NIHU Program
Islamic Area Studies

TIAS Central Eurasian Research Series
No.9

The World as Seen from Yarkand:Ghulām Muḥammad Khān’s 1920s Chronicle
Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi

Eric T. Schluessel

TIAS: Department of Islamic Area Studies
Center for Evolving Humanities
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology
The University of TokyoPublished by
NIHU Program Islamic Area Studies
TIAS: Department of Islamic Area Studies,
Center for Evolving Humanities,
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology,
The University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 JAPANCopyright © 2014 Department of Islamic Area Studies, Center for Evolving Humanities,
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo

Eric T. Schluessel

The World as Seen from Yarkand:Ghulām Muḥammad Khān’s 1920s Chronicle Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi

Central Eurasian Research Series No.9
ISBN 978-4-904039-83-0

Printed by
TOKYO PRESS Co., LTD.
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Contents

I: Introduction ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 01
The Manuscript ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 03
Ghulām in Space and Time ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 06
China and its Ruler ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 09
Ghulām’s Anxieties ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 19
Ghulām and the Jadīdīs ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 23
Bibliography ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 25
II: Translation ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 29
Notes on the Translation ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 29
Translation ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 29
III: Transcription¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 57
Transcription System ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 57
Language ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 58
Transcription ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ 59

Introduction“The World as Seen from Yarkand:Ghulām Muḥammad Khān’s 1920s Chronicle Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi”
Eric T. Schluessel (Harvard University)1

I: Introduction
The field of Central Asian history has lately undergone a shift from a methodologicaland theoretical emphasis on identity and large-scale solidarities towards an approachto textual criticism that understands loyalty as inherently plural and conflicted andacknowledges the interplay between social imagination and social reality through themedium of text.2 On the one hand, we have become less concerned with tracing theorigins of modern ethnonyms and identities, and more concerned with identification
as a historical process.3 On the other, through a close and critical reading of texts, we
may work beyond the cultural and begin to interrogate the social, or more exactly the12

3

I am very grateful to Dr. Tetsuya Ohtoshi of the Islamic Area Studies Center at the Universityof Tokyo (TIAS) for the opportunity to publish this study. The staff at the Lund University
Library have been exceptionally kind and professional during my visits there. Prof. Wheeler
Thackston and Joshua Freeman at Harvard University provided valuable comments on myearlier translations of the text and helped me interpret some particularly obscure passages.
Some of this work was previously presented at the China in the Twentieth Century Young
Scholars’ Workshop at Peking University in June 2013. All errors are my own.
For a critique of identity as a category of analysis and an alternative approach, see Thomas
Welsford, Four Types of Loyalty in Early Modern Central Asia: the Tūqāy-Tīmūrid Takeoverof Greater Mā Warā Al-Nahr, 1598-1605, (Leiden: Brill, 2013), pp. 15-22. On the linguistic
turn and Central Asian social history, see Paolo Sartori, “Introduction: on the Social inCentral Asian History: Notes in the Margins of Legal Records” in Paolo Sartori, ed.,
Explorations in the Social History of Modern Central Asia (19th-Early 20th Century), (Leiden:
Brill, 2013), pp. 1-22, 1-2.
Laura Newby and Rian Thum have made significant contributions to our conceptualizationof pre-Uyghur Turkic Muslim community in Xinjiang with specific attention to the messy
geographical, ritual, and textual constitution of local identities. (Laura J. Newby, “‘Us
and Them’ in 18th and 19th century Xinjiang” in Ildikó Bellér-Hann et al., eds., Situating
the Uyghurs between China and Central Asia, [Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007], pp. 15-29;
Rian Richard Thum, “The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History”, PhD dissertation, [Harvard
University, 2010].)1

The World as Seen from Yarkandsocial-cultural nexus where powerful relations and systems of significance are mutuallyconstituted. I intend the present work as a contribution to this effort where Xinjiang isconcerned, that we may begin to understand better how Turkic Muslims (Turki) in East
Turkestan made sense of Chinese power and of the world around them.
In April 1927, Ghulām Muḥammad Khān Khwājam b. Shaykh Pir Shāh of Yarkand
finished writing “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi,” a continuation of Mullā Mūsa b. Mullā ʿĪsa
Sayrāmī’s (1836-1917) 1908 history, the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī. In the following introduction
to the text, I will discuss the significance of the work, which scholars have utilized only
rarely, largely because it has little evidentiary value as a source for historical events assuch. Rather, Ghulām’s chronicle captures a peculiar mentality in crisis, an understandingof the world specific to the Turkic Muslim encounter with Qing and Chinese powerin Xinjiang. This worldview, which we see reflected in earlier texts, is fundamentally
optimistic about the potential of Qing and Chinese rule to produce justice, and it adapts
Islamic sacred history and political philosophy to explain and legitimize that rule. “MāTīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” draws heavily on the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī, and yet it brings Sayrāmī’s lateQing ideas into an era when they were being challenged by post-imperial political andsocial realities. I will trace the genealogies of some of the major ideas that are operatingin the text, focusing on intertextuality between Sayrāmī’s and Ghulām’s works. I will
analyze their roles in Ghulām’s chronicle and relate them to the broader history of the
1920s as a Yarkandi scholar would have known and understood it.
As Ghulām tells us explicitly in the text, he wrote the chronicle in two stages: alittle more than half of the text was written up to the first day of Jumada I 1344 AH (18November 1925).4 This comprises a history of the world from the final years of the Qing
through the time of writing from the perspective of Yarkand. The second section of thework was composed up to Eid al-Fiṭr 1345 AH (April 1927). In this, Ghulām chronicles
further events in the world, focusing on those dating from the very month of writing. Theview is panoramic, encompassing events mostly from the Islamic world, with extensive
and significant treatment of China, all in relation to what was happening in Ghulām’s
own Kashgaria. While Ghulām’s attention darts from one place to another, it is interesting
to note both which events he chooses to relate and how he discusses and contextualizes
them. The rarity of the text and its disjointed structure place Ghulām’s chronicle in aclass with other idiosyncratic writings of a similarly broad or quotidian scope, such as
the Kitāb-i ʿAbdullāh of ‘Abdullāh Ṗoskāmī (b.1876), written contemporaneously and in
the same region from the 1890s through the 1930s.5
452130a, 14-15.
Abdullāh Ṗoskāmī, Kitabi Äbdullah, (Ürümchi: Shinjang Khälq Näshriyati, 2004).

Introduction

The Manuscript
We do not know who commissioned or copied the manuscript, but it is useful tocontextualize it and thus infer the conditions of its production. The only known manuscriptof this Eastern Turki text is held by the Lund University Library, where it is included at
the end of an abridged version of Sayrāmī’s Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī (Jarring Prov. 163).6 In thefollowing, I will refer to the whole manuscript as Jarring Prov. 163 and to its constituent
parts by their individual titles. Gunnar Jarring dates the manuscript to the 1930s, but its
provenance is unclear, save that Jarring received it from Jacob Stephen (1914-1991),
a Turki convert to Christianity.7 Ghulām’s work is a chronicle, first retrospective andthen contemporaneous: the narrative picks up around the end of Mulla Mūsa’s, with thedownfall of the Qing, brings the reader through episodes in history until 1925, and thencontinues to report on current events. It seems to have been intended in its appendage
to the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī to complete and update that longer history, which Mullā Mūsa
himself stated to be the first history of East Turkestan since Dughlat’s sixteenth-centuryTārīḫ-i Rašīdī.8
There are several reasons to believe that another copy of this narrative exists. The
text itself indicates that it was completed in 1927, so any copy from the 1930s would

6

7

8

Lund University Library, Jarring Prov. 163. A photoreproduction of this text is available
in full online at http://laurentius.ub.lu.se/jarring/volumes/163.html. Sayrāmī’s work is a
substantial revision of his Tārīḫ-i Aminiyya.
See Jarring’s handwritten catalogue notes. http://laurentius.ub.lu.se/jarring/catalogue/163_2.html
See also Jacob Stephen’s autobiography (Flykting för Kristi skull, [Stockholm: Missionsförbundet, 1947].)
Sayrāmī 2001, p. 30; 1b, 4-8. [Note: All footnotes referring to Sayrāmī indicate both the page
number in the modern transliteration and the corresponding section of Jarring Prov. 163.
The modern transliteration is cited as Sayrāmī 2001. Because there is significant divergence
between the texts, I have transcribed the text of Jarring Prov. 163. This project has thus far
fallen short of complete foliation with the photoreproduction of the Beijing manuscript of the
Tārīkh-i Ḥamīdī.] Balke Moğulistān [5] yurtlarida ḥukūmat qilip ötkän ḫān wä pādišāhlarniTārīḫ-i Rašīdīniŋ mu’allifi janāb Mirzā Ḥaydar Kürägän jamʿ al-sayyif [6] wa-‘l-qalamdin
keyin tā bu zamānğičä, kim tört yüz yilğä yeqin yetipdur, zamānaniŋ rasā wä dānālaridin heč
birläri bu muddat [7] ičidä ötkän wāqiʿ wä ḥwādis̲ ātlar wūquʿidin qiṣṣa wä ḥikāya namūna
wä nišāna qoymaqni qaṣa eytip tārīḫ [8] yazmapdur. Peculiarly, Sayrāmī claims that the
Tārīkh-i Rašīdī was written “four centuries” beforehand, suggesting that he was not aware of
the Turkic-language translation with addendum, a critical edition of which was recently published by Amanbek Jalilov et al. (Addendum to Tārīkh-i Rašīdī, Translation And Annotation
with Introduction and Indexes, [Tokyo: NIHU Program in Islamic Area Studies, 2008].)
3

The World as Seen from Yarkand

obviously be a copy. We also find this narrative copied into a Swedish-made notebookof the kind used by the Swedish missionaries who were active in Kashgaria from the
1890s through 1938. The notebook comprises 144 pages of slightly yellowed notebook
paper with light blue ruling and rounded corners, bound with staples between oilcloth
covers. There are numerous examples of such notebooks in the archives of the Swedish
Mission Church, which was active in Kashgar, Yarkand, and Yengisar, in Stockholm’s
Riksarkivet. They appear to have been used mostly for writing out lengthy texts suchas these, including manuscript drafts of gospel translations, while ordinary notes anddiaries went into smaller, more fragile books. Each page has twenty-two light blue lines,
each of which the copyist has used more or less as a baseline for the script. Someone,
probably the copyist, whose identity I will address further below, has also added margins
in light pencil on either side of each page. The script itself is nastaʿliq, and not at all
ornate, especially compared to the Beijing manuscript. Although there may be subtle
differences in the hand that I do not perceive, there appears to have been only one scribe
for the entire manuscript.
As Hamada has noted, Jarring Prov. 163’s copy of the Tārīḫ-i Hạmīdī is incomplete
relative to the Beijing manuscript known from Änwär Baytur’s later typescript edition.9
Though the present work was copied at a later date than the Beijing manuscript, theversion presented and ends abruptly. In place of the final chapter, we have Ghulām’s “MāTīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi.” In order to understand these differences in both the composition of
the manuscript and its contents, it may be productive to characterize Jarring Prov. 163
not as an incomplete work, but a different version thereof, and one that responds to thecircumstances of its production.
“Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” contains frequent misspellings and omissions of words ordates that suggest copyist’s errors. If we presuppose that the narrative was copied for
the Mission, we should also consider the increasingly lucrative trade in manuscripts forforeign travelers and scholars and its consequences for the quality of manuscripts. Onlya few years later, Gunnar Jarring paid to have dozens of texts copied for his research.10
Other travelers were the victims of outright fraud through the production of fake ancientmanuscripts, but Jarring’s collection shows him in several instances to be the customerof a sloppy copyist, or a secretive one. Another manuscript, copied for Jarring by a bookmerchant in 1930, presents an extremely truncated version of the Risāla-i Mūzadozī
Hamada Masami, “Jihâd, Hijra et ‘Devoir du Sel’ dans l’histoire du Turkestan Oriental” in
Turcica 33 (2001), pp. 35-61, 52.
10
Gunnar Jarring, Åter till Kashghar: memoarer i nuet, (Stockholm: Bonnier, 1979), pp. 120126.
94

Introduction“Manual of the Cobblers” that shows frequent omissions from the text compared to otheravailable cobblers’ manuals.11 We can well imagine a scribe producing a hurried copy
for a foreign scholar or missionary who would hardly be able to judge its quality untillong after paying for it. Of course, the copyist of the risāla may have been working to
obscure secret knowledge to which only guild members were meant to be party, but sucha hypothesis would not hold for the Ghulām text.
Another possibility is that the text was made for a learner of Turki. Many membersof the Swedish Mission, including some noted turkologists, were dedicated to studying
linguistics and lexicography, particularly in service of Bible translation. In 1929, one
missionary had three risālas copied for him into a single notebook (Jarring Prov. 2),
evidently for language study, as he added a small glossary to the beginning.12 Copyists
may have caught on to foreign visitors’ imperfect grasp of Turki and thus taken someliberties in writing out the texts. The Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī in Jarring Prov. 163 is also missing
the lengthy introduction, replete with Arabic phrases, that is present in the Beijing
manuscript.13 Perhaps this was removed in favor of the short summary of the work that
we find at the beginning in order to get the reader directly to the Turki-language material.
The relative simplicity of the script, lacking ornament or the piling-up of words on line
edges so common in manuscripts, may also suggest that the scribe intended to keep thetext as simple as possible. Similarly, “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” may have been included
specifically because of its interesting linguistic content, particularly the frequency ofChinese and other loanwords.
“Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” is visually distinguished in the manuscript as a separate
work. Every chapter in the Jarring Prov. 163 Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī begins with a heading in
red ink, and these chapter headings are not placed on a separate line, but integrated into
the body of the text. When it comes to “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi,” however, the scribe
Jarring Prov. 43. (See Jarring’s notes: http://laurentius.ub.lu.se/jarring/volumes/43.html)
Comparison with a number of contemporaneous manuals, including another Manual of the
Cobblers (Jarring Prov. 500) strongly suggests that the copyist in this case omitted long passages of material, leaving the skeleton of a craft risāla. For a thorough and exacting exploration of the genre, see J. E. Dağyeli,“Gott liebt das Handwerk”: Moral, Identität und religiöse
Legitimierung in der mittelasiatischen Handwerks-risāla, (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag,2011).
12
Jarring Prov. 2. Jarring’s handwritten catalogue notes indicate the provenance of the MS:
http://laurentius.ub.lu.se/jarring/catalogue/2_2.html
13
The Beijing manuscript of the Tārīkh-i Ḥamīdī, upon which Änwär Baytur based his modern
edition (Sayrāmī 2001), is reproduced in Zhongguo Xibei wenxian congshu, er bian, (Beijing:
Xianzhuang Shuju, 2006), v. 41.
11

5

The World as Seen from Yarkand

leaves a space of two lines between the end of the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī text and the headingof Ghulām’s chronicle.14 The heading is then centered, set off by wide margins, and thescript is larger and bolder. Red ink is used for European-style parentheses that further
distinguish the second line of the heading, which gives Ghulām’s name as the author.
Double horizontal strokes (=) mark either end of the third line, giving Ghulām’s fullname and his parentage. Sayrāmī himself receives no such treatment at the beginning of
the work.
However, the text begins in what would be an unconventional way, if this werean independent work of history. Ghulām gives us no way to contextualize the work,
no complicated dedication in Persian, nor any formulae in Arabic. Even the title of thework, “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi,” is at first misleading: we might translate it as “the story”
or “the death of Commander Ma,” yet the events surrounding the individual in question,
Commander Mǎ Fúxīng (馬福興 1864-1924), take up only part of the whole narrative.
Instead, Ghulām jumps in with the year 1329 AH (1911 CE), the year of the Xinhai
Revolution that toppled the Qing, and a very peculiar choice of setting: Beijing.15
Thus, Ghulām immediately indicates that his work is to be a continuation of andpossibly a response two Sayrāmī’s, something related yet distinct: it picks up where
Sayrāmī has left off in time, and it returns to one of Sayrāmī’s most active and intriguingcharacters, the Khan of China, and the problems of the Khan’s parentage, authority,and place in world history.16 Ghulām presumes Sayrāmī’s political theory, which adapts
Perso-Islamic ideas of kingship to explain the history of the Qing conquest, Muslim
rebellion, and Qing reconquest. Yet, to Ghulām, the world has entered a distinct age ofhistory, either indicating or merely suggesting the coming of the apocalypse: Sayrāmī’s
just rulers have all fallen, and no one has arisen to take their place.

Ghulām in Space and Time
One of the fundamental questions about this text is its significance and representativenessin regard to popular thought in 1920s East Turkestan. Unfortunately, we have little
124b.
124b, 10.
16
Shinmen Yasushi has discussed this topic at some length, comparing Sayrāmī’s vision ofChina with that one later advanced by the Uyghur leader Muḥammad Emin Buğra. (Shinmen
Yasushi, “Higashi Torukisutankara mita Chūgoku” in Chūgoku: Shakai to bunka, 9 [1994],
pp. 15-31.)
14
15

6

Introduction

information about Ghulām. He was associated with Yarkand and either grew up or madehis living there. Given his titles and those of his father, he and his family presumably
held an esteemed place in their community. He is exceptional for noting his mother’sname, which suggests that she was also well enough known to be mentioned without
further comment or explanation.
Despite his familiarity with Chinese bureaucracy and vocabulary, Ghulām’sgeography of China is spotty, especially when compared to his knowledge of the Islamic
world. His detailed knowledge ends at Qumul, beyond which he is aware of a “Lanzhou
province,”17 meaning Gansu, and of the “region of Beijing”18, indicating the whole of
China proper, as well as a “Chengdu province,” meaning Sichuan.19 He knows that there
are multiple other provinces, which he refers to by the term seŋ (< Ch. 省 shěng). Yet,by what can be discerned from the text, Beijing is just as familiar to him as far-flung
London20, and rather less so than Iran.21
Ghulām discusses at length the politics of Central Asia, Hindustan, Turkey, andespecially the Middle East, where he expresses great concern at the Saudis’ rise to powerand destruction of holy sites in and around Mecca.22 The networks that brought news andtravelers over the Pamirs to and from Hindustan were open. Ghulam tells us that he hasgone on the Hajj by way of Kashmir,23 and after his visit to Mecca continued to receive
news from hajjis.24 From the other end of the world, we learn that it was possible to senda letter from Mecca to Merkit, a region of Kashgaria known as the home of the Dolanpeople that Ghulām describes as a poor and isolated place.25
Ghulām puts the events of his time, particularly those concerning novel phenomena
such as the rise of communism, into strange phraseology that at first makes his accountappear ignorant and fanciful. On further inspection, however, he emerges as a fairly keenobserver of national and global news. While his story of the collapse of the Qing tells us
more about Xinjiang than it does about the whole empire, as I will discuss below, he isaware of details such as the succession of presidents of the Republic.26 If some of Ghulām’s125b, 16; 126a, 12, 15; 127b, 9.
129b, 3.
19
130a, 1-2.
20
131a, 12.
21
130b, 19.
22
129b, 1-2; 130b, 8-9.
23
128v, 10-12.
24132v, 1-3.
25
132b, 1-3.
26
125a, 1-4.
17
18

7

The World as Seen from Yarkand

stories about China seem outlandish, it is because they emerged in the institutional andinformational gap between Turki subjects and their sovereign. Between the people who
told these stories and the actual emperor, there was a very long road to travel indeed.
Before the introduction of the telegraph to Xinjiang in 1895, even a palace memorialfrom the governor reporting on local conditions might take two months to reach Beijing.
Before such a memorial could be written, however, the governor would have to receive
reports from the provincial financial commissioner 布政使 and judicial commissioner 按察使, who in turn depended on information from the four circuit intendants 道台, who
often as not chose not to pass along a report from the county 縣, departmental 廳, andprefectural 州 magistrates under him. Of course, this was the case for much of the Qing
empire, which incorporated remote areas on its borders and in pockets in its variegatedphysical and social terrain.
Several other channels of information were open. Firstly, many could cross the
linguistic divide between Chinese and Turki. Translators had worked in the Qing
administration on an ad hoc basis since the eighteenth century. Chinese theater was being
performed in Ili in the early nineteenth century, and it drew a Turki audience, suggestingthat there was some indirect knowledge of oral Chinese or Manchu on their part, or of
Turki on the part of the performers, to allow them to understand the storyline.27 Thereis macaronic poetry blending Turki and Chinese in evidence,28 and even a somewhat
mysterious manuscript that appears to be a Turki translation of a Chinese novel, albeit
possibly through the intermediate step of Manchu.29 Since the 1870s, the Qing regime in
Xinjiang had worked to create a class of translators (Ch. 通事 tōngshì, ET tuŋči) to serve
as intermediaries between Chinese officials and Turki subjects. Quite a number of Turkistudents, though it is still unclear how many, succeeded not only in learning Chinese,but also in reading and memorizing a number of Confucian Classics.30 One Turki, who
V. V. Radloff, Proben der Volklitteratur der Türkischen Stämme, v. 6, (St. Petersburg,
Commissionäre der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1886), pp. 92-94.
28
E. Denison Ross and Rachel O. Wingate, Dialogues in the Eastern Turki Dialect on Subjectsof Interest to Travellers (London: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1934), pp. xi-xii.
29
British Library Oriental MS 5329, noted in David Brophy, “The Junghar Mongol Legacy andthe Language of Loyalty in Qing Xinjiang” in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 73: 2 (2013),
pp. 231-258, 254.
30
I have found a number of local records relating to the education of Turki boys in the Chineseclassics in a recently-published collection of documents from Turpan. (Qingdai Xinjiang
dang’an xuanji, [Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2012].) For example, a reportfrom 1889 lists Han Chinese, Hui, and Turki students. (v. 29, pp. 217-218) One Turki boy,aged fourteen but singled out for his precociousness, had already read the Book of Odes
(Shījīng 詩經) and rapidly worked through the Book of Documents (Shāngshū 尚書).
27

8

Introduction

presumably had this or a similar background, eventually came to teach Chinese to Turkiboys in a school in Kashgar.31 Such translators facilitated the official distribution of news
in multiple languages.
Nor should we discount the importance of merchant networks, who may have
served to bridge the information gap. In making up for the state’s weakened capacity
to create meanings, however, merchants would have passed along a mixture of popularand official understandings. It is clear that merchants from China proper operating in
Xinjiang had extensive contact with Turki. Relations between the two communities were
not limited to predatory lending and other financial practices, but also included everyday
relationships such as cohabitation, prostitution, and marriage.32 The merchant houses
were based elsewhere in China, particularly Tianjin, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Hubei, andmembers would have traveled regularly from one end of the country to another. Turki
merchants also operated in China proper. Although their activities are less apparent in thehistorical record, some Turki literally made names for themselves in the cross-country
trade.33
Ghulām’s sources and means of obtaining information influenced a particularworldview informed partly by the Islamic textual tradition, partly by news from beyond
Kashgaria, and partly by the experience of Qing and Chinese rule. What Ghulām presents
is not a canonical Islamic perspective, if such a thing can be said to exist in the world,
but a cosmology cobbled from multiple sources. Through critical reading, it is possible
to excavate something of this cosmology and how it came into being.

China and its Ruler
A good starting point is the conception of Qing and Chinese rule, as Ghulām’s narrative isoverwhelming concerned with Chinese power in its various manifestations. An attentive
reader of Ghulām’s work will notice that the author labels the ruler of China a khan, while
the land he rules over is called ḫāqān. Ḫāqān, as I will discuss below, was originally aJohn Törnquist, Kaschgar: några bilder från innersta Asiens land, folk och mission, (Stockholm: Svenska Missionsförbundets Förlag, 1926), p. 231.
32
Qingdai Xinjiang dang’an xuanji again provides significant documentation this effect. (e.g. v.
29, pp. 371-372)
33
Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḥājjīm Šaŋḫay (“Shanghai” Muhammad Ali Hajji) (1870-1952) comes tomind. (Sherip Khushtar, Shinjang yeqinqi zaman tarikhidiki mäshhur shäkhslär, [Ürümchi:
Shinjang Khälq Näshriyati, 2000], pp. 274-275.)
31

9

The World as Seen from Yarkand

title, obviously related to Turko-Mongol qaghan, and until recently, Turki writers had
used it to label the ruler of China himself. Exploring the vicissitudes of this term as it
traveled through history will illuminate a great deal about East Turkestan conceptionsof Chinese power. Because the ruler of China is very much at the center of much of
Ghulām’s text, reflecting on the meaning of this figure will address the ideological andgeographical dimensions of Sayrāmī and Ghulām’s worldview.
For all of its idiosyncrasies, “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” is, like its parent text the Tārīḫ-iḤamīdī, a story about power and legitimacy. Sayrāmī began his work with a reminder thatthe fate of rulers, including that of all those actors in his history of rebellion, violence, andkingship, is in the hands of God.34 This is a generic statement, but one that immediately
indicates that the narrative to follow is a political history intended to explain the shifting
fates of rulers over East Turkestan, Sayrāmī’s Moghulistan.
How interesting, then, that Sayrāmī, like Ghulām after him, devotes so much of
his work not to the eventful history of his recent past, but to ancient and sacred history.
Scholars have so far drawn on Sayrāmī’s earlier Tārīḫ-i Aminiyya and the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī
for their evidentiary value, assured by Sayrāmī’s explicit dedication to the historian’s
craft that much of the work has been written on the basis of several sources that the author
himself approached critically.35 However, because Sayrāmī also collected oral narratives
among his various sources36, the work is just as valuable as a repository of stories about
the distant past that circulated in East Turkestan in the first decade of the twentiethcentury. Moreover, Sayrāmī deploys sacred and ancient history strategically: throughout
the narrative, he juxtaposes the events of the distant past with those of the recent past,
reminding the reader of the origins of leaders, places, and peoples and implying parallels
across time. In short, while Sayrāmī’s work is a political history, the author considers agreat deal of legendary history to be relevant to his argument. Because such a strategy
is familiar from historical writing globally, it does not constitute an innovation in itself;
rather, “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” demands that we regard the particular ways that sacredand political history interact in the text.
(1,5) Tāj-i salṭanatni här kimniŋ bašiğä ḫwāhlasa qoyadur, ḫwāhlasa aladur; ḫwāhlasa uluğqiladur, ḫwāhlasa ḫār qiladur; ḫwāhlasa hidāyat-i ʿaẓā qiladur, ḫwāhlasa żalālatkä saladur;pastni baland wä balandni past qiladur. I have excerpted this line from the Beijing manuscript, since Jarring Prov. 163 is missing this opening section.
35
Hodong Kim, in his introduction to Holy War in China, calls Sayrāmī “truly one of the best
historians Central Asia has ever produced” and praises his accuracy. (Hodong Kim, Holy War
in China: The Muslim Rebellion and the State in Chinese Central Asia, [Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2004], p. xvi.)
36
Sayrāmī, p. 144.
34

10

Introduction

We must give some consideration in this light to a character who haunts thisnarrative from a considerable distance, the ruler of China, the “Khan” (ET ḫān). Ghulām
expresses an unexpected nostalgia for the Qing emperor. Ghulām, like Sayrāmī, sees the
majority of Qing emperors as just rulers in the Perso-Islamic mold, and he understands
the downfall of the Qing, along with the tyrannies visited on the Muslims of Xinjiang, tohave been the doing of an imposter and pretender to the throne. Throughout the narrative,
this character remains an active figure, despite the supposed end of the royal line in
1911. The Khan appears as the source of just commands meant to counter the tyranny ofdisobedient officials in Xinjiang and throughout the empire, yet he possesses no power
to act. Ghulām holds this view even when writing in 1925, after the emperor Puyi, longsince stripped of political power, had been expelled from the Forbidden City in 1924; by
1927, he has realized that the emperor is gone and so loses hope for just rule in China.
How did this particular image of the ruler of China come into Ghulām’s chronicle? Why
did he include such a figure in his narrative?
East Turkestani conceptions of Qing and Chinese power have a complex history.
The Turkic-language documentary records indicates a number of ways that Kazakh andTurki addressed or referred to the Qing emperor around the time of the conquest in the
mid-eighteenth century: early communications acknowledged the emperor as sovereignin Manchu terms, by the name ejen (ET ezen), which meant “ruler,” “lord,” or “emperor”
in Manchu, or in Chinggisid terms, calling him a “khan.”37 Both terms were in use in
Kashgar in 1811, but their referents had changed slightly: ezen indicated the Yongzheng
Emperor (r. 1723-1735), also called ʿaẓīm ḫān “magnificent khan,” while his son, theQianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1796), was referred to as the “khan in Beijing.”38
Turki officials had the greatest and most routine exposure to Qing power, and so
the most opportunities to think and learn about China. Nevertheless, although Chinese
officials were present across Xinjiang in the early nineteenth century, and Turki officials
traveled to Beijing for audiences, this is not to say that Turki became overly aware of
Qing geography or history. A travel narrative from the early nineteenth century presents
travel advice for the road from Kashgar to Beijing and a smattering of Qing history.39
If what the author presents is correct, then Mullā Naẓir Muḥammad of Kashgar, who

