Achievements

Xinjiang area has rich literature and arts, particularly in music and painting. Created by people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang in their life, these achievements not long radiate with distinct regional flavor, but also reflect the cultural interactions between the east and the west. Therefore, they are invaluable spiritual wealth of the entire Chinese nation.

Literature

There have been many literary masterpieces in the history of Xinjiang, among which Kutadgu Bilig(Wisdom of Royal Glory), Divan-i Lugat-it Turk(The Turkic Lexicon), Manas and Janger are best examples.

Kutadgu Bilig was a famous work in verse during the Karakhanid Dynasty written by Yusuf Has Ha jip in the 4621d year of Islamic Calendar(1069 AD) for the ruler of Kashgar, Tangac Bugra Khan. The book has 85 formal chapters and 3 additional ones, totaling 13,290lines, all in Aluze style and covers many areas such as society, politics, economy, philosophy and literature. Using four artistic figures, King of Sunrise, court official Full Moon, Bright and the hermit Awake to represent four concepts, impartiality, happiness, wisdom and satisfaction, the author expounded his philosophical and moral ideas through their dialogues and plots. According to the author, the most important moral for a man, especially a ruler, is to be impartial, honest and kind; and that for a court minister is to be clean and uncorrupted without greedy personal desires. The king should rule the country by law; while ministers should use their knowledge to assist the king. The value of mankind lies in knowledge and wisdom. Kutadgu Bilig devoted several chapters to arguing how to be a good king, prime minister, general, attendant, secretary, treasury minister and envoy, how the rulers should treat descendants of saints, scholars, doctors, poets, farmers, merchants, herdsmen, craftsmen and poor people, and how people should serve the sovereign. The book also used many paragraphs to discuss the conflicts and conversions of opposite things, such as misfortune and good luck, sufferings and happiness, noble and low, rich and poor, victory and defeat, and good and evil, which gave expression to the author’s unaffected dialectic philosophy. His moral and ethic ideas came from ancient culture and tradition of the Uighur people, but supplemented by elements from the Islamic, Buddhist and Confucian culture, making his ideas complete and unique.

By using fresh, lively and vivid language to convey difficult, abstract and dull philosophical concepts and moral ideas, Kutadgu Bilig has been very well received amongthe people. The impact of this book was fully reflected by what the author of the prose-style Foreword of the book once said:”Scholars and wise men of the state of Qin and Maqin all agree on the following point: in the east, in the entire Turkistan, nobody had produced a better work than this book in the language of Bugra Khan, the language of the Turks. It has different names in different countries as it proves very useful in all those places. People of Qin call it Invaluable Mirror for the King, people of Maqin call it Eyes of the State, people of the east call it Decorations of the Ruler, Iranians call it Book of the Turki King, some people call it Admonition for the King, and the Turans call it Happiness and Wisdom.”

The original of Kutadgu Bilig was missing and there are now three known manuscripts-one in Uighur/Huihu-script, also known as Herat copy or Vienna copy; one in Suluz-Arabic, also known as Cairo copy: and one in Nasra-Arabic, also known as Namagan copy or Ferghana copy.

Divan-i Lugat-it Turk(or The Turkic Lexicon) was another excellent cultural achievement during the Karakhanid reign. Its author, Mahmud Kashgari was a scholar witha strong sense of nationalist identity. In his times, Arabic was widely promoted in the territory of the Karakhanid Dynasty, placing the Turki culture into the danger of beingassimilated by the Arab Islamic culture. However, the Turks were assuming an increasingl important role in the political life in the Arab Islamic empire; therefore, Arabs had to learn Turkic out of political and economic need. Mahmud seized that good opportunity and compiled the Turkic-Arabic dictionary(The Turkic Lexicon) to help Arabs learn Turkic, with the purpose of promoting the Turki culture.

Being a descendant of the khan family of Karakhanid Dynasty, Mahmud received very good education in Kashgar. Later, when he fled to the western part of the country aftera coup d’ tat, he observed and studied local culture in great depth. All those experiences provided conditions for him to compile The Turkic Lexicon in the following years.

Completed in about 1074, the dictionary was presented to Caliph of Abbasid Empire in the next year.

