The UyghurUyghurs live mostly in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, with a scattered in Taoyuan, Changde and other counties of Hunan Province. The total population is 8.4 million.
Uyghurs call themselves Uyghurs, a word meaning "unity" in the Uyghur language. Uyghurs are the descendants of the Dingling and Tieles tribes, nomads who mingled and merged in the third century BC. During the 8th and 9th centuries the Uyghurs ruled a vast Central Asian empire. From the 9th to the 15th centuries the disparate Uyghur tribes gradually converted to Islam through contact with other Islamic peoples of Central Asia. Today most Uyghurs practice Sunni Islam.
Uyghur language belongs to Turkic branch of the Altaic language family. It’s written using an alphabet based on the Arabic script.
Uyghurs are mostly farmers, and most of them grow cotten. They are also famous for jade carving, carpet and tapestry making, and their special variety of silk, Ades Silk.