Noda Jin and Onuma Takahiro (A Collection of Documents from the Kazakh Sultans to the
Qing Dynasty, [Tokyo: TIAS, 2010]) provide numerous examples.
38
Meer Izzut-Oollah, Travels in Central Asia in the Years 1812-1813, Henderson, trans., (Calcutta: Foreign Department Press, 1872), p. 32.
39
Meer Izzut-Oollah, pp. 30-32, 43-44.
37

11

The World as Seen from Yarkand

claimed to have traveled to Beijing twice with Kashgar ḥākim beg Iskandar Beg Wang,40
and Āḫūnd Ṭāhir of Turpan, who had gone once before, possessed strange and, from amodern perspective, inaccurate understandings of that history: that 1811 CE (1226 AH)
was the sixteenth year of the Jiaqing emperor is certainly correct. That Qianlong reigned
for ten years, however, was not. Mullā Naẓir Muḥammad estimated that 1228 AH (1813
CE) was about thirty years after the sixtieth year of “Ezen” Yongzheng, that being about
1198 AH (1783 CE), towards the end of Qianlong’s reign. Qianlong’s victory over the
Zunghars and conquest of Kashgaria from the Khwājas in the 1750s is attributed toYongzheng. Although their knowledge of who was emperor when was unclear, Mīr Izzat
Allah’s informants probably did not misremember when major events had happened in
the recent past. Rather, I am inclined to think that Qing imperial power, filtered throughmultiple languages, overlapping systems of government, and the distance from Kashgar
to Beijing, manifested itself in a very nebulous way. Turki officials on the ground strove
to make it intelligible.
Imperial power, in Ghulām’s text, operates through the possession and mobilizationof letters. Apart from immediate acts of violence, every powerful character in his narrative
is a writer of petitions, issuer of decrees, circulator of missives, and most importantly
possessor of seals. This is the image that coalesces around the Ḫāqān-i Čīn or “Ḫāqān
of China” in the Turkic-language appendix to the Tarikh-i Rašīdī. In that text, the Ḫāqān
is a distant ruler who mainly receives reports from his officials, or from the people they
govern, and then reacts to them through edicts.41 The Ḫāqān is a bureaucratic ruler, thehead of a hierarchy of functionaries.
The source for the term ḫāqān and its associated character was not, as far as I
can discern, the Qing court, nor even in a direct way from Qing officials. Rather, itcame from local instantiations of broader Perso-Islamic literature. One of Ghulām’ssources for sacred history, which I will discuss below, was the 1126 anonymous Persianlanguage history Mujmal al-Tawārīḫ wa-‘l-Qiṣaṣ, or something like it; if he had accessto an unknown copy of the work, he might have found in it a list of titles of the rulersof various kingdoms of the East (Ar. mašriq) as of the twelfth century CE.42 One title
For a discussion of the beg system and Qing indirect rule of Xinjiang in a contemporary
source, see Shinmen Yasushi, “Tarikh-i Rashidi tyurukugoyaku fuhenno jojutu keikouni kansuru ichikousatsu: Kashugaruno rekidai hakimu beguno bubunwo chūshinni” in Seinan Ajia
Kenkyū, 70, 2009, pp. 111-131.
41
Jalilov et al, pp. 136, 141.
42Muḥammad Taqī Bahār, ed., Mujmal al-Tāwārīḫ w-al-Qiṣaṣ, (Tehran: Mu’assasah-i Ḫāwar,1939), pp. 420-423. Sayrāmī lists two sources for his work that I have been unable to locate
and that might have served to carry these narratives up to his time: a Zubdat al-Aḫbār and
40

12Introduction

is given for the pādišāh of China (Čīn) – fağfūr – and another for the pādišāh of “Inner
China” (Čīn-i Andarūn) – tuğuzğuz ḫāqān. Sayrāmī makes some use of the former, while
Ghulām does not. The term fağfūr or fağfūrčīn is thought to derive from an unattested
Indo-Persian compound *bhaghaputra via Pahlavi bghpwhr “son of God” whence it was
adopted by Muslim geographers to refer to the ruler of China (Ch. 天子 tiānzǐ “son of
Heaven”).43 Sayrāmī uses this title occasionally, and interchangeably with Ḫāqān-i Čīn.
In the Mujmal, the title ḫāqān is ascribed to the rulers of Inner China, the Khazars, Tibet,
and the Russians (Rūs). As Tuğuzğuz indicates the Toqquz Oğuz Turkic confederation44,
it is readily apparent that ḫāqān was considered to be an Inner Asian title, one for rulersof the land beyond Iran, but not yet at the borders of China. Its association with thepeople or region of Čīn had not yet coalesced. Similarly, Maḥmūd Kāšğarī (1005-1102)
defines ḫāqān simply as a title given to Afrasiyāb, the Turanian sorcerer of literature, thedescendants of whom are called ḫān.45 Čīn appears in his dictionary, as well, divided into
three regions: upper, middle, and lower Čīn, variously labeled Tabğač; Ḫiṭāy or Čīn; andBarkan or Māčīn, respectively.
Neither formulation is entirely surprising, as Čīn could also refer to Khotan, which
occupied an ambiguous place in geography: the Qarakhānid Yūsuf Qādir Ḫān (r. 10261032) claimed, after his conquest of Khotan in the name of Islam, to be the “King of
the East and of China” (malik al-mašriq wa-‘l-Ṣīn), where the “East” was Ferghana andKashgar, and “China” meant Khotan.46 From this point onward, Čīn and Māčīn gained acloser association in native literature with central China.
Thus, nearly ten centuries before Ghulām, concepts of China and its ruler werealready emerging in complicated ways from two different lineages: one in the literatureof the Persian world, and one in the local legends and sacred histories of Kashgaria. As
Rian Thum has argued, Persian literature and its gradual nativization in Kashgaria had asomething called simply Šahroḫiyya. (3a, 17-18) Neither the Zubdat al-Aḫbār of ʿAlī Mirzā
Maftūn nor that of Sher Muḥammad Nadir appear to have contributed to Sayrāmī’s work. Fora description of the Mujmal, see V. V. Bartol’d, “Turkestan v epokhu mongol’skogo nashestviia” in Sochineniia, vol. 1, (Moskva: Izdatel’stvo Vostochnoi Literatury, 1963), pp. 45-600,
72-73.
43“Faghfūr” in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, eds., (Brill Online), 2014.
44“Toghuzghuz” in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E.
Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, eds., (Brill Online), 2014.
45Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī, Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk), Robert
Dankoff and James Kelly, eds., (Duxbury, Mass.: Tekin, 1982), v. 2, p. 229.
46
Thum 2010, p. 23 ff. 23.
13

The World as Seen from Yarkand

profound effect on local historical consciousness.47 Thum describes a complex interplay
between the Persian canon and preexisting legends that unfortunately must remain
obscure in its details to the modern scholar, yet particular narratives and works clearly
left their mark on the ways that people thought about and wrote history. A chief influence
was Ferdowsi’s (940-1020) Shāhnāma, which he composed on the basis of a variety ofstories already in circulation around the time that the Mujmal was composed and Kāšğarī
wrote his dictionary. Thum finds stories from the epic in circulation in Kashgaria alreadyby the eleventh century and confirms that it was available to East Turkestani readers by
the sixteenth. By the end of the seventeenth, it was an influential work. The mention of
Khotan in the Shāhnāma helped to connect the text to the local geography of the Tarim
Basin, further enforcing the association of Čīn with this part of East Turkestan.
For such Central Asian readers familiar with the Persian canon, the character of theḪāqān-i Čīn in the Shāhnāma would have been familiar: he is the ruler of a land of magicand ritual somewhere east of Turan who gives certain contestants in the epic shelter
and makes some attempt to invade Iran.48 It is unknown exactly what place a readerof the Shāhnāma in Kashgar or Yarkand would have associated with Čīn, since theyostensibly lived on its edges. By the mid-eighteenth century, however, Turkic Muslims
living in East Turkestan had a very real encounter with “Chinese” power and routinely
encountered its expressions. Although China and the Chinese were under Manchu rule,
popular awareness of the distinction between Chinese and Manchu people and power
was lacking. Thus the land of Čīn became associated unambiguously with China.
By the early nineteenth century, the Ḫāqān-i Čīn could be conceived of as a distantand bureaucratic sovereign who operated through ritual, as in the Shāhnāma, and throughthe writing, reading, and certifying of messages passed along the roads past Jiayuguan
to and from the “land of Beijing” beyond. According to the Turkic translation of theTārīḫ-i Rašīdī, for example, when a beg violated the “rituals” of the Ḫāqān-i Čīn –significantly, not his “laws” – a higher-up wrote a petition (Ar. ʿarż) to the Ḫāqān-i Čīn,who upon reading it replied with an edict removing the beg from office.49 The Ḫāqān-iČīn appears only as an epistolary sovereign; while his image changed significantly after
the reconquest, Sayrāmī and Ghulām still depict him as the head of an administration
functioning strictly through petitions, edicts, and seals (ET tamğu), which are themselves
chief sites of contestation between Qing and Chinese leaders.50
Thum 2010, pp. 20-27.
Firdawsī, The Epic of the Kings: Shah-Nama, the National Epic of Persia, Reuben Levy,
trans., (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967), p. 295.
49
Jalilov et al, p. 140.
50
125b, 13-126a, 17.
47
48

14

Introduction

At the same time, Sayrāmī and Ghulām reconceive of the Emperor of China interms and images borrowed from sacred history and literature, denying the historical
record as it had come down in the Islamic world.51 Muslim historians and geographers,of whom Sayrāmī was well aware and Ghulām ought to have known, had long depicted
China as an infidel mirror of their own society: the Chinese possessed technology, andwere determined by their clime to be intelligent, but they remained beyond the lands ofIslam. Like the Arabs or the Byzantines, they had their capital, their religion, and theirways of life. Rašīd ud-Dīn’s Jamiʿ ut-Tawārīkh was the first work of Islamic history
to embrace China as a part of world history, as he recounted the dynasties and theiremperors by the contemporary Chinese reckoning as related by Chinese sources througha pair of Buddhist monks.52 Rašīd ud-Dīn ascribes no special qualities or origins to theChinese or to their ruler, and indeed his account is comprised mostly of a very dry listof reign dates.
Early Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā literature is also silent about the origins of the Chinese,save that they may be descended from Yāfis̲ b. Nūḥ. After all, they are human beingsand must have descended from one of Nūḥ’s sons. Sometime by the late seventeenth
century, however, stories were circulating to the effect that the ruler of China was a direct
descendant of Čīn b. Yāfis̲ b. Nūḥ, and that the hereditary line of kingship had not beenbroken until the Manchu conquest in 1644, making the suicide of the last Ming emperor,
Chongzhen (r. 1627-1644), the end of the legitimate rulership of China by its primordial
ruling house.53 Sayrāmī goes to great lengths to repeat the assertion, apparently drawn
from the oral culture of Kashgaria, that the Qing emperor is in fact the descendant of
Čīn.54 I will return to this theme shortly.
Questions of genealogy are central to Sayrāmī’s political history: throughout his
narrative, officials and rulers gain and maintain power when they respect the promises
and intentions of their ancestors but lose it when they violate them. He makes thisprinciple explicit later in the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī.55 Sayrāmī explains the importance of thisprinciple of rulership: the Qing emperor lost control over Xinjiang when his officials
there, both Muslim and Chinese, broke their oaths.56 Similarly, Ghulām’s characters
Shinmen 1994, p. 19.
Karl Jahn, “China in der islamischen Geschichtsschreibung,” (Wien: Hermann Böhlaus
Nachf., 1971), pp. 66-69.
53
Ibn Muḥammad Ibrāhīm, The Ship of Sulaimān, John O’Kane, trans., (London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1972), pp. 203-215.
54
Sayrāmī 2001, pp. 145-149; 28a, 14-29b, 6.
55
Sayrāmī 2001, p. 547; 119a, 5-120a, 20.
56
Sayrāmī 2001, pp. 149-157; 30b, 10-33a, 13.
51
52

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The World as Seen from Yarkand

meet their downfall when they violate promises made in the past to their superiors orancestors. Ma Fuxing’s own death comes ultimately from his scheming and defianceof his superiors.57 The agent of his end, Ma Shaowu (馬紹武1874-1937), falls from thepath of justice after a threefold ritual violation of Islam: worshipping an idol, swearingan oath before it to serve the governor, and then entering the yamen to eat pork withother officials, implying that Muslims who serve the Chinese governor have separated
themselves from the Muslim community.58
The greatest promise, of course, was that which the ruler of China made following
his secret conversion to Islam, which Sayrāmī narrates at length.59 The story is familiarin its broad strokes to Hui origin stories, and it explains the existence of the Chinese
Muslim community: during the time of the Prophet, the emperor of China had a dreamconcerning a man whom his dream-interpreters identified as Muḥammad. The emperor
sent a messenger to bring Muḥammad to China, but, after some mishaps, returned onlywith the Prophet’s ambassadors. The emperor converted to Islam, keeping this fact fromhis advisors, who were divided over the matter of accepting the religion. The emperor
encouraged his people to respect and adopt Islam, and also exchanged a number of his
subjects for some from Samarqand, who settled down with the Prophet’s ambassadors onland specially designated for them, creating the community from which the Hui descend.
Sayrāmī is not entirely credulous of this story, yet he takes care to remind the reader overthe course of the following passages that the Chinese emperor “had become a Muslim,”
and the chapter in which this occurs is even titled in part “how the Ḫāqān-i Čīn becamea Muslim.”60
Although the emperor’s descendants forgot their Islam, they nevertheless defended
the sharīʿah, as exemplified by the emperor’s efforts to investigate and act according toIslamic custom upon the conquest of Kashgaria.61 The imperial law held up as long as theoriginal Muslim officials who had submitted to the Qing and their descendants remainedin power. However, the emperor’s promise was broken when local officials raised illegal
taxes and sold their offices to others.62 While the emperor remained committed to justice,
he was unable to receive the petitions of his Muslim subjects in Xinjiang, and so could
not act on their behalf. The result was the Muslim uprising, not against imperial power
126a, 21-126b, 6.
126b, 19-22.
59
Sayrāmī 2001, pp. 145-149; 28a, 14-29b, 6.
60
Sayrāmī 2001, p. 145; 28a, 14. Ḥikāya-ye zamāna-ye Ḫāqān-i Čīn musulmān bolğani….
61
Sayrāmī, p. 153; 30b, 10-20.
62
Sayrāmī, pp. 158-162; 32a, 10-33a, 14.
57
58

16

Introduction

per se, but against the tyranny (Ar. ẓulm) of local officials.
Thus, neither descent from Čīn nor ancestral conversion to Islam alone made anemperor legitimate. Rather, the critical shift in late-Qing depictions of the ruler of China isthat he is conceived of anew as the archetypical “just king” of the Perso-Islamic politicaltradition: a distant and impartial arbiter of the diverse interests of his differing subject
peoples.63 Sayrāmī similarly goes to some length to legitimize the emperor in such terms,
presenting narratives that establish him first as a rightful ruler over a Muslim communityand second as a source of ultimate justice (Ar. ʿadālah). Although the Empress Dowager
ran the empire in place of young Guangxu, Sayrāmī writes, because their rule produced
justice, the country was at peace.64
Ghulām holds to the same principle and uses it to explain the fortunes of Chinese
rule in Xinjiang. In the very last days of the Qing, Ghulām tells us, a pretender put
a child on the throne in place of the rightful emperor.65 Secretly, the royal line wasbroken. Because this child was controlled by his father, a corrupt official, under his brief
reign the relations between the empire’s subject peoples were soured by unprecedented
policies that forced Chinese customs on the Muslims. Moreover, the child was too young
to be the emperor, and so he had to undergo a strange ceremony in which the officials
around him prayed to grant him extra years of age. “These stupid infidels,” Ghulām
notes, “have such customs.” In the aftermath, according to Ghulām, the corrupt fatherof the puppet emperor specifically targeted the Muslims of Xinjiang, violating again theimperial promise of the integrity and separateness of the Muslim community by forcing
Chinese education and language upon the Turki.66 God, protector of the genuine imperial
line, does not permit such a policy to continue, and instead intervenes – the people riseup and declare the Republic of China.
Here we see the intersection of the genealogical principle in Sayrāmī and Ghulām’swriting and the Perso-Islamic principle of just rulership. We might see Sayrāmī’s efforts
Mottahedeh, Roy, Loyalty and Leadership in an Early Islamic Society, (London: I. B. Tauris,1980), p. 175, states, “This role of arbiter, distant from the society for which it arbitrated,known to live largely for its own interest and not for any particular interest in society, was therole of the king. The king who fulfilled this role and saw that each interest got its due, but nomore than its due, was ‘just.’” For one outline of the “sacral model” of Perso-Islamic kingship, see John E. Woods, The Aqquyunlu Clan, Confederation, Empire: A Study in 15th/9th
Century Turko-Iranian Politics, (Chicago: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1976), pp. 6-7.
64127a, 11-12.
65
124b, 7-125a, 13. See footnote for a parallel story concerning the Guangxu emperor in
Sayrāmī.
66
125a, 8-13.
63

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to justify Qing rule as justification for Turki involvement in the imperial system, whichby the first decade of the twentieth century seemed likely to remain in place. Yet, Sayrāmī
and Ghulām, who both draw on oral sources, seem to be tapping into something in
the broader culture. From the 1870s, Qing justice begins to fit into the quadripartite
scheme of sacred lineage that popular Islamic manuals ascribed to various crafts: the“law of the Chinese” was also the “law of Moses”67, or else one of four valid systems ofjustice operative in Xinjiang.68 Following the reconquest, a number of narratives began
to circulate in oral and written sources across the region and in the Turki diaspora ofCentral Asia to the effect that the Ḫāqān-i Čīn was a source of justice, and that his
dominion over Xinjiang was dependent not on skill at conquest, but on his intention andcapability to maintain the integrity of the Islamic community and prosecute justice ina manner according with God’s will on Earth, the sharīʿah. Such stories likened Qingemperors to Anūširwān, the pre-Islamic Sassanid ruler who continued to serve as an
example of kingly justice in the mirrors for princes literature of late-Qing Xinjiang.69 A
story in Sayrāmī further relates an experience of imperial justice on the part of a beg inthe early 1860s, when an epistolary Ḫāqān-i Čīn cleared him by decree of a wrongfulaccusation of malfeasance, bringing the beg to reflect some time later on what a just andclement ruler the Ḫāqān-i Čīn was.70“Then God created four prophets and four books, which were sent to separate nations: theBible, this is the law of the Russians; the Psalms of David, this is the law of the Qalmuq
people; the Torah of Moses, this is the law of the people of China; the Furqan of Muḥammad,
this is the law of the local people [of Xinjiang].” (Potanin 1883, v. 2, pp. 14-15, quoted inDavid Brophy, “Tending to Unite?: The Origins of Uyghur Nationalism”, [PhD dissertation,
Harvard University, 2011], p. 30).
68
Jarring Prov. 207 I.48 “Gunahkār üčün ḥākimniŋ jazā bärgäniniŋ bayāni” (“Discussion of thepunishments given by the magistrate to criminals”), written in Kashgar around 1905-1910,
states “[2] Här dindārniŋ šarīʿat kitābi bardur. Ul kitāblarni: qānūn kitābi, zokun kitābi, [3]lī pāyän kitābi, šarīʿat kitābi. Maźkūr kitāblardä toḫtalğan sazā taʿīn [4] qilinğandur.” “Each[kind of] religious person has a shariah book. They are: the book of qānūn [secular or imperial law], the book of Russian law, the book of the Lifan Yuan [Qing Court of Colonial Affairs], and the book of the shariah. Punishments to be given are specified in these books.”
69
Kašifī Sabzavārī’s sixteenth-century Aḫlāq-i muḥsinī was translated into Turki at least threetimes, one or two of those in Kashgar. I have seen a copy from Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Library (650000-1401-0004984 5-XTQ 62). The work draws on
stories of Anūširwān extensively in its discussion of “justice.”70
Sayrāmī, pp. 572-575. Again, the Qing emperor is compared to Anūšīrvān. This section is
missing from Jarring Prov. 163.
67

18

Introduction

Ghulām’s Anxieties
By the time Ghulām wrote his work, the world had changed in unexpected ways,
and so had the ways that people understood their world. In the Kashgarian mind, theḪāqān was divorced from his political meaning and becames closely tied instead to thegeographical conception of China. This is how Ghulām uses the term. At least throughthe 1920s, writers referred to the Chinese people as ḫāqānī. On a few maps of Asia andof China preserved from Rachel Wingate’s mission schoolroom of the 1910s, children
have clearly labelled Xinjiang with the Chinese termŠiŋjaŋ, but the whole of
China is scrawled withḪāqānistān, and right below it in Chinese, Zhōngguó
quán tú 中國全圖 “complete map of China.”71 A contemporary source refers to Chinaas “the clime of Ḫāqān.”72 At this same time, while schoolchildren could label Nanjing,
Beijing, and Hong Kong on a map, the overall Kashgarian understanding of Chinese
geography seems to have changed little from Sayrāmī’s time: Sayrāmī knew that the
Chinese called Xinjiang “beyond the pass” or “beyond the mouth” (Ch. kǒuwài 口外,
Sayrāmī’s gobäy).73 By the 1920s and Ghulām’s work, there is no ruler called ḫāqān
or fağfūr, only the Khan in Beijing. Instead, Ghulām uses ḫāqān to refer to the land of
China and its government, but not the ruler: “The fortunes of China were on the rise.”74“In order to enter into the service of China.”75 “We are of the people of the Eight Cities
in China.”76
In the broader culture, then, the ruler of China was gone, but his people were stilldefined on some level by the imperial legacy. Ghulām is nostalgic for the empire, and for
empires everywhere, all of which had their protecting patriarchs to ensure the peacefulinteraction of subject communities. He sees fighting first between the Muslims and theChinese, and then between Muslims, Chinese, and Russians, as sure signs of the coming
apocalypse.77 In order to approach his perspective on his contemporary world, however,
Maps and other materials are held in the Riksarkivet, file SE/RA/730284/240.
Jarring Prov. 201, II.3 “Čä ŋ čilä niŋ bayā ni.” Čaŋ čilä degä n qadī mī zamā ndin tartipḪāqān iqlimidäki but-parastlarniŋ arasida rasim bolğan wä musulmānlarniŋ kitābḫānlaribāzārlardä yürüp wāʿizliq qiladurğan mullālariğa oḫšä bir rasimdur “Drama has been a custom among the idol-worshippers in the clime of Ḫāqān since ancient times, like when mullahs and reciters go about the market preaching.”
73
Sayrāmī 2001, p. 158; 32a, 15-17.
74
126b, 4.
75
129b, 20.
76
133a, 13.
77
128b, 1-5.
71
72

19

The World as Seen from Yarkand

it is necessary first to explore his understanding of sacred history.
We begin again with Sayrāmī, without whom Ghulām does not make sense. Sayrāmī
asserts that the current ruler of China was not only a direct descendant of the son ofYāfis̲ b. Nūḥ and a secret Muslim, but also that his land was unconquerable even by
Dhū ‘l-Qarnayn (Alexander the Great), Chinggis Khan, or Amīr Tīmūr (Tamerlane).78
The effect is not only to write China into the popular and formal history of Islam, but
to outright contradict histories as known from elsewhere in the Islamic world. Sayrāmī
asserts the antiquity of Chinese rule in order to justify it, but also makes the imperial line
out to be older and possibly more legitimate even than Alexander the Great, an importantmodel of kingship, and older even than Abrahamic line, from which the caliphs aremeant to have descended.
Sayrāmī has made quite a radical assertion about history, but it is one that makes
sense in the wake of the failure of the Ottoman caliphs to assist Yaʿqūb Beg in maintaining
his state in East Turkestan. It makes sense in a world where sources of ultimate authority
seemed to be falling away one by one, as Islamic states in Central Asia fell to the Russian
empire, the British consolidated control over Hindustan, and Qing power in Xinjiang
seemed both firmly established and singularly capable of producing satisfactory justice,particularly in the eyes of a ruling class of Turki with greater access to the bureaucracy.
The Qing could not be challenged, it seemed, and Sayrāmī comes up with reasons to
explain why.
Sayrāmī’s account of sacred history, as mentioned above, comes almost word-forword from the Mujmal al-Tāwārīḫ w-al-Qiṣaṣ, which makes Čīn, Turk, and Rūs, among
others, out to be sons of Yāfis̲ .79 In Sayrāmī’s time, the Mujmal would have provided not
only a statement of the Chinese, Turkic, and Russian people’s common descent, but also
reasons for conflict between them, as the Mujmal narrates the origins of their enmities.
Sayrāmī, drawing on “certain histories,” makes further additions to the genealogy, casting
the Chinese, Turks, Manchus, Kyrgyz, and others as descendants of Turk b. Yāfis̲ andasserting that they “founded a great city in the land of Beijing.”80 Given that Sayrāmī
then casts strong doubts upon Alanqoa’s immaculate conception,81 it is curious that he
Sayrāmī 2001, pp. 49-59; 3a, 19-8a, 15.
Muḥammad Taqī Bahār, ed., Mujmal al-Tāwārīḫ w-al-Qiṣaṣ, (Tehran: Mu’assasah-i Ḫāwar,1939), pp. 97-104.
80
4a, 9-10. Bejīn mamlakatidä bir šähär-i ʿaẓīm bināh qildi. Sayrāmī 2001 (p. 49) has a slightly
different narrative, which includes a different set of sons of Yāfus̲ , including “Daghestan.”
Another is named “Daching,” possibly from Ch. Dà Qīng 大清 “Great Qing.”
81
Sayrāmī 2001, p. 56.
78
79

20

Introductionis less skeptical of the genealogy as he relates it and provides no alternative, suggestingthat he approves of it.
Ghulām revisits the relations between the Chinese, Turkic, and Russian peoples,bringing his present history into dialogue with Sayrāmī’s sacred history. “Muslims
fought with infidels, infidels with Muslims and with Russians, Russians with Chinese,and Christians even with each other,” he tells us. “These signs make known the comingof the great Mahdi.”82 At this point in Xinjiang’s textual history, “Muslim” musulmān ofcourse indicated “Turkic Muslim,” while Chinese Muslims were simply “Dungans.”
For Ghulām, conflict between these peoples is one of several signs of a coming
apocalypse. Simultaneously, Ghulām is concerned with the integrity of communal
boundaries and the possibility of moving across them. Ma Shaowu, as noted above,
becomes not Dungan, but thoroughly Chinese by engaging in official rituals. There is apeculiar incident in which the Bolshevik consul puts on Bukharan robes and tells Turkinotables of Kashgar, “Now we are all the same!”83 The Kashgaris are not convinced,
and the Chinese present agree: “Even in a robe, you’re still a Russian. These officials
sitting here are Chinese. We’re Turks. How are we the same? If you become a Muslim,
we’ll be the same.”84 Again, it seems that ritual and religious boundaries are prioritizedover outward appearance, but in a different way than before. There is also an interestingclass dimension to this encounter, reflecting the extreme difference in wealth between
Kashgarian Turki and Central Asian Russians. Ghulām emphasizes several times thesuperficiality and fundamental meanness of identification through clothing: the Turki
who cross into Central Asia and join the Bolsheviks are singled out for their uniforms
and affected gait.85 An Iranian professor and his family dress in “Christian” clothing andshock their community.86 The jadīdīs of Istanbul, whom Ghulām sees as disrespectful
hooligans, mock others for their turbans.87 The Chinese abandon old sumptuary rules as
they cast off the empire and their country descends into chaos, making men and women
dress in a similar way.88
Sayrāmī and Ghulām converge in their concern for linguistic difference, both pastand future. Sayrāmī recounts that the descendant of Nūḥ developed different languages
128b, 3-4.
130a, 9-14.
84
Of course, from the author’s perspective it is more acceptable to become a Muslim than toleave the community, even if becoming a Muslim means crossing boundaries.
85
133a, 3-7.
86130b, 19-21.
87
130b, 16-17.
88125a, 17-18.
82
83

21

The World as Seen from Yarkand

and so had to communicate through translators.89 His choice of terminology is interesting,as he uses the Chinese word for “translator” tōngshì 通事, nativized as tuŋči, which
would have been very familiar to his audience, given the proliferation of Turki-Chinesetranslators in the late Qing. Sayrāmī does not depict this as a good thing, but rather a signthat natural relatives were growing more distant. Ghulām similarly sees the presenceof tuŋči as an uncomfortable sign of distance between family members: the tyrannicalpretender imposes Chinese education on the Turki, with “this malicious intent, … thatfathers and sons should speak together through a translator. The goal was that, when
the old people died, all of the youth would have become Chinese.”90 Both Ghulāmand Sayrāmī themselves make use of Chinese vocabulary to index difference, voicing
Chinese characters with words and short phrases in their own language. This suggests
both that the authors and their audiences were in positions to understand more than alittle Chinese, and that they felt ambiguously about being able or required to do so.
To return to the issue of communal boundaries and ritual, Ghulām is also concernedwith the destruction and violation of sacred sites. Again, I believe that Ma Shaowu’s
entering an idol-temple is significant, particularly as it reflects related concerns on the partof Turki ʿulāmā’ over Muslims’ engagement with Chinese rites in the growing number ofChinese temples in Xinjiang.91 More broadly, the chaos of the Xinhai Revolution and its
aftermath is reflected in Ghulām’s account in Muslim and Chinese officers’ destruction ofeach other’s temples.92 He recounts the conflict over a mosque or Hindu temple in Kashmir,which escalates into an outbreak of unconscionable violence against Muslim children.93
The Bolsheviks destroy an ancient mausoleum in Bukhara, just as they scatter the contents
of a treasury dating to the time of Tīmūr.94 Finally, in the distant Hejaz, the Wahhābīs, of
whose beliefs and actions Ghulām does not approve, tear down important shrines, leavingsome sites intact in Mecca only for fear of the consequences of doing so.95
As Ghulām’s narrative returns to the center of Islam, it returns also to the past.
Ghulām juxtaposes the Wahhābī rise to power with the Ethiopian raid on Mecca in theYear of the Elephant, shortly before the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad.96 Directly
4b, 1-4.
125a, 9-14.
91
A central issue in Abūl Wāḫid Āḫūnd’s account of Chinese theater in Kashgar is the Turkipresence in the audience at theatrical events. (Jarring Prov. 201, II.3 “Čäŋ čiläniŋ bayāni.”)92
125b, 10-11.
93
128b, 9-16.
94
128b, 9; 130a, 16.
95130b, 8-15.
96132a, 13-22.
89
90

22

Introduction

after, he relates two earthquakes that seem to happen all at once, one in Mecca and one
in Merkit.97 I do not think that Ghulām’s choice was random – the Year of the Elephantwould have been a known story in any case. We must recall that, up until this point in
the narrative, the world has been gradually falling apart. Arabia is now in the hands ofrulers who, despite being Muslims, act tyrannically.98 There is no more Khan in Beijing.
Across the world and in Xinjiang, conflict rages. Ghulām’s implication is that a distinct
era is coming to an end, an era defined by the history of the descendants of Yāfis̲ , andsomething new is appearing in its place.