The Turkic Lexicon was more than an excellent linguistic work, it was an encyclopedia about the medieval Central Asian society. All written in Arabic, the Dictionary collected7,500 entries of words and expressions(including sentences),242 pieces of four-line poems of various sub jects, and over 200 adages and proverbs, totaling 8 volumes. The entries of the Lexicon covered an extremely wide spectrum, including astronomy, calendar, geography, tribes, ranks and posts, military affairs. politics, historical and legendary figures, religion, sports, public health, medicine, human body, food and drinks, clothes, tools and utensils, birds and beasts, livestock, worms and bugs, metals and stones, entertainment and games. It not only kept a record of the basic vocabulary and grammar that the Uygur and other Turki people had been using for thousands of years, but also left the future generation rich information for studies on the medieval Western Regions in their political system, economic relations, social customs, religious belief, ethnic groups, geography and names of places, literature and arts as well as sporting activities.A colored round-shape map was attached to the Lexicon, depicting the world to the author’s knowledge, which was the oldest and most complete known map of Central Asia up to now Manas is a heroic epic of the Kirgiz and one of the three epics in China(the other two being King Gesar of the Tibetans, and Janger of the Mongols). Generally speaking, epics describe wars, and the protagonists of heroic epics are usually extraordinarily strong andsteel-willed heroes who accomplish immortal deeds by leading people to stand up to fierce enemies and giving their own life for the interest of the people. Since such heroes represent the spirit of a people, they are deeply admired and loved. Manas is such a heroic epic. For long, Manas has been sung extensively both within and without China, and there are singing scripts all over those places. However, the best and most authoritative scripts arethe 8 pieces of an old artist called Yusuf Mamay in Akqi County, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xin jiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The eight singing scripts-Manas, Samatay, Saytek, Kaynim, Syet, Albaqa and Bekbaqa, Sombilek, and Qigtai, total 200,000 lines altogether and describe the story of 8 generations of the heroic family of Manas fighting for the survival of the people. The scripts are a magnificent and glorious literature, of which the first piece, Manas, is the best of all in terms of artistic achievements. In over 50,000 lines, it describes how Manas heads his own tribe’s people to build their own home, resists foreign invasion and succeeds in military expeditions. Manas was the ideal hero of the ancient Kirgiz. Being wise and thoughtful, generous and tolerant, Manas detested evil and loved the people, and he fought gallantly for freedom and happiness, and for the national interest. Manas is the symbol and expression of heroism of peoples in the Western Regions and reflects the common features of the national spirit in that area. Other than Manas, there are over 100 characters in the entire 8 pieces of scripts who are also depicted vividly and each with his or her own personality. These artistic images display the plural and rich national characters of peoples in the Western Regions. Dozens of battles appear in the singing scripts, which feature grand scenes and intriguing plots. All in all, these scripts represent an artistic zenith.

Janger is a heroic epic of the Mongols. The story went about orally among people at first and then was recorded in Todo script in the Ming Dynasty. The story goes that Janger, the hero, leads over 6,000 brave men on military expeditions and finally conquers 70 khans, defeats all kinds of evils and sets up a paradise-like Bemuba. Bemuba and the hero Jangerare two themes eulogized by the epic. Bemuba is an ideal society the epic describes, where everyone is equal, and all are happy and young. Actually such society did not exist at all in ancient times; it was only an expression to the desire of ancient people for peace, tranquility and happiness and their abhorrence against frequent tribal wars and conflicts.

The pursuit of a nice ideal society is the prominent feature of this epic. Janger is a heroic character, who possesses all virtues of tribal chief in the heroic times. Having lofty ideals and strong wills, he is exceptionally courageous and highly skilled militarily. He is a man of vision, true to his words, resolute but not autocratic. He is always ready to fight invaders for his homeland, even at the price of his own life. His sprit is actually the unyielding national character of the Mongols. Based on the folk tongue of the Oyrats, the language of Janger is beautiful and rich, dotted with ancient folk songs, congratulatory messages, eulogy, maxims, proverbs and other folk literature, which contributes to the heroic epic’ sunique grandeur and strong musical touch. As it reflects the daily life, weaponry, costume and architecture of the Oyrat Mongols, Janger is not only a literary masterpiece but alsoa precious document to study the society, economy, history, culture, language, and folk customs of the Oyrat Mongols. For the moment two versions of Chinese translation have been published in China and there are also copies in Japanese, German, Russian and other foreign languages in the world.