The distribution of the Turkic languages

Map from Kashgari's Diwan (11th century), showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.

A page from "Codex Kumanicus". The Codex was designed in order to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Kumans.

Genetic, archeologic and linguistic evidence links the early Turkic peoples to the "Northeast Asian gene pool". Proto-Turks are suggested to have adopted a nomadic lifestyle and expanded from eastern Mongolia westwards.

Xiongnu, Mongolic, and proto-Turkic tribes (ca. 300 CE)

Territory of the Xiongnu, which included Mongolia, Western Manchuria, Xinjiang, East Kazakhstan, East Kyrgyzstan, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu.

The Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates (600 CE)

Colored terracotta figurine of a Gokturk male found in a Kurgan, Kazakhstan, 5th-6th c.

A Turkic warrior from the Göktürk period. The horse's tail is knotted in Turkic style. His hair is long, braided and his big-collared caftan and boots are Turkic clothing features.

The migration of the Bulgars after the fall of Old Great Bulgaria in the 7th century

Uyghur painting from the Bezeklik murals

Old Uyghur Princes from the Bezeklik murals.

Kangar Union after the fall of Western Turkic Khaganate, 659–750

Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent in 1030 CE

A map showing the Seljuk Empire at its height, upon the death of Malik Shah I in 1092.

Head of Seljuq male royal figure, 12–13th century, from Iran.

Map of the Timurid Empire at its greatest extent under Timur.

Silver dirham of AH 329 (940/941 CE), with the names of Caliph al-Muttaqi and Amir al-umara Bajkam (de facto ruler of the country)

Göktürk petroglyphs from Mongolia (6th to 8th century)

A Penjikent man dressed in “Turkic“ long coats, 6th-8th c.

Turk vassal blacksmiths under Mongolian rule

Turkic hunting scene, Gokturk period Altai

Battle scene of a Turkic horseman with typical long hair (Gokturk period, Altai)

Old Uyghur king from Turfan, from the murals at the Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

Old Uyghur prince from the Bezeklik murals.

Old Uyghur woman from the Bezeklik murals.

Old Uyghur Princesses from the Bezeklik murals.

Old Uyghur noble from the Bezeklik murals.

Old Uyghur Manichaean Elect depicted on a temple banner from Qocho.

Old Uyghur donor from the Bezeklik murals.

Old Uyghur Manichaean Electae from Qocho.

Old Uyghur Manichaean clergymen from Qocho.

Khan Omurtag of Bulgaria, from the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.

Ghaznavid portrait, Palace of Lashkari Bazar.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schlumberger |first1=Daniel |title=Le Palais ghaznévide de Lashkari Bazar |journal=Syria |date=1952 |volume=29 |issue=3/4 |page=263 & 267|doi=10.3406/syria.1952.4789 |jstor=4390312 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4390312 |issn=0039-7946}}</ref>

Khakas people with traditional instruments.

Turkish girls in their traditional clothes, Dursunbey, Balikesir Province.

Yakut Sakha family in traditional attire.

The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of Central, East, North, South and West Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.

Possible Proto-Turkic ancestry, at least partial, has been posited for Xiongnu, Huns and Pannonian Avars, as well as Tuoba and Rouran, who were of Proto-Mongolic Donghu ancestry., as well as Tatars, Rourans' supposed descendants.

Chinese Turkestan remained part of the People's Republic of China.

Tarim Basin

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Endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about 888,000 km2 and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.

Physical map showing the separation of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Taklamakan) by the Tien Shan Mountains

Tarim basin ancient boats; they were used for burials

Tarim mummies, found in westernmost Xinjiang, within the Tarim Basin.

Fragmentary painting on silk of a woman playing the go boardgame, from the Astana Cemetery, Gaochang, c. 744 AD, during the late period of Tang Chinese rule (just before the An Lushan Rebellion)

Map of Taizong's campaigns against the Tarim Basin oasis states, allies of the Western Turks.