Ghulām and the Jadīdīs
Ghulām may not have had a single clear idea of what that new era would be, but severalof his anxieties about it can be discerned from the text at hand. Hamada, the only modern
scholar to have commented on Ghulām’s work, states simply that “Ghulām Muḥammad
Khan of Yarkand offers us an interesting example of the ideas of the qadīmists.”99 In lightof the foregoing discussion, however, it is not sufficient to characterize Ghulām merely
as a “qadīmist,” particularly given how nebulous and politicized a term this is. Hamada
assuredly labels Ghulām a qadīmist, or a supporter of old ways, because of his frequentcriticisms of things jadīdī, “new.” The sheer breadth of the word jadīdī’s reference in thistext, however, demands that we define more clearly what it was that Ghulām meant by it
and, conversely, what he supported in its place.
The first instance of jadīd in “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” is in the phrase ʿilm-i jadīd,“new knowledge,” which, Ghulām tells us, emerged in Bukhara in 1921-1922.100 Ghulām
does not refer here to the ideas of Ismail Gaspirinskii or other nineteenth-century Muslimreformers, however, but to something associated with a group that ushers in Bolshevik
rule. To Ghulām, the Bolsheviks are primarily people opposed to royal or imperial rule,by the Russian emperor or any other.101 His understanding of their political or economic
policies is secondary to their role in the narrative, particularly as supporters of the
jadīdī Chinese.102 Ghulām sees the jadīdī Chinese as Christians, much like the Iranian132b, 1-6.
131b, 17-132a, 6.
99
Hamada Masami, “La transmission du mouvement nationaliste au Turkestan oriental (Xinjiang)” in Central Asian Survey, 9:1 (1990), pp. 29-48, 38.
100
128b, 6-9.
101
123b, 2-8.
102130b, 22-131a, 5.
97
98

23

The World as Seen from Yarkand

reformers.
ʿIlm-i jadīd is a destructive force in Kabul and in Istanbul, as well.103 In both places,
adopting the new learning results in widespread violence and depopulation. The same
happens in China, where the jadīdī Christian Chinese start a war with the Europeans.104
At the root of violence is the disruption of preexisting schemata of difference, both
between genders and between groups of people. The Chinese, having changed theirclothes, imitate the Europeans, but end up turning against their erstwhile tutors. It
is significant that the peace settlement at the end of the war establishes separatenessbetween peoples.105 Similarly, Ghulām suggests that the Wahhābī leaders have learned
from the West, and their party visits significant violence and destruction on the Hejaz.106
Given how different and diffuse these movements were, it is apparent that Ghulām is notreferring to any specific ideology or even cluster of modernist or reformist philosophies,
but rather expressing a general anxiety that incidentally uses the term jadīdī to refer tonovel and negativ things.
The common thread binding jadīdī, Christian, and Western things together inGhulām’s work is their opposition to the dominance of emperors and the schemata ofdifference that they maintain. In the old world of Ghulām and Sayrāmī, people performed
their own rituals and maintained their own communities under the protection of rulers
who could trace their descent back to Islamic sacred history, among them the Ottoman
caliph, the Chinese emperor, and perhaps by implication the Russian emperor as well.
In Ghulām’s new world, Christians and jadīdīs go about undermining imperial authority
by dressing everyone the same way, destroying ancient sacred sites, and thus bringing
chaos, tyranny, and the breakdown of hierarchies of authority and rule.
Ghulām’s qadīmism, then, is a historically specific phenomenon with identifiableroots both in the popular ideas communicated by Sayrāmī and in Ghulām’s own
circumstances. His text is a rare source for the history of thought in 1920s Xinjiang, onethat points to the continued circulation of ideas between oral and written and popularand elite cultures. It also demonstrates a view that we might be surprised to encounterin modern Xinjiang, so much historiography of which is dedicated to exploring the
emergence of large-scale solidarities and opposition to Chinese power. Ghulām isconcerned about boundary maintenance, but he does not understand Chinese rule per se
as harmful to it: rather, he is troubled by a specific kind of rule at a particular time, and he
128b, 17-21; 129b, 2.
131a, 5-16.
105
129b, 18.
106
130b, 15.
103
104

24

Introduction

attempts to explain why one was benign and the other harmful. Such a perspective may
represent a broader attitude not represented in the writings of nationalist elites. I thus
present the following translation and transcription in hope that it will contribute to thecultural and social history of Xinjiang during a critical and still understudied period.

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Translation

II: Translation
Notes on the Translation
The following translation follows the original text as closely as possible so as to facilitatecomparison and impart a sense of Ghulām’s style. He writes in a particularly disjointed
fashion, even for an Eastern Turki text. While holding to the maxim that the translator
should write as the author of the text would have written, had that author known thetranslator’s language, I acknowledge that Ghulām is not always very clear or precise in
his phrasing or felicitous in his choice of words.
Part of the reason for Ghulām’s lack of clarity is that he was putting into words
phenomena that were at a great distance from him and often, as he attests, novel andunfamiliar. There is a great deal of Chinese vocabulary in this text, much of which only
had a fleeting presence in Eastern Turki and has not survived into today’s dictionaries.
(See Transcription for notes on language.)Translation[124b, 7] Commander Ma of Kashgar[8] Narrated by Ghulām Muḥammad Khān of Yarkand[9] = Ḥajjī Ghulām Muḥammad Khān Khwāja, son of Ḥażrat Khwāja Shaykh Pir Shāh,his mother Maʿṣūma Khānim =[10] In the year 1329 AH [1911 CE], the Xuantong Khan107 in Beijing had no children.108
He discussed with his mother what to do, and he came to the conclusion that, [11] “If I have
I have translated ET ḫān as simply “khan,” and pādišāh as “king” or “emperor” depending
on context.
108
Emperor Xuāntǒng (宣統 1906-1967, r. 1909-1912), known better by his personal name Puyi,
was indeed on the throne at this time, but he was childless mainly because he was three years
old. The events as narrated here more closely resemble stories surrounding the reigns of the
Tóngzhì emperor (同治 r. 1861-1875) and his cousin and successor Zǎitián, called Guāngxù
(光緒 r. 1875-1908): Tongzhi, the son of the Empress Dowager Cíxǐ (慈禧 1835-1908), wassickly and indeed produced no male heirs. The regent, his uncle Prince Gōng (1833-1898),
along with Cixi, was the real power behind the throne. Cixi was one of several members of
the Court who engineered the succession of the child Guangxu and establishment of anotherregency. Guangxu died one day before Cixi, and it was widely rumored that Cixi had him
poisoned when she realized her own impending death. Xuantong, Guangxu’s cousin and
107

29

The World as Seen from Yarkand

no progeny, then later the affairs of the khanship will not go well. I must adopt a child,educate him, and teach him the affairs of the khanship.” [12]In the Khan’s offices, there was a trusted high official. The Khan thought his son
would do. [13] The Khan informed the boy’s father and took him into his care. He
educated the boy for a year and a half, giving him to a master, whom he ordered to teachthe boy the knowledge of the khanship. [14] The tutors, per the Khan’s order, made great
efforts to teach him. This went on for about a year and a half.
One day, [15] his father found an opportune time to tell the Khan, “You educatedthis child. If all of the officials, both inside [16] and outside these offices, know that he is
my son, then why would they ever make him khan after you? This is a half-baked plan.”[17]
The Khan said, “What should we do?”
The Khan immediately gathered all of the officials together. “Why don’t you all
make this child khan after me,” he ordered. “So, all of you, sign, and stamp your seals.
Make an ironclad document.” [18] The child’s father had a secret desire in his heart for
the khanship.
[125a, 1] The father seized the opportunity. He conspired with the Khan’s cook.
They made several promises and oaths together, and they put poison in some food andgave it to the Khan. And the Khan ate this [2] and died. The Khan’s mother, when she
saw this, threw herself upon the Khan, embraced him, and cried. For three days and threenights, she did not sleep, [3] but she passed away on that very spot.
And this good-for-nothing scoundrel’s son was six years old. [4] They asked God
for two years. He turned eight years old. They asked Heaven for two years and Earth for
two years. He turned twelve years old. These stupid infidels have such customs.109

again a small child, was Cixi’s choice to succeed him. We could complicate the interpretationof this narrative by pointing out that Guangxu, as Tongzhi’s cousin, was not his direct heir
either.
109
According to this account, the young Xuantong emperor gained his majority, and so qualified for the emperorship, through his officials’ intervention with special prayers and rituals.
Ghulām’s account perfectly parallels Sayrāmī’s story of the child Guangxu emperor becoming an adult through the same means:[121a, 7] Amma maźkūr ḫānzāda üč yašdä ikänlär. Jūŋtāŋ źūndūlari öz rasim-ʿaqīdāt-i [8]nālayiqalari birlä āsmāndin bir yašni tiläp, ḫānğä beripdur. Tört yašliq bolupdur. Analari
bir yašni beripdur. [9] Bäš yašliq bolupdur. Zemindin bir yaš tiläp elip beripdur. Altä yašliq
bolupdur. Jūŋtāŋ źūndū baš[10]liq ḫānimiz yättä yašlaridä ḫānliq taḫtidä olturdi, dep ʿaqīda
wä iʿtibār qilipdurlar. Lekin analari qočaqlariğä elip [11] olturup ḫānliq ḥukumini jārī wä30

Translation[5] After that, he sat his child up on the throne. He himself sat by his son’s side. He
gave whatever commands he wanted to. [6] The people had no choice but to bow to his
will, and they obeyed his commands.
The court rode for a month. They put the Khan’s mother in a coffin, and, according
to their own customs, carried his mother’s corpse nine paces (ahead). [7] They carried
the Khan’s corpse nine paces behind it. They carried them to the royal tombs and buried
them.110 [8] Then, the seed of enmity appeared in the hearts of all of the officials andsubjects, of people both great and petty. They started saying all kinds of things.
This scoundrel [9] had this malicious intent, that all the way from Qumul to
Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan, in every town and country where Muslims lived, theyshould establish great schools; [10] that they should establish twelve schools in every
city, and ten in every begship111 and rural district; [11] that they should increase thenumber of schools from year to year; that they should establish a big school in any placewith twenty-five households; that, when the mothers and fathers of the children studyingin the schools came to see their children, [12] a child should speak to his father in the
speech of Beijing; and that fathers and sons should speak together through a translator.112[13] The goal was that, when the old people died, all of the youth would have become
Chinese.113
ijrā ikän.
[121a, 7] However, the prince was three years old. His high officials, per their unworthy
customs and beliefs, [8] asked the heavens for a year, and they gave it to the khan. He turned
four. His mother gave one year. [8] He turned five. They asked the earth for the year and gave
it to him. He turned six. “Under the care of the high officials, [10] our khan took the throne at
the age of seven,” they believed. But his mother held him to her breast, [11] sat on the throne,
and put the khanal rule into effect.
110
The author refers to transporting the bodies of the Qing aristocracy, here Guangxu and Cixi,
to the western dynastic tombs southwest of Beijing.
111
The begs were native officials who governed on behalf of the Qing.
112
Ghulām shares Sayrāmī’s concern with the multiplicity of languages and the inability of descendants of Japheth to communicate. In Sayrāmī’s narrative, the employment of tuŋči (< Ch.
通事 tōngshì) was also a necessity for the progeny of Nūḥ in the aftermath of Babel. (4a, 1-4)
113
Here, the author relates the drama at the Qing court to events in Xinjiang. There were two
waves of official school building in Xinjiang in the late Qing: First, the scholar-general Zuǒ
Zōngtáng (左宗棠 1812-1885), who led the Qing reconquest of the region in the 1870s, directed schools to be built in every major population center so as to train the sons of Turkic
Muslim aristocrats in Chinese language and culture. In total, sixty schools were built. This is
the period of school building that later Uyghur nationalist leaders attacked in their writings
as forcibly assimilatory, and they focused on the mandatory inculcation of Chinese language.
Some of these schools continued until 1911, and Mannerheim (Across Asia from west to east
31

The World as Seen from Yarkand

Our God the Creator [14] would not allow it. The seed of enmity in the hearts of
the Chinese sprouted. They joined together with one heart and on one side and said, “Wewill be a Republic!” They seized the child khan and his father, [15] locked them up in a
tower, set soldiers around them to observe them, and set up cannons. [16] Like a chicken
in a cage, they regretted what they had done – they were in a briar patch.
The Chinese said that the people’s time had come, and they called it the “Republic.”114[17] Because the victorious high officials realized that they had moved beyond the infidel
collars about their necks and the hairstyles on their heads, [18] they prohibited these. The“loose clothing” became common among both men and women.115
In the year 1330 AH [December 1911-1912 CE], an organization from among the
Chinese [19] called the “Black Turbans” rose in rebellion.116 These were of the samereligion and sect as the Chinese. They killed the generals, the circuit intendants, [20] theprefects, and the magistrates, plundered, took their money, and spent it. But they did noharm to bureaucracy and governance. [21] “What a strange thing,” it was said. “In fouror five years’ time, people would call these Black Turbans officials.” [22] So, they pulled
them out and completely annihilated them. They killed them in the places where they
had settled and stayed for five or ten years. To begin with, in the cities, they [125b, 1]
finished off the Black Turbans one by one.
At the beginning of the Republic, they put a man named President Yuan into

in 1906-1908, vol. II, [Helsinki: Suomalainen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Kirjapainon Oy, 1940],
p. 76) gives a first-hand description of the enforcement of Chinese dress and inculcation ofChinese language. Given Ghulām’s characterization of school building as extensive and programmatic, however, it may well refer to the second wave, during which the new provincial
education commissioner, Dù Tóng (杜彤 1864-1929, in office 1907-1911), led the establishment of over six hundred institutions. Törnquist (p. 231) notes the teaching of Chinese inthese schools, but this later program explicitly avoided assimilatory education, going so far
as to specify teaching in Turki.
114
The term for “Republic” in this text is Miŋgoy, from Chinese mínguó 民國. This is one ofmany terms borrowed from Chinese in Ghulām’s work, among them “president” źoŋtoŋ, from
Chinese zǒngtǒng 總統. Given the events that follow, there is no particular sense that Ghulām
is aware of the political peculiarities of a republican system of government; his experience ofit comes strictly from the Chinese case, and so he gives it a Chinese name.
115
Presumably, the author refers to the rapid spread of Western-style dress that became de rigueur among Chinese as a sign of national modernity.
116
The author certainly refers to the secret societies that rose up and carried out the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1912. The reference to “black turbans,” however, is obscure. The only major
revolutionary actions in Xinjiang took place in Ili and Urumchi – perhaps some of these revolutionaries dressed in black turbans?
32Translation

power.117 [2] They got rid of him, too, and he was left helpless and died. Next, they put aman named President Li into power.118 This man, too, on account of his enemies plotting
against him, [3] escaped to the country of the English. Then, they put another President
Li into power. Among the Chinese, [4] this is how they described him: they say, “He
has a good reputation, he thinks much of himself, and he has spies everywhere.119 He’sa well-connected man.”Even with the Republic, [5] the Beijing region could do nothing for anyone.120
All of the issues from the child khan’s reign were confused. Lord God the Merciful [6]saved the faithful from these tyrannies. These things turned out just great. All of thegreat generals, officials, and princelings in the confines of Beijing [7] became khans intheir own eyes. They didn’t give anything to anyone. [8] They kept their own retinues,
and whatever they did, they did it themselves. They made the soldiers, officers, andcommanders under them acknowledge their own subordination. They took whatevermoney they wanted from the wealthy in their countries, [9] and, if there were good lands
or good watermills, they grabbed those, too, and they persisted in their extreme tyrannies.
[10] Nor did anyone have the means to prohibit this. When there were commanders fromamong the Muslims, they knocked down and destroyed the idol-temples that Chinese
officials [11] had erected in those places. The Chinese officials had no power to sayanything against it.
Things that came to pass in the year 1342 AH [August 1923-August 1924]: [12]President Li121 sent a command to the general of Xinjiang province122 that said, “YouYuán Shìkǎi (袁世凱 1859-1916) was the president of the Republic of China for nearly four
years (March 1912-December 1915), after which he declared himself Emperor and ruled
briefly until his death.
118
Lí Yuánhóng (黎元洪 1864-1928) was the second President of the Republic of China (June1916-July 1917) and later returned to office (June 1922-June 1923).
119
Literally, “He has a big face, a big head, and two ears that hang down below his shoulders.”
120
Here the narrative jumps from 1917 to 1923. Ghulām correctly notes that China had now entered the chaos of what came to be called the Warlord Era (1918-1928).
121
The author seems unclear on exactly who was the leader of China at this point. To be fair,neither was anyone in China. He refers alternatively to President Li, President Yuan, and theEmperor. At this point, Yuan Shikai’s restoration of the empire (1915-1916) had failed, andhe was dead, while Puyi, although not yet expelled from the Forbidden City, was powerless.
Note that, although Ma Fuxing is reputed to have made the people of Kashgar call him
pādišāh, the term does not refer to him in this text. (Justin Jacobs, “Empire Besieged: The
Preservation of Chinese Rule in Xinjiang, 1884–1971,” [PhD dissertation, University ofCalifornia, San Diego, 2011], p. 126.)
122
The “General of Xinjiang” was Yáng Zēngxīn (杨增新, 1867-1928, g. 1912-1928), governor
117

33

The World as Seen from Yarkand

have been a general for a long time. [13] Send back the seal of office.”123
The General did not give him any reply. Next, the President sent people whom hehad told to take the seal of Xinjiang province. [14]When the General got news of this, he sent a letter ahead to them, which said,“From what I hear, [15] he sent you to take the seal. If you are out of your senses, cometake it.” They saw this letter, [16] and they went back to the Khan. They told him what
had happened.
The Khan sent a letter to the Governor of Lanzhou.124 It said, [17] “A command wassent to the governor of Xinjiang to return to us the seal of the Xinjiang governor. [18]The governor of Xinjiang sent a letter to all of the magistrates in every city who were
his relatives and relations. It said, ‘The Khan has ordered four times [19] that my seal
should be taken from me. Our heads are on the line, so let’s increase our numbers. If you
all write him letters that say, “He is greater than a father to us. There has never been, norwill there ever be, someone as good to us as he is. [20] And we don’t need any governor
but this governor,” [21] then don’t be surprised if I hang onto my seal. If I stick around,you’ll be trouble-free.’ [22] He sent letters with even more tricks and schemes. I (theKhan) did not believe it. The reason I did not believe it was [126a, 1] that the English
and Russians informed me of the tyrannies that the General had done in collusion withall of the magistrates; of the tyrannies that the Commander had done; of the fact thatthey had shut down the radio in Urumchi [2] and Kashgar; of the tyrannies done by theCommander’s son and daughters; of the way they took four hundred yambu125, [3] threeof Xinjiang in this period. Yang is the subject of a great deal of folklore suggesting that he hada colorful and violent career, including stories about the spectacular assassination of two of his
rivals at a dinner party. Appointed to Xinjiang under the late Qing, he opposed and eliminatedthe revolutionaries before seizing power with a Dungan army. At the time this text was written,
Yang was still in power. The text refers to him alternatively as the General and as the Governor.
123
By 1923, Féng Yùxiáng (馮玉祥 1881-1948), a warlord known popularly as the “Christian
General,” had successfully gained a control of Beijing and set his eyes on securing Xinjiang.
Feng drafted a plan to place Xinjiang within the jurisdiction of a new Northwestern FrontierCommissioner’s Office, thus ousting Yang, but the plan failed. Feng successfully planted
a spy, Zhang Chunxi, in the Dihua administration, and Zhang began to work to undermine
Yang, including by cultivating a relationship between then-President Cáo Kūn (曹錕 18621938) and Yang’s subordinate Commander Ma Fuxing, whom we will encounter below. (Jacobs, pp. 179-181)
124
By “Governor of Lanzhou” Ghulām indicates at this time some member of the Chinese Muslim (Huí 回) Mǎ 馬 clique. Again, the author refers alternatively to the “Governor” and the“General.”125
ET yambu < Ch. yuánbǎo 元寶: a silver ingot used as currency.
34

Translation

hundred yambu, two hundred yambu, or one hundred yambu from the wealthy by force,
or fifty from some, or good lands, or water mills, [4] without giving them any money;of how they had shot some and cut of the hands and feet of others; how one person in
ten was cured with the medicine of youthfulness, [5] but the other nine died; and of how
they had killed some people by cutting them up in a hay-chopper.”126 For this reason, theKhan did not believe the memorials they sent. [6]Again, President Yuan127 sent a letter to the General that said, “Send the seal
immediately.”
And the general of Xinjiang province sent a letter that said, [7] “I have a petition to
the Khan. Perhaps he will listen to my petition. Please keep me informed.” And he sent
his petition to the Khan.
The Khan said, “If he has a petition, [8] let him make it, and I will listen.”128
Because that scoundrel’s tricks and schemes and deceptions had come to naught, hethen wrote, “When the Khan did me a kindness [9] and gave me the seal of the Urumchi
General, what I got was an empty seal and an empty office. It seems that I’ve killed
General Yang Song129 [10] and squandered all of the money in the treasury; that I’ve
taken four-year loans from petty traders and rich men [11] and frittered them away; andthat the people have been greatly impoverished.
“I issued currency and made the people rich. [12] I paid off my debts, too. I even put
a little money back in the treasury. So, I ask for the seal for another year, or six months,
whenever.”When he sent this petition, the Khan wrote to the general of Lanzhou province,[13] “Ask this: ‘He made this petition. We hear that he’s made a Dungan the commanderThis last comment is most gruesome. Several foreign observers in Kashgar assert that Ma
Fuxing, whom we will soon meet in the narrative, used to amputate people’s limbs with amachine for cutting hay. (Andrew D. W. Forbes, Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central
Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949, [Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 1986], pp. 23-24.)
127
Of course, Yuan Shikai was deceased and no longer president. By this point in the narrative,
the president was probably Duàn Qíruì (段祺瑞 1865-1936, g. 1924-1926). The scribe may
for Duan. Alternatively, confusion over the name may point to thehave written Yuan
nebulousness and distance of central Chinese power in Xinjiang.
128
It should be noted in addition that, while the Xuantong emperor continued to reside in the
Forbidden City, he had no power. Indeed he was was expelled from the palace on 4 November 1924, right around the time of these events, by Feng Yuxiang, who was also working
against Yang. The “Emperor” in this story is a fiction. (See Introduction.)
129
By “Yang Song,” Ghulām may mean Yáng Zuănxù (楊纘緒 1873-1956), a member of theBrothers and Elders Society (Ch. 哥老會 Gēlǎo Huì) who led the Xinhai Revolution in Ili andbriefly served as the Kashgar intendant under Yang Zengxin before fleeing to China proper.
126

35

The World as Seen from Yarkand[14] of Kashgar and given him the seal of office.130 The tyrannies that this commander
has done are known to me. What do you say to that?’” And he sent this letter [15] to thegeneral of Xinjiang province, as well.
The Xinjiang General sent a petition to the Lanzhou General. It said, “I am guiltyof this. I appointed him without knowing the evil in his heart. [16] I’ve heard of thebad things he’s done, too. When I admonished him, he didn’t listen. When thrice [17]I sent him a letter telling him to give up the seal, he sent back a reply that he wouldn’t.
If I send soldiers to give him his just desserts, then what if the conflict blows up, [18]and news reaches the Khan’s ears? He might scold me for starting a conflict without his
permission, and then I’ll really be stuck. [19] If the Khan would be so kind as to send two
or four men from among the trusted officials at his court, then we will need no moneyor soldiers from the Khan. [20] I’ll take care of everything. It will be fine if the people
the Khan sends are faithful to what I do, write down what has happened, and inform the
Khan.” [21] The Khan sent ten officials. No one knew them.
And it happened that the Commander (of Kashgar) had written false letters in thename of the eight Bolshevik governors claiming the lands subordinate to Kashgar –Maralbashi, [22] Seriq Qol, Keriyä, and Chärchän – and all of the lands within that area
under its various prefects, six county magistrates, seven vice-magistrates, one intendant,
and one commander. [126b, 1] It seems he had also sealed it. [2] He fought with them[these officials], and, when his strength was not enough [to win], he fled with the intent
of getting money in Andijan. The English consul in Kashgar found this out [3] andimmediately informed the Khan and made him aware. The General had no news of this.
They (later) found this letter in the Commander’s trunk [4] and sent it to the Khan.
The fortunes of China were on the rise. In the time of the Black Turban Chinese,when things were peaceful under Nikolai, [5] the intendant of Kashgar had also promised
these cities to Nikolai with a letter. When they killed the Black Turban intendant, thisletter came to light. [6] The Khan found this out later, too.131
Here at last we meet the title character, Mǎ Fúxīng (馬福興, 1864-1924, g. 1916-1924). Contemporary descriptions paint a picture of a “half-comic, half-homicidal” thug who governed
Kashgar with horrible cruelty. (Forbes, pp. 22-24) The following narrative conforms to what
Western sources tell us about his downfall while providing more information and insightfrom a local perspective.
131
Here it seems the author has provided two slightly differing versions of the same story.
Given that Ma Fuxing, in this narrative, did not flee abroad, I believe that the second version,
wherein the “Black Turban” intendant of Kashgar promised that territory to the Russian Empire, is the one the author intended. The Black Turban intendant in question would have been
Yang Zuanxu.
130

