page_title: Uyghurs
section_title: Clothing and accoutrements
hierarchical_section_title: Uyghurs / Culture / Clothing and accoutrements
caption_attribution_description: English: Uyghur girl in Kashgar, in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The striped clothing material is that traditionally worn by Uighur women, never by men. It is gathered at the shoulders in the style of dress favoured by Uighur women.
context_page_description: The Uyghurs, alternately Uighurs, Uygurs, or Uigurs, are a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are considered to be one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government only as a regional minority within a multicultural nation. The Chinese government rejects the notion of the Uyghurs being an indigenous group.
  The Uyghurs have traditionally inhabited a series of oases scattered across the Taklamakan Desert within the Tarim Basin. These oases have historically existed as independent states or were controlled by many civilizations including China, the Mongols, the Tibetans and various Turkic polities. The Uyghurs gradually started to become Islamized in the 10th century and most Uyghurs identified as Muslims by the 16th century. Islam has since played an important role in Uyghur culture and identity.
  An estimated 80% of Xinjiang's Uyghurs still live in the Tarim Basin.
context_section_description: Chapan, a coat and Doppa, a headgear for men, is commonly worn by Uyghurs. Another headwear, Salwa telpek (salwa tälpäk, салва тәлпәк) is also worn by Uyghurs.
  In the early 20th century, face covering veils with velvet caps trimmed with otter fur were worn in the streets by Turki women in public in Xinjiang as witnessed by the adventurer Ahmad Kamal in the 1930s. Travelers of the period Sir Percy Sykes and Ella Sykes wrote that in Kashghar women went into the bazar "transacting business with their veils thrown back" but mullahs tried to enforce veil wearing and were "in the habit of beating those who show their face in the Great Bazar". In that period, belonging to different social statuses meant a difference in how rigorously the veil was worn.
  Muslim Turkestani men traditionally cut all the hair off their head. Sir Aurel Stein observed that the Turki Muhammadan, accustomed to shelter this shaven head under a substantial fur-cap when the temperature is so low as it was just then. No hair cutting for men took place on the ajuz ayyam, days of the year that were considered inauspicious.
  Yengisar is famous for manufacturing Uyghur handcrafted knives. The Uyghur word for knife is pichaq (پىچاق‎, пичақ) and the word for knives is pichaqchiliq (پىچاقچىلىقى‎, пичақчилиқ). Uyghur artisan craftsmen in Yengisar are known for their knife manufacture. Uyghur men carry such knives as part of their culture to demonstrate the masculinity of the wearer, but it has also led to ethnic tension. Limitations were placed on knife vending due to concerns over terrorism and violent assaults.
caption: Uyghur girl in clothing made of fabric with design distinctive to the Uyghurs
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