Uyghurs

The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group predominantly living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China. They constitute a majority in parts of southern Xinjiang and are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Estimates of the Uyghur population number in the millions in Xinjiang, with significant diaspora communities in Central Asia and elsewhere.

The Uyghur language, a member of the Karluk branch of Turkic languages, is traditionally written in an Arabic script; in modern times it has also been written in Latin and Cyrillic scripts in some contexts. Uyghur culture reflects Central Asian, Turkic, and Islamic influences, with distinctive music, dance, crafts, and cuisine such as polo (rice pilaf) and kebabs.

Historically, Uyghurs trace origins to the Uyghur Khaganate of the 8th–9th centuries in Mongolia. After the Khaganate collapsed in 840, many Uyghurs settled in the Tarim Basin. In the 18th–19th centuries the region came under Qing rule, later becoming part of the Republic of China; since 1955 it has been the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region within the People’s Republic of China.

In recent decades, the Chinese government has pursued extensive security and social policies in Xinjiang framed as counter-terrorism, anti-extremism, and poverty reduction. International human rights groups and some governments have criticized these measures as invasive and coercive, citing surveillance, restrictions on religious and cultural life, and mass detention programs; the issue remains contentious in global discourse.

The Uyghur diaspora is sizable in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and beyond, where communities maintain cultural and religious traditions while engaging with host societies.