36

Translation

In the year 1341 AH in the month of Eid al-Adha [May 1923], the General gathered
up all of the soldiers stationed [7] in Urumchi and sent them to Aqsu. He sent themunder the command of the Aqsu intendant. He also sent officers with them. [8] They
totaled 12,000 soldiers and sixty officers. The Kashgar intendant was in Yarkand. The
General sent a letter and commanded him to make for Aqsu as well. [9] Of the six
prefects, he commanded one to make the soldiers’ clothing ready. He commanded one
to provide provisions [10] every month. He commanded one to prepare and send in
1,000 bags of sifted flour every day. He commanded one to conscript [11] soldiers. He
ordered one to provide and clean rifles. He ordered one to collect horse-carts, camels,
and donkeys, then to send them off with soldiers [12] supplied with feed. He assigned
the intendant who had been brought from Yarkand to record what these six officials didin a notebook, and then, as the head of intelligence, [13] inform the official who was thehead of the soldiers in Aqsu about them every day. The intendant who was the head of
the soldiers in Aqsu [14] gathered the coppersmiths in his office and made each of themhammer out cook-pots for more than 100 people. On the advice of the intendant who had
come from Yarkand, 2,000 soldiers entered Kashgar and cut off the troops making for
Russia. Another 1,000 soldiers came [16] and blocked the roads to Badakhshan and to
the Bolshevik country. Their concern was that they thought the Commander might run
off in some other direction.
In Ush Turfan [17], there was a Dungan official named Mr. Ma.132 He was also a
prefect. He was also a colonel with 100 soldiers. The General [18] feared him, thinking,“This is going to go wrong, too.” The General told him, “You will arrive on such-andsuch day of the month.”
Killing thirty horses,133 [19] he arrived three days after the order was given.
“Are you a Dungan?” asked the General.
“My mother and father are Dungan,” he said.
“Will you go to the idol-temple?” [20] asked the General.
“Mr. Ma” was Mǎ Shàowǔ (馬紹武, 1874-1937, g. 1924-1933). Ma Shaowu, a Dungan fromYunnan, began his career in the Qing military. At this time, he was an official and militarycommander under Yang Zengxin in Ush Turfan. Note that Ghulām contradicts the relationship between Yang, Ma Shaowu, and Ma Fuxing that emerges from the Chinese documents:
Ma and Ma had a longstanding rivalry, and Yang appointed Ma Shaowu magistrate of a county in Aqsu in order to counter Ma Fuxing. (Jacobs, pp. 182-183) Here, Yang is concerned
about Ma Shaowu’s loyalty, and so brings him into the fold through a series of rituals: kowtowing before an idol, eating pork with officials, and receiving the seal of office.
133
Perhaps he “kills thirty horses” by riding them roughly in his rush to get to Urumchi fromUsh Turfan.
132

37

The World as Seen from Yarkand“I will,” he said, and he went. He kowtowed before the officials in the idol-temple.
He swore in the idol-temple to do no wrong. He went back with them, and he ate porkwith the officials.
“He shall receive the seal of the colonel,” ordered the General, who took it andhanded it [22] to another Chinese. That Chinese went and gave the seal to Mr. Ma alongwith his 500 soldiers.
At that moment [127a, 1], the General told Mr. Ma, “Take the soldiers and go to
Aqsu.” They left that day and came to Aqsu.
The two intendants and sixty officers [2] in Aqsu said to Mr. Ma, “The Khan greatly
disparages the General. The General greatly disparages the Kashgar intendant. It’s left
all of us [3] wondering just what to do. What is your advice?”
Mr. Ma said, “I’ll do this job. Whether with words, whether with diplomacy, whether
with warfare, I’ve taken it on as my task.” Together with 2,500 soldiers and the wisest of
all of the officers, [5] he left for Kashgar. They slept during the day and marched during
the night.
Six of the Commander’s informants had gone to Aqsu. [6] They seized theinformants and killed them by cutting them up. Four informants had gone to Maralbashi.
They seized them, too, sent them to Aqsu, and killed them. No one knew that these 3,000[7] soldiers were coming without notice. But the officials went out and met together. The
Commander heard about this, and, on a Friday, he gave his seal over [8] to the county
magistrate. Mr. Ma, intending that the Commander would give up his weapons to thearmy, sent two circumspect men. They appeared in person before the Commander, [9]who listened to what they had to say and then perssonally shot them both to death with apistol. A man who was waiting with their horses went and informed Mr. Ma.
[10] That day, Mr. Ma waited until evening. With all of the soldiers, in the middleof the night, he went up to the gates of the New City. “Open the gates!” he said. The
gatekeepers said, “We won’t open them!” and did not open them. With his assembled
wardens, Mr. Ma, five or ten officers, and fifty soldiers climbed the wall. [12] They
opened the gates and fired artillery three times. The soldiers who had stayed behind blew
the horn and entered the gates. They came to the Commander’s gate. They passed [13]through the gate, entered, and went before the Commander. The Commander killed one
man with a pistol. They shot the Commander in the arm. The Commander collapsed.
[14] They rolled him up in felt with his head sticking out, took him into the stable, andlaid him down in the manure with his two ankles on his head. They also brought out hischildren and retainers, put them in the stable, and set soldiers to keep watch. They also
set guards at the two gates. The officers took responsibility for the treasury and the city.
38Translation[16] The rest accompanied the Colonel134 to the Old City. When they got the hint thatthey were coming, they opened the gates. It seems that one of the Commander’s [17]men had brought news of what had happened (in Kashgar). These men surrounded theColonel’s yamen. The Colonel climbed to the top of the city wall with his soldiers [18],and they fought for two and a half hours. Commander Tājī135 died.
For two days, the city gate was closed off. [19] No shop opened. Nor could one findwater to drink. On the third day, they announced to the city, “All important people should
go to the New City. [20] We are going to kill the Commander, and they should see it.” Allof the important people went, and they saw the officers who had come.
The officers asked, “Look at the man who oppressed you. [21] What state is he innow? Look, the Commander has been bound to a rack and leaned up against a wall.”[22] Then the Commander said, “If there is any Muslim here, may he give me a cup
of water.”
The Muslims said, “You have shown no mercy to us. So you will drink Satan’s piss!
[127b, 1] We won’t give you water.”Mr. Ma took pity on him and gave him a cup of water.
“If I could have some steamed buns?” said the Commander. [2] With his own hand,
Mr. Ma gave him a steamed bun to eat, one of his own steamed buns.
Then, ten soldiers shot him with their rifles, but in [3] a place that did not kill him.
He gestured to one of them, who shot him in the heart.136
Mr. Ma brought the Colonel to his own yamen137 and then tossed him out [4] into
the city. He ordered the important people to bury him in six days. He seized half of theirwives and retainers.
[5] The thing that happened the third time: three times, the Commander refused toPerhaps the Colonel Wang referred to in a few lines?
I do not know who Commander Tājī might have been.
136
This account of Ma Fuxing’s execution suggests that Ma Shaowu was remarkably merciful
to him. Nicholas Roerich, whom Ma Shaowu frustrated, offers an altogether less charitableaccount of the execution: “The details of the murder are medieval. The captured man was
crucified and after two days of crucifixion the present commander of Khotan [Mr. Ma] shot at
him at such close range that the blood spurted upon the victor. At the same time his soldiers
were also shooting with him. … [A]fter the murder of the Titai and his son, in Kashgar, theirfamilies suffered complete robbery. The earrings were ripped out of the ears of the son’s wife.
They brought a photo of the crucified Titai. Friends, look upon this brutality committed without trial and without thought of responsibility!” (Nicholas Roerich, Altai-Himalaya: a Travel
Diary, [Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press, 2001], pp. 163, 214.)
137
It is normal practice in writing on Chinese history to refer to the physical office of an official
by its Chinese name, the yámen. I follow that standard here.
134
135

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The World as Seen from Yarkand

comply with the Khan’s order to give up the seal. [6] The Khan remembered this. When
he told the Commander of Kashgar to give up the seal presented to him by the General,
he got the General’s order but did not give up [7] the seal. The Khan remembered this,too.
In the year AH 1342 [August 1923-August 1924], the thirteenth year of the Republic: The General sent one of his wives home with 400 soldiers, [8] two cartloads ofgold, and seventy-eight cartloads of [silver] taels and coins. The Khan heard about this[9], and he sent an imperial letter to the General of Lanzhou. It said, “The General in
Urumchi has sent his wife with eighty cartloads of gold and silver. [10] Dispatch someone
to welcome them, bring them to the city, and detain them. Turn the soldiers around andstop them. Send the wife with some of her people back to her own homeland. Remand
the eighty cartloads of gold and silver to my treasury with their accounts.” [12]What was the Khan’s order, that he did this? The Khan sent a letter to the General of
Urumchi that said, “You have sent treasure in eighty carts. [13] I took it into my treasury.
I sent your wife and your people to your homeland. What was the reason for sending thistreasure?”
The General of Urumchi said, “In my homeland, there is no water tower. I sent it to
get this, and also for my reputation.” [15]“This plan of yours is quite good after all,” said the Khan. “But the area around you
is not safe. This, too, will come to pass in its own time.” [16] The Khan rememberedthis, too.
The English informants reported the truth of it to the Khan: [17] “The General has
filled a city up with gold and silver. The people of Xinjiang province have no gold or
silver left. [18] The magistrates in all of the cities collected all the gold and silver andissued paper money in its place. The people are in an extremely despicable state. [19]Every magistrate has set up a treasury. They’ve taken in two and a half years’ worthof taxes in one year. The official himself took the extra six months of tax. [20] They
sent the two years’ worth of taxes collected in one year to the General. The Generalhoarded it. Where will this business end? [21] We will write again as things develop.
We hear that the Khan desires to treat the people well and take care of them. [22] We
hear, too, that the officers who oppressed the people got their stations and run them outof covetousness.”138[128a, 1] A verse: The teeth will know the taste of food. / The one who catches the
138

40

Ghulām’s conception of the role of European agents in China is complicated. Here the English seem to act in service of justice and in support of imperial authority.

Translation

mouse and squirrel is the cat.139[2] The General made a gift of 400 taels to Mr. Ma. For his service, Colonel Wang
gave 40 taels, and all of the other officials [3] made contributions accordingly. Apartfrom Mr. Ma, the other soldiers and officers were sent away to Ili. Mr. Ma ordered, “Takeall of the vegetables from the fields that [4] the Commander had planted and give them tothe people.” They sold all of the vegetables. They gathered up all of the money from thevegetables. [5] They also collected the money from the Commander’s 2,000 donkeys,
400 carts, sixty trucks, 400 camel carts, 2,000 horses and mules, silk carpets, rugs, [6]cups, bowls, various household goods, 8,000 bags, and 1,000 spades and figured out its
total value. They informed the General.
Mr. Ma received an order from the General. [7] It said, “With the contents of theaccounts, and with witnesses, summon the judges. Whosoever had their money taken by
the Commander, give it to them, [8] and get a receipt from them. If he has seized people’s
lands, also note whether or not they were remunerated with the equivalent in cash. [9]Return the equivalent of the money they gave according to testimony. Everyone should
return the equivalent land in their own districts with appropriate documentation [10] to
the people and so placate them.”
The Commander’s oldest wife, as it turns out, was the Colonel’s mother. She took
the Colonel’s wife and one of the Commander’s [11] sons to Yarkand and establishedhim in the yamen set up by the Black Turbans. Every month, these three people were
supplied from the yamen with flour, rice, firewood, and money. [12] They had enough tosustain them. The beg of the New City and his yüz bashi140 went there twice a day, in themorning and in the evening, saw them with their own eyes, and brought information to
the yamen. [13] They made those who stayed in the Commander’s service and worked
for him in Kashgar, both Muslims and Dungan, consolidate what they had received. [14]Where would this business end?
All of these matters came completely to an end in the year 1343 AH the month of
Jumada I [December 1924], [15] five months later.
We have written out an example of one of the ghazals that the people of Kashgar
recited out of joy.
The idiom means, “rodents” will eat well now, but the “cat” will catch them later. That is, one
benefits from covetousness in the short term but will eventually be punished. Does it meanthat the corrupt will be swallowed by the just, or simply by the more powerful?
140
Literally “hundred-head,” the leader of a group of one hundred under the Inner Asian systemof decimal organization. This and other similar offices persisted on the sub-magisterial level
through the Qing and Republic and into the 1950s.
139

41

The World as Seen from Yarkand[16] The road to Xihu is reedy; / No one has cut it with a sickle. / Fourteen years
ruling the city, / There’s no one else like Commander Ma!
[17] Oh! I say, My God! I say, / In the city, I weep! / Commander Ma who lay in the
open cart, / Commander Ma who lay in the Chinese cart, / Fourteen years [18] ruling thecity, / Great Commander who lay in the manure!
The white sparrow got eaten, / The black sparrow got eaten too. / Upon the Great
Commander’s [19] death, / The Kashgaris were happy!
The Great Commander was a barn mouse141; / He squandered a lot of taxes! / When
Mr. Ma arrived, / [20] He ran into his hole!142
That is the whole verse.
Oh, tyranny, tyranny and trouble, / The market shall not be lively forever. / [21] The
blade of tyranny struck in the world / And brought innumerable troubles to the people.
Was it right to wield the blade of tyranny? / Killing this innocent like this, / [22]Whatever poor wretch the hour of death comes to, / They cannot escape it, no matter
what trick they try.
[128b, 1] Oh, Muslims, oh, believers, thanks be to God! Sing his praise, that hehas supported us at a good time, at a good hour! [2] In the great books, they tell thisgood news, that the great Imam Mahdi would come into existence, and conflicts andkilling would come to pass in all of the regions within Creation. [3] Muslims foughtwith infidels, infidels with Muslims and with Russians, Russians with Chinese, [4] andChristians even with each other. These signs make known the coming of the great Mahdi.
Should my God [5] grant me life, and should my beard be stained with blood, and should
the moment of exalted martyrdom come to me, it will be no surprise.143[6] The second event is one that came to pass in the year 1340 AH [1921-1922].
Some of the children of the Muslims in Bukhara studied the ‘ilm-i jadīd.144 [7] They
Literally, a “bag mouse.” Possibly Apodemus uralensis or Ural field mouse, a rodent common
across Central Asia.
142
The line in the MS is unclear (see Transcription). Another translation might be “He ran out ofsight!”
143
Ghulām’s purpose in narrating these three seemingly unrelated events is gradually becoming
clear. The first event, the end of Ma Fuxing’s rule in Kashgar, has cosmic implications, serving as a sign of increasing chaos in the world, including in Xinjiang. The hierarchy of imperial rule has been upset, as commanders at every level trick and disobey their sovereigns andsuperiors and are corrupted by power even as they attempt to act justly.
144
The ʿilm-i jadīd is, literally, the “new knowledge,” generally referring to modern, Westernstyle education. As noted in the introduction, I have left the terms jadīd and ʿilm-i jadīd untranslated in order to emphasize the breadth of their range of reference in this text.
14142

Translation

blinded themselves to Islam, sent a letter to Russia and the Bolsheviks, and secretly ledthem to Bukhara and opened it up to them. [8] The king of Bukhara fled to Kabul. They
obliterated the people of Bukhara. The Russians stole away all of the gold and silver
coins and jewels collected in the treasury from the time of King Tīmūr all the way up to
today. [9] The pen is insufficient to the task of describing these events in detail. [10]145
The third event was that which came to pass in the year 1342 AH [August
1923-August 1924] in Kashmir. In the city of Kashmir [Srinigar], atop the road to
Hindustan, [11] there was a mosque. When your humble author went on Hajj, the people
there showed this very mosque to me, saying, “If the Muslims win, [12] they’ll claim
it’s been their mosque of old and make it a mosque. If the Hindus win, they’ll claim it’s
their idol-temple and make it an idol-temple. [13] It’s been eight years. The Hindus madea petition, and they put a lock on it and stuck a notice to it.” In that year, they secretly
brought 12,000 Hindu soldiers from Jammu. [14] The next day, when all of the children
studying in the schools were gathered in the schools, the Hindu [15] soldiers spread out
from school to school and massacred them. They put all of the little schoolchildren to thesword. [16] They visited this tyranny on the Muslims.146[17] The fourth: The event in Kabul. Amir Amanullah Khan147 said to his people,“They shall study the ‘ilm-i jadīd! The shepherds in the mountains, married women, [18]all of them should study the ‘ilm-i jadīd.”148
While he was assiduously teaching the ‘ilm-i jadīd, the people were growing
restless. “Married women [19] going to school is not Muslim,” they said, and they grew
rebellious. Finally, it came to killings and conflicts. And both this side [20] and that side
were victors and vanquished, and after six or seven months it was not over. In the end,
70,000 people on both sides [21] were killed.
[129a, 1] The Commander’s daughter Shujakhan made a request to the Intendant
and Mr. Ma that she might go away to Beijing. They forwarded the petition [2] to theGeneral, who ordered, “Let her leave. Have her come here.” When that order came, they
let her leave.
The second event sees the destruction of a treasure dating from the reign of one of the great
world-conquerors, Amir Tīmūr. It is betrayed to the Bolsheviks, whom Ghulām sees as a destructive and divisive force.
146
The third event is a struggle over a sacred site, reflecting Ghulām’s earlier account of the destruction of temples in China, culminating in inter-communal violence, a massacre.
147
King Amanullah (1892-1960, r. 1919-1929)
148
Ghulām provides a fourth event indicating trouble in the world: “new knowledge” has upset
the order of the family. Moreover, it signals the sovereign’s violation of his duty to upholdthe sharīʿah.
145

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The World as Seen from Yarkand

It seems that Shujakhan had said in Kashgar, [3] “Not all of the Dungans died. Two
Dungans died, my father and my elder brother. When I get to Beijing, I will petition the
Khan. I will take my revenge on all the Chinese!”[4] The General had heard about this. There was a garrison of soldiers blocking
the road about two days out of Urumchi. [5] The General sent them a letter. It said, “If
the Kashgar commander’s daughter Shujakhan arrives, inform me. [6] When I send theorder, you will obey it.”
When Shujakhan got there, the sentries sent a garrison from the city that she wasto pass through. [7] When they entered the wayside inn, Shujakhan was in a cart. “Getdown,” they said. “Why should I get down?” she asked, and they said, “Get down. [8]That’s an order.” When she got down from the cart, there were twenty-eight people there,men, women, and the carters. They shot them all on the spot.
[9] For the service that Mr. Ma had rendered in Kashgar, they made him the Intendantof Khotan. They split off eight administrative regions and eight cities from Guma andgave them to him. Earlier [10] they had taken one circuit and divided it into two.149 In themonth of Eid al-Adha, he left (for Khotan) with 300 cavalry, 200 infantry, four machine
guns, [11] twelve black powder artillery, fifteen trucks with windows, 400 camels, andhis store of black powder armaments in eighty carts. [12] They were left over from theCommander. The General had ordered him to hand everything over to the (Kashgar)
Intendant. He did not obey.
[13] In the year 1323 AH [1905], Sultan Abdülhamid Khan150 established a great
many new schools in Istanbul, distributed the books of the ‘ilm-i jadīd, [14] andcommanded that children should study it. He made them teach the children and educate
them. [15] In the year 1318 AH [May 1900-May 1901], the children had studied, opened
their eyes, and gotten educated. They turned away from Abdülhamid Khan, and children
broke into the inner harem [16] and did rude, shameless, and evil things.151 The Sultan
removed himself from office with his own pen, and he sent them this letter. [17] They
killed drove off the Sultan’s four wives and his children in front of a great many people.
The Sultan’s eldest son fled. [18] It is said that there is a city on the Russian side called
Salonika. There is a palace there, too. They turned it into a fortress. They set 4,000
Previously, the circuits of Xinjiang and their intendants were based in Zhendi, Ili-Tarbaghatai,Aqsu, and Kashgar. Under Yang Zengxin, the eastern part of the Kashgar Circuit was turned
into a new Khotan Circuit.
150
Sultan Abdülhamid II (1842-1918, r. 1876-1909)
151
Ghulām is ambiguous in his judgment of the ʿilm-i jadīd: the students “open their eyes,” yetdo rude and eventually revolutionary things, bringing ruin to Istanbul.
149

44

Translation

soldiers to watch. [19] They pulled his escaped eldest son from a river and imprisoned
him with his father. At that time, [20] the population [of Istanbul] was calculated at
1,250,000. They studied the ‘ilm-i jadīd and acquired knowledge. On account of their
doing so, they lost hold of 1,000,000 of their people, their city and the lands and waters
they cultivated, their mountains and rural districts. 250,000 people [22] were left in
Istanbul. One-fifth remained. Bukhara, too, obliterated [129b, 1] the jadīds, and [theOttomans] lost their grasp on those affairs. The Wahhabis occupied Jeddah, Mecca, andMedina and held them. The Sharif152 [2] and his sons fled with their lives and took
themselves into the protection of the English. And God knows the truth.
[3] The events in the country of China. – In the year 1343 AH, in the month of Eid
al-Fiṭr [April 1925], the common people of the region of Beijing split in two. [4] They
warred with each other, murderously, destructively, excessively. The Europeans brought
the Chinese to their senses and told them, “We’ll teach you how it’s done.” [5] Morethan 500 English set up artillery factories, rifle and pistol factories, and factories to makeswords and scabbards of iron and [6] suspension bridges of iron to go over rivers. They
readied things in the workshops, readied post offices to operate the postal service inevery city, [7] staffed them with their own people, taught their learning to the Chinese,and trained apprentices. These apprentices replaced the Europeans who had taught them.
[8] They killed some scores of them, and they plundered the money and goods of those
who remained. [9] They drove those still alive back to their own countries. The greatEnglish bank closed, too. They even drove off the English consul. [10]The Chinese ambassador said, “This has all gone wrong. We are going to see somevery hard times.” The Chinese deliberated at length, [11] and they sent some of theirmost illustrious people, protected by a force of 500, to take the English consul by force,[12] bring him back, and sit him down.
The ambassador apologized to the English consul. The consul said, “This is not thetime for apologies. [13] You have killed our people, seized them, stolen from them. Afterall that, why should you apologize? There is no point in my staying here. [14] No harm
could come from leaving. As for me and my forty men, for our country, it doesn’t matter
if we die… [15] I’ve sent a letter.”153
The dates are unclear, but this ought to be Hussein b. ‘Ali, the Sharif of Mecca in 1924 who
was deposed by the Saudis.
153
Ghulā m dramatically explains the impending fall of Chinese power by the Chinese
mistreatment of the Europeans. Yet, this appears to be a war between two misguided peoples:the English show the Chinese how to do wrong things, and the Chinese have the temerity tocast off their infidel tutors.
152

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The World as Seen from Yarkand

The ambassador was speechless. At that moment, twenty warships arrived, eachcarrying 25,000 soldiers, with artillery batteries. [16] When the Chinese saw this, they
were perplexed. Then the Bolshevik ambassador said, “If the English are going to destroy
the city like this, [17] then we’ll fight them. I will return with 500,000 soldiers.”154
The ambassadors from the remaining countries were caught in the middle. [18]They said, “This is a loss to the Westerners – now everyone should stick to their own
affairs as it was before. They ought not work in the post offices. [19] This is how theconflict will end.” And they ended it completely.
In the year 1344, at the beginning of the month of Rabi‘ I [late September 1925],
70,000 Bolsheviks managed to enter [20] the country of China, which was mustering
troops. “Why did you enter with armaments and weapons and such pompous fanfare?”they asked. The Bolsheviks replied, “In order to enter into the service of China.” [21]When the Khan heard this, he said, “They should leave. We have no service for them,”
but they refused to leave. They stayed. [130a, 1] What they were thinking when they
entered, God knows.
Also, in the province of Chengdu[?], a famine began.155 The price of one jin of flourrose to six sär. [2] The Chinese were unable to handle the famine in Chengdu[?], so they
sent 70,000 households of Chinese to Xinjiang province. [3] The General blocked them.
The Chinese said, “We will not go back! If we go to our homeland, we will die of hunger.
Countless people have died of hunger in our homeland. [4] Two provinces of people
have died off from hunger. You might as well kill us – we’re probably dead anyway.”
The General had no choice [5] but to inform the Khan. The Khan sent an order not toblock them. He did not block them. This news came to Aqsu. The price of rice had been
three tänggä and thirty pul. [6] All of a sudden, it rose to twelve tänggä. Wheat, maize,
peas, millet, sorghum, barley, and vetch quadrupled in price. May my God save theselands [7] in his refuge, amen. He is the fulfiller of prayers.
The region of China and the region of Russia [8] were at peace, and Chinese consuls
were set up in five places in the region of Russia. And seven Russian consuls were set up
in the region of Beijing.156 [9]The Russian consul in Kashgar held a tea party for the Chinese officials, Kashgari
notables, and [10] Andijani notables in Kashgar. That day, they also raised their consularflag. The Russians put on Bukharan robes. [11] They wrapped turbans around their heads.
So the English and Bolsheviks each had a force of 500,000.
The famine to which Ghulām refers is obscure, as is the toponym.
156
The author refers to Yang Zengxin’s independent establishment of consulates in the Soviet
Union. (Brophy 2011, p. 341; Jacobs, p. 206)
154
155

46

Translation

They declared, “Now we are all the same!”
A mullah from Kashgar said, “Even in a robe, [12] you’re still a Russian. These
officials sitting here are Chinese. We’re Turks. How are we the same? If you become aMuslim, we’ll be the same. [13] You have four gold rubles. You have five gold ten-rublecoins. I don’t even have one silver coin. How are we the same?” [14] When he said this,the Russians were speechless. The Intendant and all of the Chinese officials said, “He’sright.”On the first day of Jumada I [18 November 1925], I wrote up to here. [15]This is the administration of the Bolsheviks: The countries of Ferghana [16] area little bit more peaceful than they were before. The people of the cities are at peace.
The rural people and the Kirghiz and Qipchaqs in the mountains are not at peace. (The
Bolsheviks) have knocked down and demolished all of the tombs with the intent ofturning the great mausoleum in Bukhara into an orchard.157[17] The Wahhabis in Arabia have gained the seat of government. [18] They do noharm at all to the people. Nor do they harass hajjis. They have destroyed and razed thetombs and shrines. [19] They have done nothing disrespectful to the tomb of the Prophet
PBUH.
[20] The situation of the country of China: There is no khan158, but they have put aman named Yan Dā159 in the khan’s place. He has no treasury. One province [21] remains
obedient to him. The highest official of each province and its general are not loyal to theKhan, but have become emperors themselves. They take the taxes from their lands [22]and collect them in their treasury, and they appoint officials according to their own will.
If [the Khan] orders them to send soldiers, they [130b, 1] do not send them. If he orders
them to send money, they do not send it. If people die as they take their lands, they do
not inform the Khan as they did before, but govern however they want. [2] Nor is Yan
Dā a descendant of the Khan. He cannot do anything.160
Things between the Bolshevik Russians and the Russians who supported Nikolai
became untenable. The Nikolai-supporters [4] thought ahead, and they said, “We are
Ghulām again shows his concern with the destruction of sacred sites.
At this point, the Emperor had been expelled from the Forbidden City and lost even his ceremonial role.
159
Perhaps Yán Huìqìng (顏惠慶 1877-1950), briefly President (May 1926-June 1926). His timein office is consistent with the dates given in the MS for the writing of this section. Dā, asabove, < Ch. dà “great,” from dà zǒngtǒng 大總統 “great president.”
160
Just as a pretender sat on the throne in 1911, precipitating the fall of the Qing, now theimperial lineage has been disrupted once again. The president is illegitimate without imperial
descent and so cannot rule.
157
158

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The World as Seen from Yarkand

few, and the Bolsheviks are many. All of them are working men, low-born people. If
we all support them, [5] it’ll be the end of us, but, if it doesn’t stop, they’ll kill us, too.
They’ll kill our wives and our little children. [6] They’ll wipe out our posterity. We willbe the cause of their deaths.” The Bolsheviks became informed of this. [7] A few people
acted as go-betweens, and both sides backed down. Yet, they did not trust each other. In
their hearts, [8] both of them were suspicious of each other.
The year 1345 AH [July 1926-June 1927]. The Wahhabis entered Jeddah, Mecca,and Medina, and every night they slaughtered three hundred of Mecca’s notables likesheep. [9] When the people of Medina heard this, they were afraid, and they all wentout to meet with them. The Wahhabis made apologies to those who had come out, [10]and rather than ride their camels, they walked back to the city with them on foot. And
they did not attack anyone. They razed all of the shrines and [12] erased any trace ofthem. They did not do anything inappropriate to the shrine of the Prophet.161 As the kingIbn Ṣa‘ūd was beholden to the English king, [13] he wrote out all of his conditions, theEnglish withdrew all of their officials, and they signed a treaty. Ibn Ṣa‘ūd [14] sent a
letter to his son that said, “You have not destroyed the tomb of the Prophet.” His son
replied, “This is not the time. There would be a riot.” [15] It’s said that Ibn Ṣa‘ūd and his
son had studied Western methods.
[16] The events in Istanbul: Turks have stopped wearing turbans. Nor can they
go to the mosque for prayers. All of a sudden, when [17] a man wears a turban, thejadīdī162 Turks laugh and make fun of him. When a man is about to go into a mosque, thejadīdīs notice what he is doing [18] and frighten him away from his prayers.
[19] The events in Iran: There was a professor, a high-ranking scholar. On this day,he said, “I have chosen the religion of Jesus!” He and his children put on Christian-style
clothes and wore caps on their heads, and they showed themselves off. The Iranians werevery troubled [21] and shamed by this.163
Once again, Ghulām associates the destruction of sacred sites with the rise of the new order.
Interestingly, Ghulām sees the Wahhabis as proponents of Western learning. This may be an
astute observation, given that fundamentalism and revivalism are distinctly modern and often
post-colonial phenomena, spurred in this case by European incursions into the Islamic worldand emerging under conditions of repression and the effort toward liberation. It may also be
an easy way for Ghulām to indict the Wahhabis rhetorically.
162
As with ʿilm-i jadīd “new knowledge,” I have left jadīdī untranslated. From context, the mostneutral translation would be “neophile,” “new-style,” or “reformist,” with all of the vague
connotations that the English terms carry.
163
I am uncertain as to exactly what Ghulām indicates with his story of the professor. However,the date is consistent with the Pahlavi reforms under Reza Shah (1878-1944, r. 1925-1941),
which included new sumptuary norms.
161