A document from Khotan written in Khotanese Saka, part of the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, listing the animals of the Chinese zodiac in the cycle of predictions for people born in that year; ink on paper, early 9th century

Uyghur princes from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves near Turpan, Kingdom of Qocho, 8th-9th centuries

An Islamic cemetery outside the Afaq Khoja Mausoleum in Kashgar

Northern Xinjiang (Dzungar Basin) (yellow), Eastern Xinjiang - Turpan Depression (Turpan Prefecture and Hami Prefecture) (red), and the Tarim Basin (blue)

Fresco, with Hellenistic influences, from a stupa shrine, Miran

Painting of a Christian woman, Khocho (Gaochang), early period of Chinese Tang rule, 602–654 AD

Located in China's Xinjiang region, it is sometimes used synonymously to refer to the southern half of the province, or Nanjiang, as opposed to the northern half of the province known as Dzungaria or Beijiang.

However, the Yuezhi were assaulted and forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu, who conquered the area in 177-176 BC (decades before the Han Chinese conquest and colonization of western tip of Gansu or the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions).

Early Buddhist sculptures and murals excavated at Miran show artistic similarities to the traditions of Central Asia and North India and stylistic aspects of paintings found there suggest that Miran had a direct connection with the West, specifically Rome and its provinces.

Image of a Mongolian lady (incorrectly identified as Genepil, Queen consort of Mongolia )

Mongols

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East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation.

Asia in 500, showing the Rouran Khaganate and its neighbors, including the Northern Wei and the Tuyuhun Khanate, all of them were established by Proto-Mongols

A portrait of Kublai Khan by Araniko (1245–1306)

The Northern Yuan dynasty and Turco-Mongol residual states and domains by the 15th century

Map showing wars between Qing Dynasty and Dzungar Khanate

A Dzungar soldier called Ayusi from the high Qing era, by Giuseppe Castiglione, 1755

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1755 between the Qing (that ruled China at the time) and Mongol Dzungar armies. The fall of the Dzungar Khanate

Khorloogiin Choibalsan, leader of the Mongolian People's Republic (left), and Georgy Zhukov consult during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol against Japanese troops, 1939

World War II Zaisan Memorial, Ulaan Baatar, from the People's Republic of Mongolia era.

Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (right)

Chronological tree of the Mongolic languages

Timur of Mongolic origin himself had converted almost all the Borjigin leaders to Islam.

Mongols grazing livestock, by Roy Chapman Andrews photographs in 1921

The Mughal Emperor Babur and his heir Humayun. The word Mughal is derived from the Persian word for Mongol.

This map shows the boundary of the 13th-century Mongol Empire and location of today's Mongols in modern Mongolia, Russia and China.

Strong Mongol men at August games. Photo by Wm. Purdom, 1909

Mongol Empress Zayaat (Jiyatu), wife of Kulug Khan (1281–1311)

Genghis' son Tolui with Queen Sorgaqtani

Mongol soldiers by Rashid al-Din, BnF. MS. Supplément Persan 1113. 1430-1434 AD.

Kalmyk Mongol girl Annushka (painted in 1767)

Dolgorsürengiin Dagvadorj became the first Mongol to reach sumo's highest rank.

Mongol women archers during Naadam festival

Daur Mongol Empress Wanrong (1906–1946), also had Borjigin blood on maternal side.

The Donghu neighboured the Xiongnu, whose identity is still debated today.

With the independence of Outer Mongolia, the Mongolian army controlled Khalkha and Khovd regions (modern day Uvs, Khovd, and Bayan-Ölgii provinces), but Northern Xinjiang (the Altai and Ili regions of the Qing Empire), Upper Mongolia, Barga and Inner Mongolia came under control of the newly formed Republic of China.

Additionally, the United Kingdom urged Russia to abolish Mongolian independence as it was concerned that "if Mongolians gain independence, then Central Asians will revolt".