48

Translation[22] The events in the region of China: The region of China split into two parts.
One, the region of the capital, held to the old religion and sect, [21] while the other partyof jadīdī Chinese held the Christian religion in highest esteem and took control of four
provinces.164 [131a, 1] Their supporters were the Bolshevik Russians. 30,000 Bolshevikscame in to join them with rifles, swords, and armaments [2] and gave them aid. These
sent 20,000 soldiers to Xinjiang. The General in Urumchi was afraid. [3] He gatheredsoldiers together, and he hesitated.
The General sent someone with the message, “Why have you come here?”
They said, “We’ve come to take the seal.”[4] The General said, “If they need the seal, I’ll give it to them. If they say theyneed money, I’ll give it to them. But someone like me still has to be the general. I’d liketo stay.”[5] They replied, “A very large amount of money, without measure,” and the General
sent the money they asked for immediately. [6] Once they had gotten the money, he sent
a letter to the effect that, “We are no longer beholden to Beijing. We are now beholden
to the jadīdī side.”[7] The jadīdīs’ provisions ran out. They were forced to go back. On one side of thecountry, the old Chinese fought hard with the jadīdī Bolshevik [8] Chinese. The Chinese
racked up their debts to Europe. It seems that they had pawned several cities [9] throughtreaties. The English set up factories and produced goods. They also set up factories foriron bridges, and they built bridges. [10] The jadīdī Chinese killed off all of the English
in the factories, the merchants, and the travelers.
[11] The English consuls said, “These things you’re doing simply won’t do. We
will put this to all of the consuls in the Republic. [12] Whatever they order, we will do.”From the consultative office arrived an order: “Send soldiers.” 10,000 English soldiersfrom London [13] and 50,000 from Hindustan, in total 60,000 soldiers, went in the firstwave. In the second wave went Afghan and Nepali soldiers from Hindustan, [14] 30,000of them. The reason for their hard strike was [15] that the Bolshevik Russians had gone
to Beijing and assisted the jadīdī Chinese. They worried, and they chose to support
164

The “Christians” may refer to the Chinese Nationalist Party, which was now based in theSouth and launching the Northern Expedition to take control of Beijing and the North. Depending of Ghulām’s level of knowledge, when he received this information, and how it wascommunicated to him, he may also mean the split between the Nationalists and the Chinese
Communist Party that was then unfolding. Ghulām will momentarily refer to the Bolshevik
Chinese as jadīdī, presumably indicating the latter case. (131a, 7) In either case, the depictionof one party as “Christian” and the other in the capital (presumably Beijing, but possibly the
new capital of Nanjing) as holding to the old Chinese religion is interesting.
49

The World as Seen from Yarkand

the old Chinese’s side, to take their revenge, and to take possession of their dead, theirmoney and goods, and the cities that had been pawned to them. [16] And so they girded
themselves for such a great conflict. Three or four kings supported each faction.
[17] The events of Urumchi, Xinjiang, China: At the beginning of Ramadan [March1927], the six brigade commanders held a meeting. [18] “In Beijing,” they said, “things
are extremely tumultuous; as for food and drink, these are in extremely short supply.
Four jin of unsifted flour is thirty-seven and a half sär. The General has a large treasury.
[19] How about we kill the General in the night and abscond with the gold and silver in
his treasury?”[20] One of them went and said, “I will meet with the General,” and he went in andmet with the General. “The six of us had such a discussion!” he said.
“Who?” the General asked.
“One, and then me, and such-and-such and so-and-so…” He wrote out the names.
[131b, 1] “They will stay quiet for three days, and then, on the fourth night, they will killyou. I should leave now. Otherwise, they’ll kill me, too!” he said and left.
The next day, the General [2] invited all of the officials, including the six officers,
to a tea party. When it was time for tea, the officers went. These [3] were led off to adifferent place. Those five officers were led to a special place. None knew what was
happening to the others. Sooner or later, [4] they came in. They shot all of them in eachof their rooms.
(One of them) was the younger brother of Yang Tong, who had killed the previous
general, plundered the treasuries, and come to Kashgar.165 [5] He (the younger brother)asked if his companions had gone to tea.
“According to the old custom, [6] they went with three or four of their men.”
This didn’t even break his stride. “Send all of our soldiers, mounted,” he ordered hisrunners. [7] When they were ready, he went with his soldiers to the tea party. It was notcustomary for the General’s men to come to tea with soldiers. [8] If the General hears or
sees, he’ll realize something is up, and he’ll be upset, he thought.
“Keep the soldiers here, mounted. [9] I’ll go in myself.” He went in himself. They
led him to the place where his four companions had entered. They [the General’s men]were standing on either side of the door. [10] They shot him in the ribs. He grabbed holdof one of them. He got his pistol and shot two men with it. The rest of them shot him
several times [11] with their rifles and killed him.
165

50This “Yang Tong” is probably the same figure as “Yang Song” above. Again, the author indicates Yang Zuanxu, who was responsible for the execution of the Ili General Zhì-ruì (志銳,1853-1912) during the Xinhai Revolution and whom Yang Zengxin later posted to Kashgar.

Translation

His soldiers had no idea what was going on. The General came out to greet themand recounted the event to them. [12] The soldiers dismounted from their horses andstood holding their rifles and the sedan chair. The General said, “What do you say?”“These armaments, [13] weapons, these horses, food and water, clothing – yougave them to us,” they said. “We are beholden to you. We have nothing to say. You
generously gave us these. [14] If you want to be generous to someone else, too, that’s
your choice.”“Mount your horses,” he said. He ordered them onto their horses and hurried themon their way. [15] Swiftly, they informed the Khan of what had happened.
An order arrived: “Give every soldier 15 sär and new uniforms.” [16] He gave themnew ones. He made another Chinese their brigade commander.
[17] Four hajjis made a petition to Shahzade Abdulaziz166: “Six Bedouins robbed
us in such-and-such a place.” [18] When Abdulaziz had first risen to power, he had hadeight prominent men from all of the tribes come and swear their oaths. “We won’t rob
people,” [18] they had said, “nor take on our camels [19] more than what the King hasordered.” He brought out the eight who had sworn oaths and told them, [20] “Six of yourpeople robbed some hajjis.”“We don’t know about it, nor do we know these people,” they said. “They havenothing to identify them, and they told the hajjis nothing. [21] How could we find themfor you?”
He had them locked up and sent out a hundred soldiers. One lonely Bedouin had
gone up onto a mountain. [22] They seized him and gave him a hundred blows with awhip.
“Who are the ones who robbed the four hajjis?” they asked.
“I heard that such-and-such Bedouins [132a, 1] robbed them,” he said, and heled the soldiers to them. The soldiers captured them. They brought these six in. Theyinterrogated them and imprisoned them together with the eight (oath-givers), making
fourteen, [2] surrounded them with 1,000 soldiers, and took them to their homeland.
They showed these fourteen and before their very eyes [3] massacred all of the men andwomen in their homeland and even slaughtered babies in their cradles like sheep. And
they brought their heads strung together on ropes. [4]Then they (the prisoners) said, “Oh, Abdulaziz! Did you see? This happened
because of you, that they tortuously [5] dismembered these people to death. And thenthese eight, though they had nothing to distinguish them, couldn’t they have been found?
166

Abdulaziz b. Saud (1876-1953, r. 1926-1953)
51

The World as Seen from Yarkand

You brought ruin to so many lives!” [6] And with great torment, over the course of one
day, from morning to night, they tortured them to death. And God knows the truth.
[7] In the holy city of Mecca, a prosperous man petitioned Abdulaziz, “Would you
grant me a plot of land? There is a storehouse that I know. [8] I will show you.”“Let him show us!” he said. “I’ll give him a plot.”
But he had dug this place out in the holy city’s storehouse. [9] He showed them.
The Sultan had grown concerned, and he had sent 2,000 black powder rifles [10] andsecreted them away in the storehouse. Every rifle was accompanied by over a thousandbullets. He showed them this, too. The power of God [11] had given the Wahhabis theiropportunity. And there were also 400 chests of gold in that treasury, the kind of chests
that a camel can carry two of. [12] God brought fortune to the Wahhabis.
[13] It has been passed down in the biography of the Prophet that the Negus [ofEthiopia] had sent soldiers to lay waste to Mecca. The soldiers had made off with 300 of
Abdulmutallib’s camels.167 [14] The commander came before Abraha [the Negus].
Abraha said, “Oh, Abdulmutallib! Why have you come?”
Abdulmutallib replied, [15] “Your soldiers made off with 300 of my camels. I cameto ask for them.”
Abraha said, “If you asked me for more than this, even if you asked me for Mecca,
I would give it to you.”Abdulmutallib said, “The camels, those are mine. As for Mecca, it has a master.”
They gathered up the camels and gave them to him.
And then Abdulmutallib climbed up a mountain and sat atop it. The infidels tried
to lay waste to Mecca, [18] and they drove their elephants to destroy it. The elephants
trumpeted, but they did not approach it. By the order of the Most High, with the creaking
and crashing of Hell, they spit out hailstones bigger than peas from Hell, [19] each one at
an infidel’s head, [20] and the infidels died with their horses and beasts of burden. Even
now, some of these stones are kept by some prominent people of Mecca [21] in theirhomes as good luck charms. I, your servant, have seen them with my own eyes. [22] And
God knows the truth.
[132b, 1] Events in Arabia: A hajji from Merkit168 went to the holy city of Mecca. A
letter came in the year… in the month of Eid al-Adha, to his family and relations. [2] “IGhulām here presents the story of the “Year of the Elephant” (ʿĀmu ’l-Fīl), c. 570 CE. The
seige of Mecca by the Ethiopians is intended to provide an historical parallel the invasion of
the holy city by the Wahhabis.
168
Merkit (also Makit, Mekit) is a medium-sized town southeast of Kashgar and northeast of
Yarkand.
167

52

Translation

have been in the House of God for two months. The ground keeps quaking terribly. The
time for Arafat approaches. How will we go on Arafat [3] and stay alive? Won’t we fallover? Be pleased with us.”
Events in Merkit:[4] In the year 1345 AH, in the month of Eid al-Fiṭr [April 1927], there was a fierce
earthquake, and the ground split open.169 The houses and buildings all fell over. The
people spent the day sitting on the muddy ground. [5] What’s more, a heavy rain fell on
them. None of these Dolans knew any law but the Law. Their trade is selling firewood,branches, and the roots of trees from the wilderness.
[7] The events of the Ili General170: In the month of Eid al-Fiṭr [April 1927], thirtysix Bolshevik officers and four Chinese [8] garrison officers conferred, and the Chinese
pledged to become Bolsheviks, too. They came to the agreement that, “In two days’ time,in the evening, [9] we will kill the General and lay waste to the land.”Right there, in front of a Chinese officer, there was a [10] little child. He did not see
this child. If he did see him, then he did not notice him. After they dispersed, this childwent to the General’s yamen [11] and knocked on the door.
The doorkeeper said, “Who are you?”“I want to speak with the General,” said the child.
“I don’t have an order for that. [12] I’m not opening the door.”
The child said, “Open this door immediately! If you don’t open it, tomorrow you’ll
never escape it!”
The doorkeeper was scared, and he told this to the second doorkeeper. [13] The
second doorkeeper told the third doorkeeper, and the third doorkeeper told the General’s
attendant.171 [14] The attendant told the General. The General immediately came out.
He had them open up all the way to the third gate.
Given Ghulām’s apparent concern with the signs of the coming apocalypse, the juxtapositionof an earthquake in Islam’s holiest city and one in the poorest backwater of Kashgaria canhardly be coincidental.
170
The Ili General Yīlí jiāngjūn 伊犁將軍 was a high office under the Qing, and for a century
its holder commanded all military forces in Xinjiang. Following the reconquest under Zuo
Zongtang, the Ili General’s area of administration was significantly reduced in preparation forthe conversion of the Inner Asian territory into a province. At the beginning ofs the Republic,
following the Ili revolutionaries’ brief seizure of power, the Ili General’s command structure
remained largely in place, but titles changed: the general was now the Ili Garrison Commander Yīlí zhènshǒushǐ 伊犁鎮守使. In 1927, the office had been held since 1921 by Niú Shí (牛時 d. 1933).
171
A Chinese yamen was protected by a series of courtyards, each with its respective gate.
169

53

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The General saw the child and said, [15] “What do you have to say?”“I have something to say just to you.”
The General brought the child inside. “Tell me what you have to say,” he said. “Ifyou’re afraid, [16] you can hold my hand. Reveal who this person is.” And the child did.
And then he told the General everything that had happened and that he had heard themsay. [17] The General replied, “Go back to where you came from.”
The next day, he summoned those [18] four officials before him, together with six
or seven scribes. They came, one by one, according to the usual procedures. [19] He
put someone on the first door, where they seized each of them and tied them up tightly.
And then, he served the officials tea, and when they were finished, [20] they took thosefour officials in and interrogated them. They confessed. They hung the sins they had
committed about their necks and executed them in front of the six scribes.
[21] They brought the child. “I’d like to appoint you to a high position,” said theGeneral, “but you’re a little child! For this great service you have done, [22] when you’regrown up, you’ll get a position. You’ll receive 1,000 sär every month. Take it from thetreasury.” And he put a stamped [133a, 1] document in his hand. This is the truth ofthings.
[2] The events in Kashgar: The intendant of Khotan sent the Dungan Mr. Ma andappointed him to the intendancy. He made the Kashgar [3] intendant the head of the troops
in place of the commander. Mr. Ma controlled Kashgar very tightly. The reason was this,that people went off to Andijan [4] to labor and trade. They got used to and practiced the
Bolsheviks’ attitudes and ways of doing things, and Bolshevism became appealing tothem. [5] “We’ve earned a profession that requires no effort!” they thought. They forgot
the Islam of God and the Prophet, [6] converted to the religion of the Bolsheviks, put
on caps, coats, and trousers, and took up rifles over the sabers and pistols on their belts.
They marched ten [7] paces in front of the Bolsheviks, showing off their Bolshevism,standing in place and refusing to turn back, their bellies sticking out in front. Everynight, [8] a bunch of them found out who still had money for the Bolsheviks, and theywent and broke into their homes. [9] They worked out a scheme of those who had beenBasmachis in Nikolai’s time, and every evening they went to forty or fifty places andtook all of their money. “We didn’t give them [the Basmachis] any money!” they would
swear. [10] “No one came to us [to hide]!” they would swear. Over time, this way,
everyone was made to take three oaths. They put them in pain, [11] but they killed noone, nor bloodied their noses. This was a method whereby they brought many peoples
together, and they united first the consultations of seventy people, and then 1,300 people,
54

Translationor [12] 800,000 people.172
In the month of Eid al-Fiṭr [April 1927], eight of them went one evening before the[Soviet] governor and the Bolshevik officials. [13]“We have a request,” they said.
“I’ll listen to your request,” said the governor. “Say it.”
“We are of the people of the Eight Cities173 in China, [14] but we are your subjects,”
they said. “Our request is this, that you give us artillery, airships, bullets for the rifles wecarry, and [15] officers to teach us how to fight, standards and banners, and wages. Our
homeland is in the hands of the Chinese, and our people [16] are under their thumbs intyranny. We want to bring them to live in peace, as we do, and to prosper. [17] We also
want to bring our homeland under your administration. As for war supplies, we can buy
those if you provide us with money. [18] We are 60,000, and we are all obedient to ourmasters.”“In eight days, on such-and-such evening, come here,” said the governor. [19] “I’ll
put this to all of the officials, and all of us officials will gather this evening. Then we’ll
hold a meeting and let you know.” And he sent them on their way.
[20] He sent a letter to officials far and near. All of them gathered. Secretly, he wasafraid of them. He was vigilant.
“Where did they find this money?” [21] they asked.
“As it turned out, they heard about who had been a Basmachi,” he replied. “Theygathered all of these people up, place by place, and interrogated them, and they got three[22] oaths from each of them, both Russians and Muslims. For that reason, they could
not say. Russian against Russian, Muslim against Muslim – the qadis [133b, 1] issued an
opinion concerning the rightness of saying this: An oath taken unjustly did not count as
an oath. But this was how they got their money.”
Then the Russians [2] knew the truth of the matter. And then, on the appointed
evening, the eight people came. They had a good meeting. And then seven people came.
[3] They had a good time. The Russians imprisoned sixty-eight people and put themin jail. They interrogated all of them [4] and wrote down their names one by one. That
This coercing uniting of “consultations” appears to be a description of the Soviet politicalsystem. See Brophy (2011, pp. 103-112) on the extensive labor migrations between Xinjiangand Semirech’ye. In the 1910s, perhaps 50,000 a year made the journey. The next figuresavailable, from a 1930 Soviet survey, estimated 7-8,000 annually, a majority of them poorand traveling on foot. By the mid-1920s, there were over 100,000 people in Semirech’ye with
ties to Kashgaria.
173
While Southern Xinjiang had been known previously as the “Six Cities,” and under Yaq‘ūbBeg as the “Seven Cities,” the region was divided under later Chinese rule into eight cities.
172

55

The World as Seen from Yarkand

night, they seized over 300 more people. All of the money they collected was gold. [5]They went and tossed it in the treasury. The next day, they seized another 500 or so
people. The rest of them [6] fled in all directions.
The Chinese consul, prefect, and head consul heard about this. They sent letters to
the Urumchi and Ili Generals. [7] The Kashgar intendant also sent a letter to his officers.
He was asleep. He woke up. He was drunk. He sobered up. He wrote in a letter to theGenerals, “The Russians are well pleased with him. [8] He has turned away from us, aswell.” For this reason, the Khotan intendant was also [9] removed to Kashgar. More thaneighty of those who had fled reached the Eight Cities.
[10] The Russians had gathered opinions from all of their lands, cities, towns andneighborhoods, and captains. They sent these to the General. [11] The General had it sent
to the Kashgar intendant. The intendant wrote out the names of all of their towns andneighborhoods, [12] of their mothers and fathers, and their own names and sent themout to officials in every city, and they had them all arrested. Some of them were killed.
Some of them who knew things [13] were brought to the General. The General heard
what all of them had to say, and then he killed them. He also shut down all traffic on the
Andijan road.174[14] The General sent a letter to that governor. It said, “From what I hear from our
subjects, [15] you have arrested 800 people. If you would release these villains and send
them to me, then I might be pleased with you, [16] and it might declare our friendship.”The governor sent 370 people to the General. [17] “Take the Osh road back to Kashgar
and your homelands,” the Russians said and drove over 200 people to Irkeshtam. [18] The
intendant was aware of this. When he sent his soldiers out, they found that the prisoners
were exhausted, and they gradually imprisoned all of them [19] and put them in jail.
The Chinese did not know if those who had fallen into their hands were alive or not.
The Chinese [20] worried greatly, and they said, “The helpless people do not know thevalue of the kingship. Nor do they need to know anything about the situation it’s in. [21]With the blessings of God’s mercy, with the justice of the kings, if we are [22] satisfied
and content with our lot…” Four months later, when the traders and hired laborers
crossed over from Andijan, [134a, 1] the guards made note of them. They seized all ofthese people from countryside and city and interrogated them. [2] They would suddenly
set one free, and the rest they put all together in jail. This is the truth of the matter.
[3] The year 1345 AH, the month of Eid al-Fiṭr [April 1927].

174

56

In 1926 and 1927, a “war scare” prompted Bolshevik authorities to clamp down on traffic
across the Sino-Soviet border. (Brophy 2011, pp. 351-353)

Transcription

III: Transcriptison
Transcription System
In the following, I have adopted the system of transcribing Eastern Turki used in David
Brophy’s “The Qumul Rebels’ Appeal to Outer Mongolia.”175 In this system, there is a
simple one-to-one correspondence between sound (segment) and letter (graph). I avoid
introducing any artificial distinction between front and back variants of [i], as the [i] and[ï] familiar from Chaghatay appear to have merged in Eastern Turki by this point. Whilesome phoneticians suggest that there remains a slight articulatory difference in Modern
Uyghur, if so, it is phonetically all but indistinguishable and phonologically inactive.
Similarly, I also choose to be agnostic about vowel harmony and the front or backquality of suffixes. Harmony is rarely marked in this text, as it is not in its contemporaries.
Indeed, suffixes as written appear often as not to be disharmonic with their stems, eventhough phonetic evidence shows that the opposite was the case. Regardless, we willlearn nothing useful about vowel harmony from “Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi.” In the case ofvowel raising and reduction, which are arguably more important for marking prosody inEastern Turki and Modern Uyghur, the text does often show a distinction between [a] and[ä] and their raised form [e], while there is no apparent reduction phenomenon marked
in the script. When in doubt, I have transcribed with a prejudice towards the Kashgar
dialect of Modern Uyghur, triangulating with descriptions of Kashgari and Yarkandi
speech in the early twentieth century from Jarring, Raquette, and others.
Some specifics: is transliterated as <j>, as <č>, as <ḥ>, and as <ḫ>.
istransliterated as <ż>,<ṣ>, <ẓ>, and <ṭ>. is <s̲ > and <ź>. is <š>. Where
denotes the sound [p], I have written it as <ṗ>, as inṗayğambar “prophet.”
I have made one exception to Brophy’s system: I have represented non-Turki words
according to the manner in which they are written in the text, including the length andquality of segments as indicated by each letter, rather than according to their presumed
pronunciation at the time of the manuscript’s writing. I think it is interesting to see
how the scribe indexed the foreignness of words: by maintaining the spelling of Arabic
and Persian terms, reader and writer distinguished them from Turkic homophones andrecalled their own relationship and that of the text at hand with the Islamic canon. Loanwords or terms transcribed from Chinese or Russian receive the same treatment, as
175

David Brophy, “The Qumul Rebels’ Appeal to Outer Mongolia” in Turcica 42 (2010), pp.
329-341.
57

The World as Seen from Yarkand

Turki scribes used letters for Arabic sounds to write similar sounds from Chinese, forexample Arabic <ź> for Chinese [ʦ] (Pinyin <z>), as inźoŋdū < Ch. zǒngdū 總
督 “governor.” The same is true ofźāwut “factory” < Russian завод. Conversely, it
may be of interest to lexicographers to see which non-Turkic words have been nativizedand how.

Language
The language of the Ghulām narrative displays a number of peculiarities that frustrate
an otherwise capable reader of either Chaghatay or Modern Standard Uyghur. Indeed,
it is far more difficult to read than the bulk of Jarring Prov. 163, largely because of thefrequency of Chinese loanwords rendered oddly into Arabo-Persian script. The language
belongs to that panoply of transitional dialects of Eastern Turkic that suddenly infiltrate
the written word in the nineteenth century and only gain some formal institutional statusover the course of the early twentieth century. We call these varieties collectively Eastern
Turki, though they represent a range of mutually intelligible but otherwise phonologicallyand lexically divergent varieties.176 In the meantime, as Äsät Sulayman has argued, theprinting enterprise of the Swedish mission and its educational efforts comprised one sourceof standardization in the region of Kashgar.177 It is from their Eastern Turki textbooks,
among other ethnographic and dialectological materials, that we derive this convenientlabel, while remaining agnostic of its reference to a distinct variety of speech or writing.
The lowering of high vowels in final position is most evident in loanwords from
Chinese: zhēng mómo 蒸“steamed buns” is rendered asjīŋ mūmā178,
while tiēzi 貼子 “promissory note; paper money” becomes
tīzā.179
Compare, for example, the Kashgar dialect presented in Jarring’s materials with the Qumul
dialect recorded by Katanov. (Karl Menges and N. Th. Katanov, Volkskundliche Texte aus
Ost-Türkistan, [Leipzig: Zentralantiquariat der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 1976
(1933, 1946)].)
177
Sulayman, Äsät. “‘Qäshqär basma buyumliri’ wä ötkünchi däwrdiki Uyghur tili mädäniyiti– Chaghatay tilidin hazirqi zaman Uyghur tiligha mäzgilidiki ‘ötkünchi däwr Uyghur tili’
wä uning tarikhiy, ijtima’iy, mädäniyät arqa körünüshi” [“‘Kashgar Prints’ and Uyghur
Linguistic Culture in the Transitional Period – ‘Transitional-Period Uyghur Language’ inthe Period between Chaghatay and Modern Uyghur and its Historical, Society, and Cultural
Background”] in Shinjang Universiteti aliy zhurnali (pälsäpe – ijtima’iy pän qismi), April
2007, pp. 1-11.
178
127b, 2-3.
179
126a, 11.
176

58

Transcription“Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasi” displays an unusual feature: European-style punctuation.
Periods, commas, one exclamation point, and a question mark, reversed as in printed
texts to align with the right-to-left direction of Arabo-Persian script, appear here andthere. I have so far found no examples of this in the Tārīḫ-i Ḥamīdī section of Jarring
Prov. 163. This suggests that they are peculiar to Ghulām’s text, perhaps even from anearlier or the original version. Of course, East Turkestani manuscript culture did notexist in a vacuum, and the scribe or author would have had access to printed matter in
Arabo-Persian script that made use of these marks. While, as far as I am aware, thispunctuation is unique in the manuscripts of the Jarring Collection, it nevertheless has
little significance without further context.

Transcription[124b, 7] Kāšğar Mā Tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿasidur[8] (Yārkand Ğulām Muḥammad Ḫānniŋ bayān qiliši)[9] = Ḥājjī Ğulām Muḥammad Ḫān Ḫwājam bin Shayḫ Pir Shāh180 ṣāḥib ḥażratim anasi
Maʿṣūma ḫanim =[10] Tārīḫniŋ 1329-i Bäjīndaki Šäntūŋ Ḫānniŋ balasi yoq ikän. Anasi birlä maṣlaḥat
qilišti ke, [11] “Meniŋ awlādim bolmasa ḫān iši keyin obdan bolmaydur. Bir bala baqip
alsam, tarbiyat qilip, oqutup, ḫān išini [12] bildürsäm lazim,” dep maṣlaḥati toḫtadi.
Ḫān yāmūnida181 muqarrab bir katta ʿamaldār bar erdi. Ḫān aniŋ balasini layiq
kördi. [13] Dadasiğa dep, balasini Ḫān qoliğa aldi. Bir yerim yilčä tarbiyat qilip, ustādğa
berip, ḫānliq ʿilmini oqutmaqqa buyradi. [14] siyälär182 Ḫānniŋ ḥukmi bilän oqutmaqqa
saʿy-u kūšeš qilmaqqa turdi. Bir yerim yilchä šu ṭarīqa ötti.
Bir kün waqitni [15] ğanīmat tapip dadasi Ḫānğa ʿarż qildi ke, “Bu balağa tarbiyat
qildiŋiz. Mening balam ikänni ḫwāh yāmūn ichidä [16] ḫwāh yāmūnniŋ tašidaki
ʿamaldārlar hämmäsi bilsä, sizdin keyin bu balani qačan ḫānliqğa olturğuzadur? Ḫām ishMS. Jarring’s catalog calls him “Pur Shāh.” There is no sure way to tell which rendering is correct. I choose pīr because this spelling of pīr appears extremely frequently in contemporary craft manuals from the same region.
181
MSyāmūn < Ch. yámen 衙门 “official’s office.” Here, it refers to the offices in the Palace in Beijing, but it also indicates any office, down to and including that of the county magistrate.
182
MS
siyälär < Ch. sīyè 司業 officials in charge of a prince’s education. (See also
Sayrāmī 2001, p. 152.)
180

59

The World as Seen from Yarkand[17] boldi.” degänida Ḫān “Moning maṣliḥati nemä?” dedi. Waqitni ğanīmat tapip tamām
ʿamaldārlarni jamiʿ qilip eytti: “Mändin keyin bu balani ḫānliqqa olturğuzamsizlär. Šuŋahämminglar qol qoyup tamğuŋlarni basiŋlar. Puḫta [18] ḫaṭ qiliŋlar,” dep yarliğ qildi.
Šundağ bu balaning dadasi ḫānliqqa dilidä ʿarżūsi bar erdi.
Waqtni [125a, 1] tapti. Ḫānning bawurčisi birlä bir bolup qančä waʿda wä ʿīdlarni
häm qilip ğaźāğa zähär qošup Ḫānğa bärdi. Wä Ḫān moni [2] yäp öldi. Ḫānniŋ anasi
moni körüp Ḫānning üstigä özini tašlap qučağlap yiğlap üč kechä kündüz qopmay [3]šu jayda jān bärdi.
Wä bu tuzikor183 nābekār balasi altä yašda edi. Ikki yaš Ḫudādin tilädi. Säkkiz
yašqa kirdi. Ikki yaš [4] asmandin wä ikki yaš yärdin tilädi. On ikki yašqa kirdi. Buaḥmaq kāfirlarniŋ mundağ rasimlari bardur. Andin [5] oğlini taḫtqa čiqarip olturğuzdi.
Özi yanida olturdi. Här nä ḫwāhlağan ḥukmni qildi. Hämmä kishi boyun sunmasliqqa[6] ʿilāj tapalmay farmān bardārliq qildi.
Bir ay jabduq184 qilip Ḫānniŋ anasini ṣanduqğa salip öz rasimlaričä toqquz qädäm[7] anasini ölükini alip yürdi. Ḫānniŋ ölükini toqquz qädäm keyin alip yürdi. Duḫma-yešāhānağa apirip kömdi. Tamāma [8] ʿamaldār wä riʿayyalarniŋ wä katta kičikniŋ köŋligä
ʿadāwat tuḫumi paydā boldi. Ağzidin čiqarmaqqa ḥadd bolmadi.
Bu nābekār, [9] “Qumūldin tartip Kāšğar, Yārkand, Ḫotän musulmān bar ʿābad
yurtlarğa katta mäktäblärni salsun. Här šähärgä on ikki, här beg yürüšigä [10] ṣaḥrāğa
ondin mäktäb salsun. Säkkiz yašdin on tört yašğičälik musulmānlarniŋ ḫwāh oğulḫwāh qiz balalarini oqutsun. [11] Yildin yilğičä maktabni tola qilsun. Yigirmä bäšādam bar jayğa bir katta mäktäb salsun. Mäktäbdä oquydurğan balalarniŋ [12] ata anasi
balalarini körgäli kälsälär, bala atasiğa Bäjīnčä gäp qilsun. Ata bala otturasida tūŋčī bilän
sözläšsun.” Niyäti [13] šul edi ke, qeri ādamlar ölüp kätsä, yašlar hämmäsi Ḫiṭāy bolup
qaladur, degän bad niyätlikdä edi.
Yaratqan Ḫudāyimiz aŋa [14] qoymadi. Ḫiṭāylar köŋlidäki ʿadāwat tuḫumilari
yerilip, “Mīŋ Gūy185 bolurmiz,” dep yakdil yakjahat bolup, bala ḫānni dadasi [15] birlä
tutup, bir ʿimāratkä solap, čeriklärni aṭrāfida ḫabardārliqqa qoyup, toṗ ṭayfūrlarni186
yatquzup, sāḫtaliq qildi. [16] Katäkkä salğan toḫidäk qilğan išlariğa pušayman bolup,
tuzkor “a treacherous, ungrateful person”
jabduq (V. V. Radloff, Versuch eines Wörterbuches der Türk-Dialecte, [St. Petersburg:
Commissionnaires de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences, 1888-1911].) “Bewegung desHerres, Ziel der Bewegung, Pferdegeschirr”
185
MSmīŋ gūy < Ch. mínguó 民國 “republic”
186
MS, probably toṗ ṭaypūr/ṭayfūr. Meaning unclear, but “cannon” is spelt
elsewhere in the MS.
183
184

60

> MU

Transcriptionḫārzārliqda yatti.
Ḫiṭāylar “fuqarā zamāni boldi” dep Mīŋ Gūy [17] atadi. Ilgärisi čunke187 otağat
katta ʿamaldārlar boyniğa saladurğan zunnār, bašidaki sačlarini, “Bu rasim qāʿidadin
tašqari [18] iš qilğan ikänmiz,” dep, moni manʿ qildi. Käŋ eginlärini, häm är maẓlūm
tarqildi.
Tārīḫniŋ 1330-i Ḫiṭāylarniŋ [19] ičidin qara sällä degän bir (ṭ)āʿifa188 bash kötärdi.
Özi šubu Ḫiṭāylardin bir dīndä wä bir maźhabdä edi. Jāŋjūŋ189, [20] dawṭay190, jogän191,
wä šän192 qatarliq ʿamaldarlarni öltürüp, tārāj qilip, pullarini alip, ḫirājāt qildi. Ammaʿamaldar wä yurtdarchiliqqa [21] heč daḫl taʿarruż qilmadi. ʿAjāyib ish ikän. Tört bäšyildin keyin, bu qara sälläliklärni ambān qičqiradur, [22] dep, alip čiqip, tola nābūd qildi.
Bäsh on yilğičälik tapqan wä tutqan yärdä öltürüp turadur. Awwalda šähärdä qara [125b,
1] sällä bolğanlarni nām banām püttüp alğan ikän.
Mīŋ Gūyniŋ ibtidāsida Yan Da Zoŋtoŋ193 dep bir kišini uluğ kötärdi. [2] Ani häm
tašlap bir qoli bir puti nābūd bolup öldi. Ikkinči Lī Da Zoŋtoŋ194 dep bir kišini čoŋ
kötärdi. Ul kišini häm dušman [3] qaṣdlägän toğradin Īnglīš dawlatigä qačip özini aldi.
Ālān yänä bir Lī Da Zoŋtoŋ dep bir kišini čoŋ kötärdi. Ḫiṭāylar [4] arasida taʿrīf qildilar:“Yüzi čoŋ, baši čoŋ, ikki qulaqi murasidin ašip turadur. Nisbatlik kiši,” dedür.
Mīŋ Gūy [5] bolğan birlä Bäjīn iqiliminiŋ heč jayiğa fāydasi bolmadi. Bala ḫānniŋ
waqtidaki tamām išlär bar-ham edi195. Bu ẓulumlardin Ḫudāwand-i [6] karīm bandalarini
qutqazdi. Bu išlär nahayiti yaḫši boldi. Jamiʿ Bäjīn sarḥaddidäki katta jāŋjūŋ ʿamaldārlar
yaʿni yerim pādišāhlar [7] öz aldiğa ḫān bolup aldi. Kišigä bir närsä bärmäydurğan boldi.
Öz tābʿasini özi köräp, här närsä qilsa, özi qiladurğan [8] boldi. Aniŋ töbänidäki čerikniŋčoŋ ʿamaldārlari tīṭaylar häm özi bilgänni qilip, öz yurtidaki baylardin [9] ḫwāhlağan
pulni alip yaḫši zeminläri yaḫši soqa196 tegürmänläri bolsa, ani häm tartip alip, ḥadd-din
ziyāda ẓulumlarni qilğali [10] turdi. Moni häm manaʿ qilmaqqa kišiniŋ ḥaddi siğmadi.
MS unclear. The graph resembles.
MStā’ifa.
189
MSjāŋjūŋ < Ch. jiàngjūn 將軍 “general”
190MSdawṭay < Ch. dàotái 道台 “circuit intendant”
191
MS
jogän < Ch. zhōuguān 州官 “prefect”
192
MS šän < Ch. xiàn 縣 “county magistrate”
193
MS
yän da zoŋtoŋ < Ch. Yuán dà zǒngtǒng 袁大總統 “great President Yuan
(Shikai)”194
MS
lī da zoŋtoŋ < Ch. Lǐ dà zǒngtǒng 李大總統 “great President Li (Yuanhong)”
195
MS
196
MS
soqa “Wooden rice mill, powered by a water wheel.” (Henry G. Schwarz, An Uyghur-English Dictionary, [Bellingham, Washington: Western Washington, 1992], p. 480.)
187
188

61

The World as Seen from YarkandBaʿżi musulmāndin tīṭay bolsa, ul yurtdaki Ḫiṭāy ʿamaldārlariniŋ [11] salğan butḫānalarini
yiqitip nābūd qildi. Ḫiṭāy ʿamaldārlari heč nemä deyiškä ṭāqatlari bolmadi.
Al-ḥāl-i tārīḫniŋ [12] 1342-nči ẓuhūrğa kälgän išlär. Līdā Zoŋtoŋ Sīnjāŋ197 seŋniŋ198jāŋjūŋiğa ḥukūm ibärdi ke, “Siz jāŋjūŋluq [13] qilğali uzun muddat boldi. Tamğuni
ibärip kiriŋ,” degänidä, heč jawāb bärmädi. Ikkinči, “Sīnjāŋ seŋniŋ tamğusini [14]alasän,” dep, kiši čiqarğanida, Jāŋjūŋ bu čiqqan kišiniŋ ḫabarini aŋlap, aldiğa ḫaṭ ibärdi
ke, “Aŋlasam, mändin [15] tamğuni alğali sizni čiqaribdur. Bašiŋiz wä jāniŋiz ikki bolsa,
mändin tamğuni alğali keliŋ,” dep ḫaṭ bärgänidä, [16] šubu ḫaṭni körüp, Ḫān qašiğa
yanip kiribdur. Aḥwālātini eytibdur.
Ḫān Länjo199 seŋ źoŋdūsiğa200 ḫaṭ beribdur ke, “‘Sīnjāŋ [17] seŋ źoŋdūsiniŋ tamğusini
alip kirgüzüp beriŋ,’ degän ḥukūmni Sīnjāŋ seŋ źoŋdūsiğa ibäribdur. Sīnjāŋ seŋ [18]źoŋdūsi šähär šähärdäki öziniŋ uruğ tuqqan ḫawīš qawm jogänlärgä ḫaṭ beribdur ke,‘Ḫān meniŋ tamğumni alğali [19] tört nöbät ḥukūm ibärdi. Daftarigä qarap ölgänni yoq
demäy ādam köṗäytip, “Bizgä mundağ ata yoq, bizgä mundağ [20] yaḫšiliq qiladurğan
ilgiri keyin kälgän emäs. Wä bizgä šubu źoŋdūdin bašqa źoŋdū lazim emäs,” dep ḫānğa
[21] ḫaṭ ibärsäŋlär, šāyad ke tamğum qolumda qalsa ʿajab emäs. Män qalsam sizlär
häm tinčliq birlä qalasizlar,’ dep [22] ḫaṭ ibärgänidä, degändin ziyāda ḥiyla wä mikir
bilän ḫaṭ ibärdi. Ḫān moŋa išänmädi. Išänmäslikdä sabab [126a, 1] Īnglīšlar wä OruslarJāŋjūŋ tamām jogänlär bilän qošulup qilğan ẓulūmlarini wä tīṭayniŋ qilğan ẓulumlariniÜrümčidäki wä [2] Kāšğardaki hawā-i tīlgrāfni maŋdurmağanini tīṭayniŋ oğli wä qizlariẓulum qilğanlarini baylardin tört yüz yāmbū, [3] üč yüz yāmbū, ikki yüz yāmbū, biryüz yāmbū, wä baʿżidin ällik yāmbū, baʿẓidin yaḫši zeminlärini pul bärmäy soqa
tegürmänlärini [4] zor bilän alip, baʿżisini etip, baʿżisiniŋ qol putini čanap, on kišidin
biri šabībatniŋ darosi bilän saqayip, [5] toqquzi ölgänlärini, baʿżi kiši jādī birlä toğrap
öltürgänini ḫānğa bildürdi. Bu sababdin ibärgän jay201 ḫaṭlärigä [6] išänmädi.”Yänä Yan Dā Zoŋtoŋ Jāŋjūŋğa ḫaṭ ibärdi ke, “Tamğuni dar ḥāl ibärip beriŋ,” dep,
Sīnjāŋ seŋ źoŋdūsi ḫaṭ [7] ibärdi ke, “Ḫānğa ʿarżim bar. ʿArżimni aŋlarmikin. Üčüralip bärsäŋiz,” degänidä ḫānğa ʿarżini ibärdi. Ḫan, “ʿArżi bolsa, [8] qilsun, aŋlaymän,”
degänidä, ul ḥarāmzādaniŋ ḥiyla wä mikirlari wä farīblari kārğa kälmigän sababdin,“Maŋa Ḫān iltifāt [9] qilip, Ürümčiniŋ jānjūŋluq tamğusini bärgändä, quruq tamğu bilän

MS
MS
199
MS
200
MS
201
MS
197
198

62

sīnjāŋ < Ch. Xīnjiāng 新疆seŋ < Ch. shěng 省 “province”
länjo < Ch. Lánzhōu 蘭州
źoŋdū < Ch. zǒngdū 總督 “governor”
jay, possibly < Ch. zhé 摺, literally “fold,” indicating a folded memorial or reportTranscription

quruq yāmūn meniŋ qolumğa käldi. Yāŋsūŋ [10] Jāŋjūŋni öltürüp, ḫazīnadäki pulni tamāmḫirājāt qilip yoqatqan ikän. Tört yilğičälik maymayčilardin wä baylardin [11] qarż alipḫarjladim. Fuqarālar häm tola ğarīb bolup kätkän ikänmän. Tīzā202 čiqarip fuqarālarni bay
qildim. [12] Qarżimni häm tügattim. Ḫazīnagämu az tola pul ašundum. Bu sabab birlä203
bir yil qačan bolmasa altä ay tamğuni tiläymän,” degän ʿarżini [13] qilip ibärgänidä, Ḫān
Länjo seŋ źoŋdūsiğa eytibdur ke, “Bu ʿarżni qilibdur. Kāšğarğa bir Tūngānini tīṭay204 [14]qilip tamğuni beribdur. Moniŋ qilğan ẓulumlari maŋa maʿlūm boldi. Moŋa nemä däysiz?
Moni soraŋ,” degänidä, bu ḫaṭni [15] häm Sīnjāŋ seŋ źoŋdūsiğa ibärdi. Źoŋdū Länjo seŋźoŋdūsiğa ʿarż ibärdi ke, “Mändä bu gunāh bar. Moniŋ köŋlidaki [16] yamanliqini bilmäyqoyğan ikänmän. Meniŋ qulaqimğa häm yaman išläri yätti. Naṣīḥat qilsam, aŋlamadi.
Tamğuni [17] beriŋ dep, üč marataba ḫaṭ ibärsäm, ‘Bärmäymän,’ dep üčür qildi. ‘Čerik
ibärip sazāsini beräy’ desäm, mabāda jadal čoŋ [18] bolup kätsä, Ḫānniŋ qulaqiğa yätsä,‘Mändin be-ijāzat jadal paydā qilibsän,’ dep k.a.y.r.mikin205 dep naʿilāj turup qalğanim
[19] rāst. Ḫān iltifāt qilip öz aldidaki išänčilik ʿamaldārlardin ikki wä yā tört kiši ibärsä,Ḫāndin pul wä yā čerik lazim [20] emäs. Hämmäsini özüm qilamän. Ḫān ibärgänlär
meniŋ išimğa sāmiʿ bolup bolğan wāqiʿalarni yazip Ḫānğa bilindürsä [21] boladur,”
degändä, Ḫān on dāna ʿamaldār ibärdi. Ularni heč kiši tonumaydur.
Wä yänä Kāšğar tābʿī Maralbaši, [22] Seriq Qol, Keriyä, Čärčän, šubu ḥudūd
ičidäki tamam jogän, altä šän, yättä ṣūfušän, bir dawṭaygä, wä bir tīṭaygä qarašliq
yurtlarniŋ [126b, 1] tamamasini Bālšīwīkniŋ säkkiz Gubūrnātūrlariniŋ206 nāmida tīṭay
sātā207 ḫaṭ qilip qoyğan ikän. Tamğu häm basip qoyğan [2] ikän. Bular birlä bir urušup,
küči yätmigändä, qačip čiqip, Anjānda pulni almaqči ikän. Moni Kāšğardaki Īnglīš
konsuli bilip [3] dar ḥāl Ḫānğa bilindürüp, āgāh qilibdur. Moniŋdin Jāŋjūŋniŋ ḫabariyoq. Tīṭayniŋ ṣāndūqidin bu ḫaṭ čiqip [4] Ḫānğa ibäribdur.
Ḫāqānniŋ ṭālaʿi nahayiti egiz ikän. Qara sällä Ḫiṭāylarniŋ waqtida Nīklāyniŋ tinčliq
MStīzā “paper money, bill” (Schwarz, p. 244) < Ch. tiēzi 貼子 “promissory note.” Seealso Ṗoskāmī, p. 151: Čiqardi tiyza däp kağäzni jaŋjuŋ hukmidur zalim, / Wä bä’zän tiyzaniŋ
hukmiğa amban bolmadi qadir. “They issued papers called tīzā, by the General’s tyrannicalorder, / And sometimes the officials were not faithful to the tīzā order.”203
MS unclear, resembling
204
MStīṭay < Ch. títái 提臺 “commander.” (Ippolit Semenovich Brunnert and V. V. Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, [Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh Limited,1912], p. 337.)
205
MS
206
MS
Gubūrnātūrlarlariniŋ
207, later, always modifying . (Radloff, v. 4, p. 375) сата (Tob. Kas.) “leichtgläubig,
phantasirend” (=“gullible, fantasizing”), so “false” or “forged.”
202

63

The World as Seen from Yarkand

zamānasida [5] Kāšğar dawṭay häm šubu šähärlärni Nīklāy nemägä satā ḫaṭ qilip qoyğan
ikän. Qara sällälik dawṭayni öltürgändä ušbu ḫaṭ [6] aškārā bolup čiqti. Ani häm Ḫān
keyin bilgän ikän.
Tārīḫniŋ 1341 roza ʿīd ayida Jāŋjūŋ Ürümčigä taʿalluq [7] šähärlärdäki čeriklärni
jamiʿlap Aqsuğa ibärdi. Aqsu dawṭayğa mā taḥt qilip ibärdi. ʿamaldārlarni häm qošup
ibärdi. [8] On ikki miŋ čerik, atmiš āmbān jamiʿ boldi. Kāšğar dawṭay Yārkanddä edi. Ḫaṭ
berip ani häm Aqsuğa aldurup bardi. [9] Altä jogän āmbāndin, birini čerikniŋ eginlärini
ṭayyār qildurğali buyradi. Birini čeriklärgä aymu ay yīŋsay208 bärgäli [10] taʿīn qildi.
Birini här küni miŋ tuğarda tört tasqağan undni ṭayyārlap tapšurğali buyradi. Birini čerik
almaqqa [11] buyradi. Birini yarağ bärmäkkä wä yarāğni tazalamaqqa buyradi. Birini atʿarāba wä tögä, išäk jamiʿlap čerik bilän [12] aš alip maŋmaqqa buyradi. Yārkanddin alipbarğan dawṭayni bu altä ambānniŋ qilğan išini daftargä alip här küni [13] Aqsudaki čerik
baši bolğan āmbānğa bilindürmäkkä maṣlaḥat bašilikkä taʿīnlap qoydi. Aqsudaki laškar
baši [14] dawṭay öz yāmūnida misgärlärni jamiʿ qilip, här biri yüz kišilik qazandin tolasoqturdi. Yārkanddin barğan [15] dawṭayniŋ maṣlaḥati bilän ikki miŋ čerik Kāšğarğa
kirip Orusqa ketädurğan qarawullarni tosti. Yänä miŋ čerik [16] kelip Badaḫšān yolini
wä Bālšīwīk yolini tosti. Iḥtiyāṭi tīṭayni “qačip bašqa ṭarafkä ketärmikin” deb.
Ūšṭurfānda [17] Mā Dāren dep bir Tūngānī āmbāl bar ikän. Wä häm jogän ikän. Wä
häm bäš yüz čerikkä šīṭay209 ikän. Jāŋjūŋ mondin [18] qorqup “Bu häm buzuladur” dep,
“Ayniŋ munčäsi yetip keläsän” dep ikän. Ottuz atni öltürüp degän qarardin [19] üč kün
ilgiri yetip baribdur. “Tūngānīmusän?” dep ikän. “Meniŋ anam dadam Tūngānī” debdur.
“Butḫānağa baramsän?” [20] debdur. “Baramän,” dep, baribdur. Butḫānağa āmbānlarniŋ
aldida baš urubdur. “Yamanliq qilmaymän,” dep, butḫānada [21] qasm qilibdur. Yanip
kelip, āmbānlar bilän toŋguz göšti yäbdur. “Šiṭaylik tamğuni bärgil” dep alip [22] böläk210Ḫiṭāyğa beribdur. Ul Ḫiṭāyniŋ bäš yüz čeriki birlän tamğusini Mā Dārenğa beribdur. Šulānda [127a, 1] Mā Dārenni “Čerikni alip Aqsuğa bariŋ,” debdur. Šul küni maŋip Aqsuğa
kelibdur. Aqsudaki ikki dawṭay atmiš āmbānlar [2] Mā Dārenğa eytibdur ke, “Jāŋjūŋğa Ḫānkāhešliqi tola. Jāŋjūŋniŋ Kāšğar tīṭayğa kāhešliqi tola. Hämmämizni šunčä [3] mašwaratkä
saldi. Moniŋ maṣlaḥati nemä?” degänidä, Mā Dāren, “Bu ḫiźmatni män qilamän. Ḫwāhgaṗ söz bilän, ḫwāh sipāgarčilik bilän, [4] ḫwāh jäŋ bilän, män kardanimgä aldim,”degänidä, ikki miŋ bäš yüz čerik nečand kār az mudeh hešyār-i dāna ʿamaldārlarni qošup[5] Kāšğarğa maŋdurdi. Bular kündüzi yatip kečäsi maŋdi.
MS unclear,or. Possibly Ch. yáncài 鹽菜 “salt and vegetables,” so “provisions” or“salary.”
209
MSšīṭay < Ch. xietai 協台 “colonel.” (Brunnert and Hagelstrom, p. 340)
210
MS
böläk “another.” (Schwarz, p. 83)
20864

TranscriptionAqsuğa tīṭayniŋ wāqiʿ nawīšlaridin altä kiši barğan ikän. [6] Tutup parčäläp öltürdi.
Marālbāšiğa tört wāqiʿ nawīš barğan ikän. Ani häm tutup Aqsuğa aparip öltürdi. Bu üč[7] miŋ čerikniŋ Kāšğarğa be-ḫabar kälgänini heč kiši bilmädi. Amma āmbānlar čiqip
körüšti. Tīṭay aŋlap tamğuni jumʿa küni šängä [8] tapšurup bärdi. Mā Dāren “Yarağni
bizgä211 tapšursun” dep ikki hušyār ādamni čiqardi. Tīṭay ular aldiğa özi [9] čiqip gäpini
aŋlap öz qoli bilän här ikkiläsini tapānčä bilän atip öltürdi. At tutup turğan ādami barip,
Mā Dārenğa [10] ḫabar qildi.
Mā Dāren ul künni käč qildi. Tamam čerik bilän naṣf-i šäbdä yeŋi šähär darwāzasiğa
bardi. “Darwāzani ač!” [11] dedi. Darwāzabānlar, “Ačmaymiz!” dep ačmadi. Mā Dārenyiğma šūtā212 bilän bäš on ʿamaldārlar ällik čerik bilän safīlğa čiqti. [12] Darwāzani ačip
üch tāypūr213 atti. Qalğan čeriklär kārnāy tartip darwāzadin kirdi. Tīṭayniŋ darwāzasiğa
käldi. Darwāzadin [13] ötüp tīṭayniŋ aldiğa kirdi. Tīṭay tapančä birlä bir ādamni nābūd
qildi. Tīṭayniŋ biläkigä ätti. Tīṭay yiqildi. Kigizgä [14] yörkäp bašini čiqarip āṭḫānağa
äkirip qiğ üstidä bašiğa ikki qišni214 qoyup yatquzup qoydi. Bala ba(dra)qasini215 [15]häm ačiqip āṭḫānada toḫtatip ḫabardārliqğa čerik qoydi. Ikki darwāzada häm čerik qoydi.
ʿAmaldārlar ḫazīna wä šähärni [16] saqlap qaldi. Qalğanlar Kohna Šähärğa šīṭayniŋkidä
käldi. Bularniŋ kälišigä puratip, darwāzani ačti. Tīṭayniŋ [17] bir ādami bolğan wāqiʿaniḫabar alip kälgän ikän. Bular šīṭay yāmūlini qoršap aldi. Šīṭay čerikläri bilän safīl üstigä[18] čiqip, ikki yerim sāʿat urušti. Tājī Tūŋlūŋ216 öldi. Atmiš čeriki häm öldi. Ikki künčäšähär darwāzasi ätildi. [19] Heč dukkān ačilmadi. Ičkäli su häm tapmadi.
Üčünči kün šähärgä ʿilām qildi ke: “Tamām kattalar Yeŋi Šähärgä čiqsun. Tīṭayni
[20] öltürämiz, körsun,” dedi. Hämmä kattalar čiqti, wä kälgän ʿamaldārlarni kördi.
ʿAmaldārlar, “Sizgä ẓulum qilğan ādamni kördiŋlar [21], nä ḥālda bolubdur?” depnišān bärdi. “Qarasalar, Tīṭayni bir šotağa taŋip, tāmğa yöläp qoyubdur.”
Andin [22] Tīṭay, “Musulman bolsa, maŋa bir čīnä su bärsun,” debdur.
Musulmanlar, “Sän bizgä raḥim qilmağan. Bu ḥālda Šayṭānniŋ südükini217 [127b, 1]
MS biz.
MS. Possibly(Radloff, v. 4, p. 1103) “die Leiter” (=“the superintendents, chiefs,
wardens”)
213
MS< tayṗūr
, a piece of artillery known in Xinjiang by the 1870s. “une sorte defaucon” (Hamada, p. 72)
214
MS
qiš < qič “der untere Theil des Fusses vom Knie bis zum Knöchel” (=“the lower partof the leg from knee to knuckle”) (Radloff, v. 2, p. 792)
215
MS
216
MS
tūŋlūŋ < Ch. tǒnglǐng 統領 “brigade commander” (Brunnert and Hagelstrom, p.
295)
217
MS
südük (Radloff v. 4, p. 838) = sidik (p. 720) “der Harn” (=“urine”)
211

212

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ičärsän. Saŋa biz su bärmäymiz,” dedi.
Mā Dārenniŋ rahimi kelip, bir činä su beribdur. “Jīŋ mūmā218 yesäm,” dep ikän.
Öziniŋ [2] jīŋ mūmāsidin bir jīŋ mūmāni öz qoli birlä yädürüp qoyubdur. Andin on čerik
miltiq bilän ölmäydurğan [3] yärgä ätibdur. Birigä išārat qilğan ikän. Yüräkigä ätibdur.
Šīṭayni öz yāmūniğa äkelip, šähärniŋ otturasiğa [4] tašlap qoyubdur. “Altä kündin
kömäsizlär,” dep buryubdur. Här ikkisiniŋ ḫātūn tābiʿlarini żabt qilibdur.
[5] Üčünči nöbätdä bolğan wāqiʿa: Üč nöbät tamğuni beriŋ degän Ḫānniŋ ḥukumini
tutmay bärmädi. [6] Bu Ḫānniŋ köŋlidä bar. Kāšğar tīṭayni, “Jāŋjūŋ qoyğan tamğuni
beriŋ,” desä, bu häm Jāŋj̮ ūŋniŋ ḥukumini aŋlap, tamğuni [7] bärmädi. Bu häm Ḫānniŋ
köŋlidä bar.
Tārīḫniŋ 1341 [1342]219, Mīŋ Gūyniŋ 13-nči yili: Jāŋjūŋ tört y̮ üz čerik qošup [8],ikki ʿarāba altun, 78 ʿarābada yāmbu wä täŋgälärni bir ḫātūni bilän öz yurtiğa ibärgän
ikän. Ḫān aŋlap [9] (bo)lup Lanjū seŋniŋ jāŋjūŋiğa ḫān ḫaṭ beribdur ke: “Ürümčidäkijāŋjūŋniŋ ḫātūni bilän säksän ʿarābada altun-[10]kümüš ibäribdur. Yolğa kiši čiqarip,čājāŋ220 qilip, šähärgä alip kirip, yaḫši gundäŋgä221 tüšürüp, čeriklärni yandurup, [11]ätiŋlar. Ḫātūni bilän ādamlarini öz yurtiğa maŋduruŋ. Säksän ʿarāba altun-kümüš daftaribilän ḫazīnamgä [12] tapšuruŋ.”Ḫānniŋ ḥukumi nemä ke šundağ qildi? Ḫān Ürümčiniŋ Jāŋjūŋiğa ḫaṭ bärdi ke:“Säksän ʿarābada ḫazīna ibärgän [13] ikänsiz. Män ḫazīnagä tapšurup aldim. Ḫātūn
wä ādamlariŋizni öz yurtuŋizğa ibärdim. Nemä sababdin ibärgän [14] ḫazīna edi?”
degänidä,Ürümči Jāŋjūŋi, “Öz yurtumda bir su ʿimāratim yoq idi. Šuni almaqqa wä ābrūüčün [15] ibärgän idim,” degänidä,“Bu ḫiyāliŋiz häm obdan ikän. Lekin aṭrāfimiz tinčliq emäs. Ul häm öz waqti [16]MSčīŋ mūmā or jeŋ mūmā < Ch. qīng mómo 清“steamed buns” or zhēngmómo 蒸“steamed buns.” I am grateful to Jun Sugawara for offering a solution to thispuzzle.
219
The scribe has written 1341 for 1342. First, if the date is 1341, then the narrative has goneback in time, and the events make less sense in context. Second, the thirteenth year of the
Republic, noted here in the text, corresponds to the latter half of 1342 AH (March-August
1924 CE), not 1341. Third, the text indicates that the events recounted here ended “fivemonths later” on a date falling in December 1924. (128a, 14-15)
220MSčā čā ŋ < čā jā ŋ “welcoming party,” perhaps with an ironic sense. See alsoṖoskāmī, p. 147, Yiraqtin kälsä Mänčiŋlar yoliğa qildilär čajaŋ “When the Manchu Qingcame from afar, they gave them a welcoming party on the road.” < Ch. cházhàng 茶帳, a tent
for serving tea to traveling dignitaries.
221
MS
gundäŋ < gundä “Fosselklotz” =“manacles” or “cangue” (Menges and Katanov, p.
45)
218

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Transcription

bilän bolur,” dep üčür qilibdur. Ḫānniŋ köŋlidä bu häm bar.
Ḫānğa Īnglīš wāqiʿa-nawīšlar rasti bilän [17] maʿlūm qilibdur ke: “Jāŋjūŋ biršähärni altun-kümüš bilän tošqaribdur. Sīnjāŋ seŋniŋ fuqarālarida altun-kümüš [18]qalmadi. Šähär-šähärdäki šänlär altun-kümüšni yiğip alip, orniğa qāğaź-tīzā čiqardi.
Fuqarālarniŋ aḥwāli nihāyati zabūn. [19] Här bir šän bir ḫazīna qildi. Bir yilda ikki yerim
yilliq ʿušurni aldi. Altä ayliq ziyāda alğan ʿušurni ambān özi almadi. Bir [20] yilğa ikki
yilliq alğan ʿušurni Jāŋjūŋğa ibärdi. Jāŋjūŋ zaḫīra222 qildi. Bu išlärniŋ ʿāqibatini nä yärgä
injām tapadur? [21] Öz waqtida yazurmiz. Ḫānniŋ köŋlidä fuqarālarni yaḫši asramaq wätarbiyat qilmaq bar emiš, dep aŋlaymiz. [22] Fuqarālarğa ẓulum qilğan ʿamaldārlarni
häm ʿamalini alip ḫārzārliq bilän tutar emiš, dep aŋlaymiz.”[128a, 1] Bayt: Ḫordanīniŋ laźźatini tīš bilur. / Pin bilän sičqan tutušti miš bolur.223[2] Jāŋjūŋ Mā Dārenniŋ ḫiźmatiğa tört y̮ üz yāmbū aḥsān qildi. Wāŋ Šīṭayğa
qirq yāmbū wä qalğan āmbānlar [3] häm ba-qadr ḥāl aḥsān qildi. Mā Dārendin bašqačerik ʿamaldārlarini Ilīğa yandurup alip kätti. Mā Dāren, “Tīṭayniŋ teriğan [4] tamām
zirā’atlariniŋ k.u.k.ini fuqarālarğa aliŋlar,” dep, tamāmasiniŋ k.u.k.ini satti. K.u.k pulinitamām yiğip qoliğa aldi. Tīṭaydin [5] qalğan ikki miŋ eshäk, tört yüz ʿarāba, atmiš
pošta224, tört yüz tiwä ʿarābalarniŋ, ikki miŋ āṭ wä ḫečirläri, zilčä basāṭ, [6] činä, qačä,
tamām öy asbāb, säkkiz miŋ tuğar, miŋ kätmän, bularniŋ pullarini jamiʿ qilip, ʿadadinialdi. Jāŋjūŋğa maʿlūm qildi.
Jāŋjūŋdin [7] Mā Dārenğa ḥukūm käldi ke, “Daftar mażmūni bilän, guwāh-šāhid
bilän, qāżīlarni ḥāżir qilip, här kimdin Tīṭay alğan pul bolsa, ani [8] berip, tilidin rasīd ḫaṭaliŋ. Ḫalāyiqniŋ yärini tartip alğan bolsa, baʿżisiniŋ täŋ pulini berip, täŋ pulini bärmigänbolsa, moni [9] häm daftar qilip, gwāh šāhad bilän bärgän täŋ pulini yandurup alip, här
kim täŋ yärini öz ḥudūdi bilän ḫaṭ-čäkläri bilän fuqarālarğa [10] yandurup berip, rāżīqiliŋ,” dep ḥukūm käldi.
Tīṭayniŋ čoŋ ḫātūni Šīṭayniŋ anasi ikän. Šīṭayniŋ ḫātūnini, bir oğul [11] balasini
Yārkandgä alip kelip, Qara Sällä salğan yāmūnda jāy taʿīnlap bärdi. Bu üč kišigä här
ayda yāmūndin und, gürünč, otun, wä pul [12] berädur. Qūt-i lā-yamūt.225 Yeŋi Šähärniŋ
begi wä yüz bašisi ertägändä wä āḫšāmda ikki maḥal kirip, közi bilän körüp, ḫabar alip,yāmūnğa [13] üčürläp turadur. Kāšğarda tīṭaygä ḫiźmat qilğan iš töpäsidä turğan wä išdaḫīra “hoard.”
In this line, I take pin to be short for pinhan “squirrel” andmiš to be short for mišik/
müšük “cat.” Miš may also be < mič “der Ofen” (=“oven”) (Radloff, v. 4, p. 2161)
224
MS
pošta. Ross and Wingate (p. 15) have “The Chinese use also … an open carriage, akind of Russian landau, called a poshta.”
225
MS
quwwat.
222
223

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tutqan ḫwāh musulmān wä ḫwāh Tūngānīlarni [14] qolğa kälgänni birikitip turubdur.
ʿĀqibati nä yärgä injām tapar ikän?
Bu išlärni tārīḫniŋ 1343 jumāda ’l-awwal [15] ay bilän bäš ayda tamām tügatti.
Ahl-i Kāšğar ḫošluqdin eytqan ğazalini namūna üčün azğinä yazip qoyduq.
[16] Soḫu226 yoli qomušluq; / Orğaq bilän urğan yoq. / On tört yilčä šähär surap, /Mā Tīṭaydek bolğan yoq!
[17] Āh, deymän, Ḫudā! deymän, / Šähärlärdä yiğlaymän! / Poštada yatqan MāTīṭay, / Maḥfada227 yatqan Mā Tīṭay, / On tört [18] yilčä šähär surap, / Qiğda yatqan dātīṭay!
Aq qočqačmu göšt boldi, / Qara qočqačmu göšt boldi. / Dā tīṭayniŋ [19] ölgänigä /Kāšğarliklär ḫoš boldi!
Dā tīṭay tulum sičqan; / Ālbānni tola sačqan! / Mā Dāren yetip kälsä, / [20]Manẓargä228 qačip čiqqan!
Tamt-i tamām-i bayt.
Ay, zabar-dast, zabar-dast āzār, / Daymān turmağay qiziq bāzār. / [21] Ẓulum teğin
urup jahān ičrä, / Ḫalqqa yätküzüp abī āzār.
Ẓulum teğin rawāmudur sürmäk? / Bi-gunāhlarni mundağ öltürmäk, / [22] Qayuw
qulğa ājilniŋ ḥukumi yätsä, / Qutulmas här näččä kim ḥiyla ätsä.
[128b, 1] Ay, musulmānlar, wāy, dīnlär, Ḫudāwandigarimğa šukur! S̲ anā eytiŋlar,ke bizlärni yaḫši waqitdä wä yaḫši sāʿatdä terätibdur! [2] Katta kitāblarda bu ḫoš ḫabarnieytibdur, ke ḥażrat Imām Mahdi wūjūdğa kelip, ẓuhūr qilğunčälikniŋ arasida [3] tamām
iqlīmlärdä jadal wä qatāl wuqūʿğa kälgüsidur. Musulmān kāfirlar birlä, kāfirlar Musulmānbirlä, Ūrūs birlä, Ūrūs Ḫiṭāylar [4] Ḫiṭāylar birlä, naṣārālar häm bir biri birlä urušti. Buas̲ rātniŋ ḥażrat Mahdiniŋ ḥurūjlari maʿlūm boladur. Ḫudāwandigarim [5] ʿumr ʿaṭā qilsa,
aq saqalimni qanğa boyap, šahīd iʿlāliq muratabasigä tegürsä, ʿajab emäs.
[6] 2-nči wāqiʿa tārīḫniŋ 1340-dä ẓuhūrğa kälgän wāqiʿa.
Buḫārādaki musulmānlarniŋ awlādlaridin ʿilm-i jadīd oqup, [7] bular Islāmdin yüzöyärib, Ūrūs wä Bālshīvīklarğa ḫaṭ berip, ularni Buḫārāğa bi-ḫabar bašlap ačirip ikän.
[8] Buḫārā pādišāhi Kābulğa qačip kätti. Ahl-i Buḫārāni n(i)st-u nābūd qildi. Amīr Tīmūr
Pādišāhdin tartip tā bu dämğičälik jamiʿ [9] bolğan ḫazīnadäki altun wä kümüš ṭilla wätäŋgä wä jawāhirātlarini Ūrūslar alip kätti. Bu wāqiʿalärni bā-’l-tafṣīl [10] yazmaqqa
qalam ʿājizliq qilidur.
Possibly 西湖 Xihu in Yarkand.
MSmaḥfa. Ross and Wingate (p. 15) again have “Mahāfa or mafa = a Chinese cart.
Usually pronounced mappa. It is used only for passenger traffic.”
228
MSmanẓargä ormanẓari.
226
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TranscriptionÜčünči wāqiʿa tārīḫniŋ 1342-si Kašmīrdä ẓuhūrğa kälgän wāqiʿalär. Kašmīr šähäridä
Hindustānniŋ yoli üstidä [11] bir masjid bar ikän. Faqīr ḥajjgä barğan waqtimda hämḫalāyiqlar šubu masjidni maŋa körsätip, dep eydi ke, “Musulmānlar küč [12] qilsalar,‘Qadīm bizniŋ masjidimiz,’ dep, masjid qilip aladur. Hindīlär küč qilsa, ‘Bizniŋ butḫānamiz,’dep, butḫāna qilip [13] aladur. Säkkiz yil boldi. Hindīlär ʿarż qilip, quluṗ salip, ḫaṭ čaplap
qoydi,” dep edi. Maźkūr tārīḫda Jāmmūdin [14] maḫfī on ikki miŋ Hindīlär ʿaskariniäkelip, ärtäsi mäktäbdä oquydurğan balalar mäktäbgä tamāmasi jamiʿ bolğanda, Hindī[15] ʿaskarlar mäktäb mäktäbgä tarqap basturup barip, mäktäbdäki oquydurğan nā-rasīda
balalarni tamām teğ siyāsi229-din ötkärip [16], bu ẓulumni musulmānlarğa qildi.
[17] Törtünči: Kābul wāqiʿasi. Amīr Amānullāh Ḫān öz riʿayyatigä, “ʿIlm-i jadīd
oqusun! Tağda māl baqqanlar, eri bar [18] maẓlūmlar, hämmä ʿilm-i jadīd oqusun,” depnihāyat-i diqqat qilip, ʿilm-i jadīd oqutqanida, riʿayyalarğa nā-maʿqūl kelip, “Eri barmaẓlūmlar [19] oquğani musulmānčiliqqa toğra kälmäydur,” dep yāğī wä ṭāğī230 boldilar.
Qatl wä qatālğa injām tapti. Wä gāhi ul ṭaraf [20] wä gāhi bu ṭaraf ğālip wä mağlūp
bolušup, altä-yättä ayniŋ bu ṭarafidä tügämädi. ʿĀqibat, ikki ṭarafdin on yättä miŋ [21]ādam halāk bolup tügädi.
[129a, 1] Tīṭayniŋ Šūjāḥān231 degän qizi Dawṭay birlä Mā Dārenğa, “Bäjin yansam,”dep ʿarż qilğan ikän. Bular ʿarżini [2] Jāŋjūŋğa ibärgänidä, Jāŋjūŋ, “Maŋduruŋ. Kälsun,”dep üčür kälgänidä, maŋdurdi. Šūjāḥān Kāšğarda eytqan [3] ikän ke, “Hämmä Tūngāniölüp kätmädi. Dadam, bir akam, ikki Tūngāni öldi. Män Bäjingä barsam, Ḫānğa ʿarżqilamän. Ḫiṭāylarniŋ [4] tamāmasidin intiqām alamän!” degän ikän. Jāŋjūŋ moni hämaŋlağan ikän. Ürümčidin ikki künlük neri yol tosadurğan [5] bir länzä/sänzä čerik bar
ikän. Jāŋjūŋ bularğa ḫaṭ beribdur ke, “Kāšğar tīṭayniŋ qizi Šūjāḥān kälsä, maŋa ḫabar
berip, mändin [6] üčür čiqqanda, šuŋa qaraysizlär,” degän ikän. Šūjāḥān barğanda,
qarawuldakilar ādam maŋdurğunčälik šähär ṭarafidin [7] bir länzä/sänzä čerik čiqibdur.
Däŋgä kirip, Šūjāḥān ʿarābada ikän. “Tüšüŋ,” debdur. “Nemägä tüšämän?” desä, bular,“Tüšüŋ. [8] Ḥukūm,” debdur. ʿArābadin tüškän waqtida, er, maẓlūm, wä ʿarābakeš
bolup, yigirmä säkkiz jān ikän. Hämmäsini šu jayda ätibdur.
[9] Kāšğarda Mā Dārenniŋ qilğan ḫiźmatigä Ḫotängä dawṭay qildi. Gumadin
tartip säkkiz āmbānliq säkkiz šähärni ayrip bärdi. Bāldīr [10] bir dawṭaylik yurtni ikkidawṭaylik qildi. Roza ʿīd ayida üč yüz āṭliq čerik, ikki yüz piyāda čerik, tört pilämot,[11] on ikki dāna kārtūs232 toṗ, on bäš dāna āynaklik pūštä, tört yüz tiwä, wä säksän
Possibly teğ-i siyāsat “sword of execution,” so “they put all of the children to the sword”
MS<yāğī-u ṭāğī “rebellious”
231
MSšūjāḫān. Probably a transliteration of a Chinese name.
232
MS< Russian картуз “black powder (cartridge or bag)”.
229
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ʿarābada yarağ kārtūs ḫazīnalarni [12] alip bardi. Tīṭaydin qalğan ikän. Jāŋjūŋ “Här čandDawṭaygä tapšurup keting,” dedi. Aŋlamadi.
[13] Tārīḫniŋ 1323-dä, Sulṭān ʿAbd ul-Ḥamīd Ḫān Istanbūlda yeŋi mäktäblärni tolasaldurup, ʿilm-i jadīd kitāblarini [14] tärtip berip, balalarni “ʿIlm-i jadīd oqusun,” depbuyradi. Balalarni oqutup tarbiyat qildurdi. Tārīḫniŋ [15] 1318-inči yili, balalar oqup,
közi ačilip tarbiyat qilğan. ʿAbd ul-Ḥamīd Ḫāndin yüz öyärip, ičkiri ḥaramgä balalar [16]basturup kirip, be-adabāna wä be-ḥayā wä yamanliqlarni qilip, Sulṭān öz qalami bilänözini ʿazl qilip, bulargä ḫaṭ [17] bärdi. Sulṭānniŋ tört ḫātūnini tört kičik balasini öltürüp
köp ādamlarniŋ aldiğa surdurab alip čiqti. Sulṭānniŋ čoŋ oğli [18] qačti. Bularni Ūrūsṭarafdä Sālānīk degän šähär bar ikän. Ul yärdä häm bir orda bar ikän. Qaid-band qilip
qoydi. Tört miŋ [19] ʿaskarlarni ḥabardārliqqa qoydi. Qačqan čoŋ oğlini häm daryādin
tutup, dadasiniŋ qašida band qilip qoydi. Šul waqtida [20] bir milyon yigirmä bäš läk233
nufūs jān ḥesābida bar ikän. Bular jadīdī ʿilmi oqup, ʿaql tapip, bu išni qilğanniŋ [21]bu yüzidä bir milyon nufūs ādam šularniŋ šähäri wä teridurğan yär-suyi, tağ-daštlari
qolidin ketip, yigirmä bäš läk [22] nufūs ādam Istanbūlğa tābiʿ wä qarašliq qalibdur. Bäšḥiṣṣaniŋ bir ḥiṣṣasi qalibdur. Buḫārā häm jadīdīlär nist-u [129b, 1] nābūd qilip, qolidinčiqarip ätti. Jidda, Makka-i šarīf, wä Madīna-i šarīfni Wahhābīlar taṣarruf qilip qoliğa
aldi. Šarīf [2] oğlanlari bilän qačip, Īnglīš ḥimāyatiğa özini alip jān saqlabdur. Wa ’llāhuaʿlamu be-ḥaqīqati ’l-ḥāl.
[3] Čīn wilāyatiniŋ wāqiʿāti. – Tārīḫniŋ 1343 ʿīd-i qurbān ayida, Bäjīn iqliminiŋ
riʿayyasi ikki bölünübdur. [4] Bir-biri birlä jäŋ, qatāla, mağlūba, ziyāda bolubdur.
Awrūpāliqlar Ḫiṭāylarni hošyār qilip, “Iš örgätimiz,” dep, [5] bäš yüzdin ziyādaraqĪnglīšlar toṗ kārḫānasi, miltiq tapānčä kārḫānasi, qilič-ğulāflari tömürdin, wä daryālarğa
[6] tömürdin asma köbrük qiladurğan kārḫānalarni ṭayyārlap źāwutlarda išlärni ṭayyārlap,dāk234 maŋduradurğan [7] pūštäḫānalarni šähär-šähärdä ṭayyārlap, özi turup, tartibātini
Ḫiṭāylarğa bildürüp, šāgīrd čiqārip, ʿaql tapturğan [8] Awrūpāliqlarniŋ tamāmasini išdinčiqarip, qirqčäsini öltürüp, qalğanlarniŋ pul-māllarini tārāj aylap, [9] ḥayāt qalğanlarini
öz yurtiğa häydäp čiqardi. Īnglīšniŋ katta bānkisini häm böläp kätti. Īnglīš konsulini häm[10] čiqardi.
Čīnniŋ safīri235, “Bu iš yaman boldi. Bizniŋ bašimizğa dušwār išlär kelädur,”
degänidä, Ḫiṭāylar tola [11] mašwarat qilip kār az mudeh kāttalardin näččä kiši bäš yüz
kiši bilän qoğlap barip Īnglīš konsulni zor [12] ba-zor alip kelip jayida olturğuzdi. Īnglīš
Modern Uyghur dictionaries define läk as “100,000,” but this figure does not work in thiscontext. I translate it as “10,000.”
234MSdāk < Anglo-Indian dawk “postal service”
235
MS, same for all subsequent examples
233

70

Transcription

konsuliğa safīr ʿaźrlar qoydi. Īnglīš konsuli, “ʿAźr waqti emäs. [13] Bizniŋ ādamlarimizniöltürüp, talap, bulap, munčä išlärni qilip, nemä ʿaźr lazim? Meniŋ turğanimniŋ fāydasi
yoq. [14] Kätkänimniŋ ziyāni yoq. Män wä meniŋ qirq ādamlarim bolsa, hämmämiz
ulus ḥesābida bizniŋ ölgänimizniŋ ziyāni yoq. [15] Män ḫaṭ ibärgän,” degänidä, safīr
heč gäp qilalmadi. Šul anda, yigirmä jäŋ fāfūrida236, här biridä yigirmä bäš miŋ ʿaskar,toṗḫānalari [16] bilän kelip turdi. Moni körüp, Ḫiṭāylarniŋ baši qatti. Šul anda Bālšīwīk
safīr, “Īnglīš mundağ [17] šähärni wayrān qiladurğan bolsa, biz urašimiz. Bäš läk ʿaskar
alip kelämän,” degänidä, qalğan dawlatniŋ safīrilar [18] dar-miyān bolup, “Farangīlarğa
bolğan ziyān, özlärigä ilgirikidek här kim öz išini qilsun. Dākḫānada iš qilmasun. [19]Bu jadal šundağ tügäsun,” dep bi-’l-kull tügätip ätti.
Tārīḫ-i 1344, rabīʿ al-awwal ayniŋ ibtidāsida, yätmiš miŋ Bālšīwīk özigä ješ237
kelädurğan Ḫiṭāy [20] mamlikatiğa kirip alibdur emiš. “Yarağ asliḥa dabdaba bilän nemä
išqa kirdiŋlar?” desä, “Ḫāqānğa ḫiźmat qilğali [21] kirdük,” dedur emiš. Ḫān aŋlap,“Yansun. Bizniŋ heč ḫiźmatimiz yoq,” desä, yanğali unamadi. Turur emiš. [130a, 1]
Bular nemä fikir-ḫiyālni qilip kirdi ikän, Ḫudā bilädur.
Wä yänä Čändaw[?] seŋ ṭarafidä ašliqqa āfat yetip, bir jiŋ und altä sär bolğan [2]ikän. Čändaw[?] seŋ Ḫiṭāylaridin qaḥaṭlikkä ṭāqat kältürälmäy, yätmiš miŋ öylük Ḫiṭāy
Sīnjān seŋğa čiqqan ikän. [3] Jāŋjūŋ tosubdur. Ḫiṭāylar, “Biz yanmaymiz! Yurtimizğa
barsaq, ačliqqa ölämiz. Yurtimizda ačliqqa ölgän ādamlarniŋ [4] ḥadd ḥesābi yoq. Ikkiseŋ ādami ačliqqa ölüp kätti. Bizni öltürüp atsun, hamāna bir ölüm bar,” degänidä, Jāŋjūŋ
nā-ʿilāj [5] Ḫān bilindürdi. Ḫān, “Tosmaŋlar,” dep ijāza bärdi. Tosmadi. Bu ḥabar Aqsuğa
yetibdur. Gürünč üč täŋgä ottuz pul ikän. [6] Fī-’l-ḥāl on ikki täŋgägä čiqibdur. Buğday,qonaq, maš, teriq, kömäk238, arpa, nuḫūd bir bahā tört bahā bolubdur. Bu yurtlarni [7]häm Ḫudāwandigarim öz panāhi bilän saqlağay, āmīn. Inna mujīb al-dāʿīn.
Ḫiṭāy iqilimi bilän Urūs [8] iqlimi muāsā qilip, bäš jayda Ḫiṭāylar konsul bolup,Ūrūs iqlimida toḫtadi. Wä Ūrūs konsulidin Bäjīn [9] iqlimida yättä yärdä toḫtadi.
Kāšğardaki Ūrūs konsuli Kāšğardaki Ḫiṭāy ʿamaldarlariğa, Kāšğar baylariğa wä[10] Andījānliq baylarğa čay qoydi. Šul küni konsulluq ʿalamni häm čiqardi. Ūrūslar
Buḫārā tonlaridin [11] kiydi. Bašiğa katta dastār yürgädi. “Hämmämiz oḫšaš bolduq!”
dep iʿlām qildi.
Kāšğarliq bir mullā kiši, “Siz ton kiygän [12] bilän, siz Ūrūs. Bu olturğan ʿamaldārlar
Ḫiṭāy. Bizlär Türk. Qaydağ oḫšaš bolamiz? Siz musulmān bolsaŋiz, oḫšaš [13] bolamiz.

MS
MS
238
MS
236

< cognate with Turkish vapur “boat”

237

kömäk > MU kömmiqonaq “sorghum”
71The World as Seen from Yarkand

Sizniŋ tört āṭ ṭillā ṣomiŋiz239 bar. Bäš āṭ širwān240 ṣomiŋiz bar. Meniŋ bir täŋgä pulum
yoq. Qaydağ oḫšaš [14] bolamiz?” degänidä, Ūrūslar heč nemä deyälmädi. Dawṭay
bašliq hämmä Ḫiṭāy ʿamaldārlar, “Rāst,” dedi.
Jumāda al-awwalniŋ [15] biriğičä bu yärğičä yazildi.
Bālšīwīk ḥukūmatiniŋ dastūr al-ʿamllari bu dur. Farğāna mamlakatlari [16]ilgärkidin andak ārām boldi. Šähär ahli tinč. Ṣahrā ādamlari kūhdaki Qirğiz, Qipčaqlar
na-tinč. “Buḫārādaki katta maqbarani [17] bağ qilamiz,” dep, tamām qabralarni čaqip
soquyup beribdur. ʿArabistāndaki Wahhābīlarniŋ ḥukūmatiniŋ [18] taḥtidä turubdur. Heč
aźiyat riʿayyatkä yoq. Ḥājjīlargä häm heč aźiyat yoq. Qabra gunbāźlarni buzup tuz qilip[19] qoyubdur. Payğambar ʿaliya ’s-salāmniŋ qabralarigä bī-adablik qilmabdur.
[20] Čīn mamlikatiniŋ aḥwālāti: Ḫān qoymadi, Yän Dā dep bir kišini ḫān ornida
qoydi. Ḫazīnasi yoq. Bir seŋ [21] iṭāʿatidä qalğan. Seŋlarniŋ hämmäsidäki birinči
ʿamaldāri jāŋjūŋ Ḫānğa iṭāʿat qilmay, özi ḫān bolup, yurtdin [22] alğan bāj ḫarāj pullariniḫazīna qilip juğlap, ʿamaldārni häm öz iḫtiyāri birlä alip qoyup, “Čerik ibäriŋ,” desä,[130b, 1] ibärmäy, “Ḫazīna pul ibäriŋ,” desä, ibärmäy, yurtni öz qoliğa alip ölüm iši
bolsa, häm ilgirikidek Ḫānğa aŋlatmay, öz [2] iḫtiyāri birlä ḥukumrānliq qilip turubdur.
Yän Dā häm Ḫān awlādi emäs. Na-ʿilāj bolup turubdur.
[3] Bālšīwīk Ūrūs bilän Nīklāy ṭarafdāri Ūrūslarniŋ ičidä nā-muwāfiqliq paydābolušup, Nīklāy ṭarafdārlari [4] dūr-andešlik [thinking ahead] qilip, “Biz bolsaq, az;
Bālšīwīklar bolsa, tola. Ularniŋ tamāmasi mard-i kārči, past ādamlar. Bir jumladä [5]Bālšīwīkni kötärsäk, bizniŋ tāliʿimiz, ägär bir jumladä tügämäsä, bizlärni häm öltürür.
Maẓlūmlarimiz wä nā-rasīda balalarni [6] öltürür. Awlādimizni qurutur. Ölärgä żāmin
bolurmiz,” degänidä, Bālšīwīklar moniŋdin wāqif bolubdur. [7] Arada nečand kišilär
dar-miyān bolup, här ikkilär ṭaraf-i past bolubdur. Lekin bir-biridin imīn bolmabdur.
Dilläridä här [8] ikkiläsi wahma qilašip turubdur.
Sana-i 1345. Wahhābīlar Jidda, Makka, wä Madīnagä kirip alip, Makkaniŋ kattaādamlaridin üč yüz [9] ādamni här kečädä qoydek boğuzlabdur. Madīna ahli moni aŋlap,qorqup, hämmäsi aldiğa čiqibdur. Wahhābīlar aldiğa čiqqanlarğa [10] ʿaźr qilip, tögägä
minmäy, piyāda šähärğičä birlä kiribdur. Wä heč kimgä daḫil taʿarruż qilmabdur. Tamām
ziyāratgāhlarni täkšäläp241 [12] nā-maʿlūm qilip ätibdur. Rawża-i Ān Ḥażratgä bī-adablikMSṣom. Sayrāmī indicates that ṣom refer specifically to the currency of Russia. (Hamada
2001, p. 53)
240
MSširwān < R. chervonets червонец “gold coin; 10 rubles” or chevonnoe zolotoчервонное золото “pure gold.” The term is a homophone and homograph for the city of
Shirvan, Iran, suggesting a folk etymology. I am grateful to Akram Khabibullaev and Matthew Price for suggesting this interpretation.
241
MS
239

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qilmabdur. Pādišāhi ibn Ṣaʿūd Īnglīš pādišāhiğa tabiʿ bolup, [13] tamām šarṭ-šarāyaṭlarni
yazip, ʿamaldārlarniŋ ʿazl-naṣbini häm Īnglīšlar qiladurğan bolup, toḫtalibdur. Ibn Ṣaʿūd[14] oğliğä, “Ḥujra-i saʿādatni buzmabsän,” dep ḥaṭ kälgändä, oğli, “Bu waqit emäs,fasād boladur,” dep ḥaṭ beribdur. Ibn [15] Ṣaʿūd wä oğli Farangčä oqup turğan emiš.
[16] Istanbūl wāqiʿasi: Türklär dastār yürgämäs boldi. Masjidgä kirip namāz häm
oquyalmas emiš. Be-nāgāh, bir [17] ādam dastār kiysä, jadīdī Türklär masḥira qilip külär
emiš. Bir kiši masjidgä kirär bolsa, jadīdīlärniŋ āzāridin [18] iḥtiyāṭ qilip qorqunči bilän
namāz oqup čiqip ketär emiš.
[19] Īrān wāqiʿasi: Bir mudarris katta bir ʿulamā’ bar ikän. Šubu kündä, “Män dīn-iʿĪsawīni iḫtiyār qildim,” dep, bala-čaqasi [20] bilän naṣārāčä libās wä bašlariğa šäpkä
kiyip özini āškārā qilibdur. Īrānīlar moniŋğa tola alam-nāk [21] wä nāmūsluq bolubdur.
[22] Čīn iqliminiŋ wāqiʿasi: Čīn iqlimi ikki qisim bolubdur. Biri pāy-taḫt ṭaraf
qadīmqī dīn-u maźhabläridä, [21] yänä bir furqasi jadīdī Ḫiṭāylar naṣārā dīnidä ʿallayḥida
čoŋ kötärip, tört seŋni özigä tābiʿ qilibdur. [131a, 1] Bularniŋ madadkāri Bālšīwīk
Ūrūslardur. Miltiq, qilič, wä yarağlar bilän ottuz miŋ Bālšīwīk kirip qošulup [2] madad
beribdur.
Bular Sīnjāŋğä yigirmä miŋ laškar ibäribdur. Ürümčidäki Jāŋjūŋ qorqup, laškar
jamiʿ qilip, [3] taraddudda turubdur. Jāŋjūŋ kiši ibäribdur ke, “Nemä toğradin čiqti ikän?”dep, ular “Tamğuni alğali čiqqan,” [4] desä, “Tamğu lazim bolsa, berämän. Ägär ṗul
lazim desä, häm berämän. Yänä maŋa oḫšaš bir kiši jāŋjūŋ bolmaq lazim. Män özümdä[5] qalsam,” degänidä, ular “Nihāyati tola, bī-ḥesāba pul,” degänidä, Jāŋjūŋ šular degän
pulni dar ḥāl ibäribdur. [6] Ular pulni qoliğa alip, eytibdur ke, “Biz Bäjīnğä tābiʿ emäs,
jadīdī yāndāğä242 tābiʿ boldum,” dep ḥaṭ qilip, tamğusini [7] beribdur.
Jadīdīlarniŋ azuqi [provisions] tügäbdur. Nā-ʿilāj bolup yanibdur. Bir ṭarafdä
kohna Ḫiṭāylar jadīdī Bālšīwīk [8] Ḫiṭāylar bilän qattiq urušup turubdur. Awrūpā
iqlimidin Ḫiṭāylar tola dunyā qarż alğan ikän. Načand šähärlärni görä [pawn] [9] beripḥaṭ qilišqan ikän. Īnglīšlar źāwuṭ ṭayyārlap māl čiqarğan ikän. Tömür köbrüklärgä hämźāwut ṭayyārlap, köbrük [10] salğan ikän. Jadīdī Ḫiṭāylar bu źāwutdaki Īnglīšlarni,saudāgarlarini, sayāḥatčilarni tamām öltürüp tügätibdur.
[11] Īnglīšlarniŋ konsullari, “Bu išläriŋlär bolmadi. Bizlär wilāyatdäki tamām
jumhūriyat konsullariğa salamiz. [12] Šular nemä ḥukum bärsä, šuni qilurmiz,” degänidä,maṣlaḥat-ḫānadin ḥukum čiqibdur ke, “Laškar barsun.” On miŋ Lūndūndin [13] Īnglīšʿaskari wä Hindustāndin ällik miŋ ʿaskar, hämmäsi atmiš miŋ ʿaskar bolup, awwalqi
242

MSyāndāğä. Almost certainly a blend of yānda “on the side of” and yānğa “to the sideof,” hence yāndāğä tābi‘ “beholden to the side of.”73

The World as Seen from Yarkand

dafʿa baribdur. Ikkinči Hindustāndin [14] Āfğān ʿaskari wä Nāypāl ʿaskari bolup, ottuzmiŋ ʿaskar ikkinči dafʿada baribdur. Bularniŋ mundağ sadʿat [15] qilmaqiniŋ sababi,
Bālšīwīk Ūrūslar Bäjīngä kirip, jadīdī Ḫiṭāylargä madad bärgänigädur. Andīšlik qilip,
kohna Ḫiṭāylarğa ṭarafdạ̄ rliq qilmaq wä häm intiqām almaq wä häm ölgänlärni wä häm
pul-māllarini wä häm görägä alğan šähärlärni qoliğa almaqni [16] iḥtiyār qilip, mundağ
katta jadalgä bäl bağlabdur. Här qaysi furqağa üč törtdin pādišāh ṭarafdār bolubdur.
[17] Čīn tābiʿ Sīnjāŋ seŋ Ürümčidä bolğan wāqiʿa: Ibtidā-i ramażānda, altä toŋluŋ243maṣliḥat qilašibdur. [18] “Bäjīn iči nihāyati parākanda; yemäk ičmäk bolsa, nihāyati täŋ.
Tört jiŋ tasqamağan und ottuz yättä yerim sär. Jāŋjūŋ ḫazīnasi [19] tola. Jāŋjūŋni biz
kečädä öltürsäk, ḫazīnadäki altun-kümüšlärni alip kätsäk,” degän maṣlaḥatni qilğan [20]ikän.
Bulardin biri, “Jāŋj̮ ūŋ biläŋ köräšämän,” dep, kirip, Jāŋjūŋ bilän körüšübdur.
“Altäwlän šubu ṭarīqada [21] maṣlaḥat qilištuq,” debdur! “Kim” degänidä? “Biri, mänqalğani, fulān fulānilar,” dep nāmlarini ḫaṭläp beribdur. “Üč [131b, 1] kün tinčliq,törtünči kečäsi sizni öltürädur. Män ḥāẓir ketämän. Bolmasa, meni häm öltürädur,” depketibdur.
Ertäsi Jāŋjūŋ [2] altä āmbān bilän qošup, tamām ʿamaldārlarni čayğa dep f.n.z.ah/
š.n.z.ah ibäribdur. Čayniŋ waqti bolğanda āmbānlar baribdur. Bularni [3] bašqa ṭarafkä
bašlabdur. Maźkūr bäš āmbānni ʿallayḥida bir ṭarafkä bašlabdur. Bir-biridin ḫabari yoq.
Ilgiri-keyin [4] kiribdur. Här qaysini här išikdä öltürüp yuğušturubdur.
Ilgiri Jāŋjūŋni öltürgän, ḫazīnalärni bulağan, [5] Kāšğarğa häm kälgän, Yāŋ Tūŋniŋ
inisi ikän. “Hamrāhlari čayğa kättimu?” dep sorağanida, “Qadīm qaʿidadä üč [6] törtdinādamlari bilän kätti,” debdur. “Bu tiziğa urup bolmabdur. Bizniŋ čeriklär hämmäsi āṭlanipčiqsun,” dep [7] sogänlärigä244 buyrubdur. Ṭayyār bolup, čerikläri bilän čayğa baribdur.
Jāŋjūŋniŋ ādamlari čerik bilän čayğa [8] kelädurğan qaʿida emäs idi. “Jāŋjūŋ aŋlasa, wä
yā körsä, köŋligä bašqa iš yetip, ḫaṗa bolur,” degänidä, “Čerik šu yärdä [9] āṭliq tursun.
Özüm kirämän,” dep, özi kiribdur. Tört hamrāhsi kirgän yärgä bašlabdur. Išikniŋ ikkiṭarafidä [10] pāylap turğanlar. Biqiniğa atqan ikän. Qoliğa tegibdur. Tapānčäsini alip ikkiMStoŋluŋ < Ch. tǒnglǐng 統領 “brigade commander” (Brunnert and Hagelstrom, p.
661)
244
MS
. Etymology unclear: Ch. 所官 suǒguān “prison warden” should not be taken to referstrictly to someone with the duties of a modern Euro-American prison warden, but probably
a sub-magisterial official who acted as a “police runner” and so carried out tasks that broadly
related to legal enforcement. The term, as “prison warden,” is actually a contraction of alonger title, and one could take the meaning of this foreshortened form to be simply “office
official,” referring to anyone who worked in the yamen. Ch. 司官 sīguān is also a possibility,
and its meaning is similarly vague.
243

74

Transcriptionādamni atibdur. Qalğanlari bäš [11] ondin miltiq atip öltürübdur.
Čerikläri bī-ḫabar turubdur. Jāŋjūŋ čerikniŋ aldiğa čiqip wāqiʿani bayān [12]qilibdur. Čeriklär āṭdin tüšüp miltiqni täskärä245 alip turubdur. Jāŋjūŋ, “Nemä dersizlär?”
degänidä, “Bular yarağ, [13] aṣliḥa, wä āṭ, yemäk wä ičmäk, kiyim-kečäk, ḫirājāt sizdin.
Biz sizgä tābiʿ. Heč gapimiz yoq. Moni häm bizgä öziŋiz čoŋ [14] qilip qoyğan. Yänä bir
kišini häm čoŋ qilip qoysaŋiz, iḫtiyār sizdä,” degänidä, “Āṭğa miniŋlar,” dep mindürüp,ṣūrat [15] aldurubdur. Ṣūrat bilän māhū ’l-wāqiʿani Ḫāŋğa bildürgän.
“Här bir čerikkä on bäš särdin pul sar-u-pāyni [16] yeŋidin bärgil,” dep üčür kälgän
ikän. Hämmäni yeŋidin beribdur. Yänä bir Ḫiṭāyni ularğa tūŋlūŋ qilip beribdur.
[17] Šāhzāda ʿAbd ul-ʿAzīzğa tört ḥājjī, “Bizni altä badawī fulān manzaldä
buladi,” dep ʿarż qilğan ikän. [18] ʿAbd ul-ʿAzīz yeŋi kälgän waqtida här qabīladinsäkkiz ondin kattasini alip kelip til ḫaṭ alğan ikän. “Kišini bulamaymiz, [19] tögägä
pādišāhliqdin buyrağandin ziyāda almaymiz,” dep ḫabar bärgän ikän. Ḫaṭ bärgän
säkkiz kišini alip kelip, [20] “Sizlärdin altä kiši tört ḥājjīni bulabdur,” degänidä, “Bizbilmäymiz wä tonumaymiz. Aniŋ nišānasi yoq, kišigä [21] demäydur. Biz qaydağ tapip
berämiz?” degänidä, ularni sulap qoyup, yüz ʿaskar čiqaribdur. Bir yalğuz badawī[22] tağda ketip barğan ikän. Tutup, yüz qamči urubdur. “Tört ḥājjīni bulağan kim?”
dep sorağanida, “Fulān fulān [132a, 1] badawīlar bulabdur, dep aŋladim,” dep bašlap
barip tutup beribdur. Bu altäwlänni alip kelibdur. Sorap, säkkiz kišini qošup [2] on tört
kišini čambar-čaras qilip, miŋ ʿaskar qošup, yurtiğa alip čiqip, bu on tört kišiniŋ közigä
körsätip, tamām [3] yurtdaki er-maẓlūmlarni qatl-i ʿām qilip, böšükdäki nā-rasīdalarni
häm qoy boğuzlağandek boğuzlabdur. Wä bašini saŋgulatip [4] qošup kelibdur. Andin,“Āy, ʿAbd ul-ʿAzīz! Kördüŋmu? Seniŋ sababiŋdin bolğan wāqiʿani, dep, bularni tolaqiyin [5] birlä pārčäläp öltürübdur. Andin bu säkkiz kišini, nišānasi bolmasamu, tabğali
bolurmu ikän? Šunčä kišiniŋ jānigä [6] sän żāmin bolduŋ!” dep tola ʿuqūbat birlä bir kün
ertädin käčğičä qiynap öltürübdur. Wa ’llāhu aʿlamu be-ḥaqīqati [7] ’l-ḥāl.
Makka-i šarīfdä bir kāmkār kiši ʿAbd ul-ʿAzīzğa ʿarż beribdur ke, “Maŋa anʿāmbärsälär? Män bilädurğan [8] ḫazīna bar. Körsätämän,” debdur. “Körsätkil! Män anʿām
berämän,” dep ikän. Lekin šarīfniŋ246 ḫazīnasiniŋ ičidin bir jayni [9] küräläp bir yärḫazīna körsätibdur. Istanbūldin Sulṭān andīš qilip, ikki yüz miŋ kārtūs miltiq ibärip, [10]ḫazīnadä maḫfī qildurup qoyğan ikän. Här bir miltiqğa miŋ dānadin oq hamrāh ikän.
Buni häm körsätibdur. Qudrat-i Ḫudā [11] Wahhābīlarğa naṣīb qildurubdur. Yänä ikkibānkkini bir tögä kötärädurğandin tört yüz bānkkā altun häm šul [12] ḫazīna ičidä bar
245
246

MS
MS

täskärä. “die Sänfte” (=“A sedan chair or litter.”) (Radloff, v. 3, p. 1099), possibly a copyist’s error for.
75

The World as Seen from Yarkand

ikän. Ḫudā Wahhābīlarğa naṣīb qilibdur.
[13] Sīradä247 kältürübdur kim najāšī Makkani buzmaqqa laškar ibärdi. ʿAbd ulMuṭallibniŋ üč yüz tögäsini [14] laškar tālān qilip alip kätti. Laškar baši Abrahaniŋ aldiğa
käldi. Abraha, “Āy, ʿAbd ul-Muṭallib! Nemä išqa käldiŋiz?” dedi. ʿAbd [15] ul-Muṭallib,“Meniŋ üč yüz tewämni laškarlariŋiz tālān qilip alip kätti. Šuni tilägäli käldim,” dedi.
Abraha, “Mondin närsäni [16] tiläsäŋiz wä ḫwāh Makkani tiläsäŋiz häm berür edim,” depeydi. “Tögä bolsa, meniŋ; Makka bolsa, igäsi bar,” dedi. Tögäsini [17] ḥāżir jamiʿ qilipqoliğa bärdi. Andin ʿAbd ul-Muṭallib tağ üstigä čiqip olturdi. Kāfirlar Makkani buzmaqqa
qaṣid [18] qilip, ṗillärni Makkani buzmaqqa häydädi. Ṗillär hörküp yeqin kälmädi. Ḥaqqtaʿālaniŋ umri bilän dozaḫniŋ [19] qars-wä-ğačlari248 dozaḫdin mašdin čoŋraq tašlarni
tišläp čiqip, här biri bir kāfirniŋ čoqasiğa249 tašlap, [20] kāfirlarniŋ āṭ ulağlari birlä halākboldi. Šubu zamānadä häm šubu tašlardin Makkaniŋ baʿżi kattalariniŋ [21] öyidä bir
dāna ikki dāna tabarruk saqlağan bar ikän. Faqīr özüm közüm bilän kördüm. Wa ’llāhuaʿlamu [22] be-ḥaqīqati ’l-ḥāl.
[132b, 1] ʿArabīstān aḥwālāti: Merkitdin bir ḥājjī Makka-i šarīfgä barğan ikän.
250
Sana ʿīd-i qurbān ayda ḫaṭ kelibdur, ḫweš [2] aqrābālariğa. “Bayt ul-lahda ikki ayboldi. Yär qattiq täbräp turadur. ʿArafāt yeqin boldi. Nä ṭarīqa bilän ʿarafātğa čiqamiz,[3] ḥayāt qalamizmu? Yaqalmaymizmu? Bizlärdin rāżi bolsalar.”
Merkitdä bolğan aḥwālāt.
[4] Sana-i 1345 roza ʿīd ayida bir nihāyat yär täbräp, yärlär yerilip kätti. Öy imāratlartamām yiqilip kätti. Ādamlar lāylāŋ251 yärdä olturup [5] kün ötkäribdur. Yänä üstigä
qattiq yamğur yağibdur. Bu dolanlarniŋ hämmäsi aḥkām-i šarʿīniŋ tašida [6] aḥkām-išarʿīni bilmäydur. Bularniŋ tijārati jangāldin otun wä šāḫ wä daraḫtlarniŋ yildizlärini
satadur.
[7] Īlī Jāŋjūŋniŋ aḥwālāti: Roza ʿīd ayida ottuz altä dāna Bālšīwīk ʿamaldārlari,tört dāna Ḫiṭāy [8] länzä/sänzä ʿamaldārlari maṣlaḥat qilašip Ḫiṭāylar häm Bālšīwīk
MS
Qars and ğač each refer independently to a creaking or cracking sound. The words are paired
here, which is not abnormal, but they seem also to be anthropomorphized. Perhaps the “qarsand ğač of Hell” refers to a certain kind of demon? Perhaps the author simply missed the
postposition bilän “with,” which would turn the phrase into “with the creaking and crashingof Hell.”249
MSčoqa. Sayrāmī refers to a poll tax imposed by the Qing before the Dungan Rebellions called the čoqa baši. (Hamada 2001, p. 52) Radloff (v. 3, pp. 2005, 2016) gives “cloth”
Given context, I take the word to mean “head” or “body, person.”for250
The copyist has not written a year above
as he has elsewhere.
251
MSlāylāŋ “dirty, muddy.”
247
248

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boladurğan bolup waʿda wä ʿīd qilašip, “Ögünlükkä kečädä [9] Jāŋjūŋni öltürüp yurtni
buzamiz,” degän maṣlaḥatni qilip yanišqan ikän. Šubu yärdä bir Ḫiṭāy ʿamaldārniŋ
aldida bir [10] kičik bala bar ikän. Bu balani körmäydur. Körsä häm naẓarigä ilmäbdur.
Bular tarqağandin keyin, ul bala Jāŋjūŋ yāmūniğa [11] barip, darwāzani qaqibdur.
Darwāzabān, “Sän kim?” degändä, “Män Jāŋjūŋ bilän köräšämän,” degändä, “Ḥukūm
yoq. Darwāzani [12] ačmaymän,” degänidä, bala, “Dar ḥāl darwāzani ač! Ačmasaŋ, ertäʿahdasidin čiqalmaysän!” degänidä, qorqup, ikkinči [13] darwāzabānğa debdur. Ikkinči
darwāzaban üčünči darwāzabānğa dep, üčünči darwāzabān dāyağa252 debdur. [14] DāyaJāŋjūŋğa debdur. Jāŋjūŋ dar ḥāl özi čiqip, üčünči darwāzağičä ačturup, balani körüp,[15] “Nemä deysän?” degänidä, “Sizgä ḫāṣ gabim bar,” debdur. “Jāŋj̮ ūŋ balani ičkirigääkirip, “Gabiŋni qil,” degändä, “Qorqsaŋiz [16] meniŋ qolumni bağlaŋ. Bu ādamničiqariŋ,” degänidä, šundağ qilibdur. Andin bolğan wä aŋlağan gab- [17] sözlärni tamāmJāŋjūŋğa qilibdur. Jāŋjūŋ balani, “Sän awwalqi jayiŋğa kätkil,” dep jawāb berip, ertäsimaźkūr [18] tört āmbānni, yättä altä qalam ʿamaldārlarini qošup, jayğa qičqiribdur.
Bular awwalqi rasim-rusūmi bilän bir bir kelibdur. [19] Ičkiriki išikdä ādam qoyup, bir
bir tutup bağlap, maḥkam qilibdur. Andin āmbānlarğa čayni berip, fārğ bolğanda, [20]bu tört āmbānni alip kirip, soraq qilip, (i)qrār qilip, qilğan bad-kārliqlarini boyunlarigä
qoyup, altä qalam ʿamaldāriniŋ [21] aldida öltürübdur. Balani alip kelip, “Män seni čoŋmanṣabgä qoyay desäm, sän kičik bala! Bu qilğan ḫiźmatiŋğa [22] čoŋ bolup manṣab
tutqunčälik. Här ayda miŋ sär kötürüŋ. Ḫazīnasidin alasän,” dep, qoliğa ḫaṭ-ḥujjat [133a,1] tamğuluq ḫaṭ beribdur. Ba-ḥaqīqata al-ḥāl.
[2] Kāšğar aḥwālāti: Ḫotän dawṭay tūngānī Mā Dārenni Kāšğarğa aparip dawṭaylikkä
qoydi. Kāšğar [3] dawṭayni tīṭayniŋ orniğa čerik töpäsigä qoydi. Mā Dāren Kāšğarni
nihāyati żabṭigä aldi. Sabab bu dur ke, Andījān [4] ṭarafigä mard-i kārčiliqqa awqātüčün čiqip, Bālšīwīklarniŋ ḫuy-fiʿllarini ʿādat wä kasb qilip, özigä Bālšīwīklik [5] ḫūbmaʿqūl bolup, “Asānğinä miḥnat wä mašaqqatsiz kasb taptuq,” dep Ḫudā wä Rasūlğa
Musulmānčiliqini onutup, [6] Bālšīwīk dīniğa kirip, šäpkä, nīmčä, šīmlärni kiyip, bäligä
šāf, tapānčä üstigä miltiq alip, Bālšīwīkdin on [7] qadam ilgiri basip, Bālšīwīkliklärini
oḫšatip, jayida qoyup, käyniğa qaytmay, qorsaqi köpüp, on yigirmäsi [8] bäši törti här
kečädä, Bālšīwīkniŋ baʿżi az tola puli qolida qalğanlarni bilip, basturup kirip, Nīklāyniŋ
[9] waqtidaki Basmačilarniŋ qāʿidasini tüzüp, här kečädä ällik qirq jayğa kirip, bar yoq
pulini tamām alip, “Pul bärmädük,” [10] dep qasam berip, “Jayimizğa heč kim kälmädi,”dep qasam berip, ʿalā hāźā ’l-qiyās bir ādamgä üčdin qasam berip, dardim ičimdä qilip
252

MSdāya. It is unclear if what is meant is P. dāya “nurse” or Ch. 大但 dàyè, a term of respect for an older man.
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The World as Seen from Yarkand[11] heč kišini öltürmäy, burnini häm qanatmay, tola dunyā jamʿ qilip, awwal yätmiš
kiši, ikkinči bir miŋ üč yüz kiši wä yā säkkiz [12] yüz miŋ kiši maṣlaḥatini bir qilipqilğan tadbīri ikän.
ʿĪd ayida bulardin säkkiz kiši Bālšīwīkniŋ ʿamaldārlari gobūrnātūrniŋ [13] aldiğa
käčdä kiribdur. “ʿArżimiz bardur,” debdur. “ʿArżiŋlarni aŋlaymän, deŋlär,” degändä,“Biz ḫāqān mamlakati [14] säkkiz šähärlik ādamlärdin, sizgä fuqarā. Bizniŋ ʿarżimiz šulke, bizgä toṗ, hawāī parḫūt, qolimizdaki miltiqğa oq, wä [15] bizni jäŋgä salğali muʿallim
ʿamaldār, ʿalam-bayraq, muzd-kān253 bärsäŋiz. Bizniŋ yurtlarimiz Ḫiṭāyniŋ qolida, wä ahlawlādimiz [16] Ḫiṭāyniŋ qol astida, ẓulūmda qaldi. Bularni häm bizgä oḫšaš āsāyišliqqa
čiqip, dawlat körmäkini ḫwāhlaymiz. [17] Yurtni häm sizniŋ taṣarrufiŋizğa kirgüzmäkniḫwāhlaymiz. Jäŋ āsbābini häm qoliŋizdin pul berip satip alamiz. Biz [18] yüz atmišmiŋ ādam. Hämmämiz čoŋlarimizğa qaraymiz,” degänidä, “Säkkiz kündin keyin, fulān
kečädä, keliŋlär. Män [19] hämmä254 ʿamaldārlarğa arağa salip, hämmä ʿamaldārlar šubukečädä jamiʿ bolamiz. Andin mašūrat qilip, üčür berämiz,” dep yandurdi. [20] Yiraqyeqindaki ʿamaldārlarğa ḫaṭ bärdi. Hämmäsi jamiʿ boldi. Maḫfī bulardin qorqti. Hošyār boldi. “Bu pulni [21] nä yärdin tapti?” dep, “ʿĀqibat Basmačiliq qilğanlarni aŋladi.
Ularni bir yär bir yär äkelip sorasa, här biri üčdin [22] qasam qilğan. Ḫwāh Ūrūs, ḫwāhMusulmān. Ul sababdin deyälmädi. Ūrūsqa Ūrūs, Musulmānğa Musulmän, qāżīlar
[133b, 1] moni255 demäkniŋ durustluqiğa fatwā bärdi. Ẓulmān qasam qasam emäslikigä
här kim bärgän, pullarini,” dedi. Andin Ūrūslar [2] bu išniŋ rāstliqini bildi. Andin šul
degän kečädä säkkiz kiši käldi. Yaḫši körüšti. Andin yätmiš kiši [3] käldi. Ḫursandlik
qilišti. Atmiš säkkiz kišini Ūrūslar čambar-čast qilip zindānğa saldi. Hämmäsini sorağ
qilip [4] nām be-nām ḫaṭlap aldi. Šul kečädä üč yüzdin ziyādaraq ādamni häm tutup aldi.
Juğlağan tamām somlarini altun [5] ikän. Sallādlar barip ḫazīnagä tošup aldi. Ertäsi yänä
bäš yüzčä ādamni tutup aldi. Qalğanlari här [6] ṭarafkä qačip kätti.
Ḫiṭāy konsuli, jogän, źoŋ konsul aŋladi. Ürümči wä Ili jāŋjūŋlariğa ḫaṭ bärdi.
Kāšğar [7] dawṭay čerik ʿamaldārlariğa häm ḫaṭ bärdi. Uyquda erdi. Bīdār boldi. Mast
erdi. Hoš-yār boldi. “Ūrūslar häm [8] özidin ḫoṗ qildi. Bizlärdin häm yüz öyäribdur,”dep jāŋjūŋlarğa ḫaṭ bärdi. Ḫotän dawṭayni šul sababdin [9] Kāšğarğa yötkäp alip bardi.
Šul qačqanlardin säksändin ziyā(da)raq kiši bu säkkiz šähärgä kirip alğan ikän.
[10] Ūrūslar yurtini, šähärini, känt-maḥallasini, wä yüz bašisini sorap ḫaṭlap alğan
ikän. Ul ḫaṭni Jāŋjūŋğa ibärdi. [11] Jāŋjūŋ Kāšğar dawṭayğa ibärtibdur. Dawṭay šähär
šähärniŋ āmbānlariğa känt-maḥallaniŋ nāmini, ata-anasiniŋ [12] nāmini, öziniŋ nāmini
“wages”
MS
255
MS
253
254

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Transcription

yezip, hämmäsini tutqurup alip käldi. Baʿżisini öltürdi. Baʿżi iš bilädurğanlarini [13]Jāŋjūŋğa ibärdi. Jāŋjūŋ häm tamām gablärini pütüp alip, ularni öltürdi. Andījān yolini[14] barmas kälmäs qilip band qildi. Jāŋjūŋ maźkūr gobūrnātūrğa ḫaṭ bärdi ke, “Bizniŋ
fuqarālardin aŋlasam, [15] säkkiz yüz kišini siz tutubsiz. Šubu yamān ādamlärni siz
saqlamasaŋiz, maŋa ibärtip bärsäŋiz, män sizdin ḫursand [16] bolsam, dostliqimizniŋ
taʿīnliqi maʿlūm bolsa,” degändä, üč yüz yätmiš kišini Jāŋjūŋğa ibärip beribdur. [17]“Osh yoli birlä Kāšğarğa yurtuŋlarğa yaniŋlar,” dep ikki yüzdin ziyādaraq ādamni
häydäp, Ūrūslar [18] Irkeshtamğa alip kälgän ikän. Dawṭay bā-ḫabar ikän. Čerik čiqarip
kälgändä, anda harduq, aldurmay hämmäsini čambar- [19] čast qilip bağlap, gūndaḫānağa sulabdur. Ḫiṭāy qoliğa tüškänlärniŋ ḥayāt qališi maʿlūm emäs. Ḫiṭāylar [20]tola andīšadä, “ʿĀjiz fuqarālarğa pādišāhliqniŋ kayfati maʿlūm emäs. Biz fuqarālarğa
pādišāhliqniŋ aḥwālātiniŋ [21] maʿlūm boluši häm lazim emäs. Ḫudāwandigarimniŋ
raḥim ʿināyati bilän, pādišāhlarniŋ ʿadl ʿadālati bilän, mamnūn [22] bolup šukur qilip
yatsaq…” Pas Andījān ṭarafidin tört ayniŋ bārasidä, sawdāgār wä kirākaš ötkän bolsa,[134a, 1] qarawuldaki daftardin yazip alip, šu ādamlärniŋ tamāmasini ṣaḥrā wä šähärdin
tutup alip kelip, soraq qilip, nāgahān birini [2] qoyup berip, qalğanini gänzä-gänzä-gä256
gūnda-ḫāna qilip birikitip qoyubdur. Ba-ḥaqīqata ’l-ḥāl.
[3] Sana-i 1345, ʿīd-i qurbān ayda

256

MS

. Unclear. Possibly ganza ganza “stinking, putrid?”
79