Wednesday, August 10, 2022

The Kyrgyz people

The Kyrgyz people (also spelled Kyrghyz, Kirgiz, and Kirghiz) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, primarily Kyrgyzstan.


The early Kyrgyz people, known as Yenisei Kyrgyz, have their origins in the western parts of modern-day Mongolia and first appear in written records in the Chinese annals of the Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (compiled 109 BC to 91 BC), as Gekun or Jiankun. The Middle Age Chinese composition Tanghuiyao of the 8–10th century transcribed the name "Kyrgyz" as Jiegu (Kirgut).

According to recent historical findings, Kyrgyz history dates back to 201 BC. The Yenisei Kyrgyz lived in the upper Yenisey River valley, central Siberia. In Late Antiquity the Yenisei Kyrgyz were a part of the Tiele people. Later, in the Early Middle Ages, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were a part of the confederations of the Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganates.

In 840 a revolt led by the Yenisei Kyrgyz brought down the Uyghur Khaganate, and brought the Yenisei Kyrgyz to a dominating position in the former Second Turkic Khaganate. With the rise to power, the center of the Kyrgyz Khaganate moved to Jeti-su, and brought about a spread south of the Kyrgyz people, to reach Tian Shan mountains and Xinjiang, bringing them into contact with the existing peoples of western China, especially Tibet. 

(For more information about the history of the Kyrgyz people, you can continue reading here ),

Today, most Kyrgyz people have dark hair and dark eyes.



 
However, it seems in the past they were a bit different. According to the Tang Huiyao, (961 CE), which very likely comes from the Xu Huiyao that Yang Shaofu and others completed in 852, citing Protector General of Anxi Ge Jiayun, the Kirghiz were described as having primarily Caucasian features, with some having East Asian features.

During the reign period of Kaiyuan of [emperor] Xuanzong, Ge Jiayun, composed A Record of the Western Regions, in which he said "the people of the Jiankun state all have red hair and green eyes. The ones with dark eyes were descendants of [the Chinese general] Li Ling [who was captured by the Xiongnu]... of Tiele tribe and called themselves Hegu. The change to Xiajiasi is probably because barbarian sounds are sometimes quick and sometimes slow so that the transcriptions of the words are not the same. When it is sometimes pronounced Xiajiasi, it is just that the word is quick. when I enquired from the translation clerk, he said that Xiajiasi had the meaning of 'yellow head and red face' and that this was what the Uighurs called them. Now the envoys say that they themselves have this name. I don't know which is right.

— Tang Huiyao, Chapter 100:1785; translated by Pulleyblank



9th-century author Duan Chengshi described the Kyrgyz tribe as "yellow-haired, green-eyed, red-mustached [and red-]bearded". New Book of Tang (finished in 1060) describes Alats, a medieval Turkic people, as resembling Kyrgyzes who were "all tall, red-haired, pale-faced, green-irised"; New Book of Tang also states that Kyrgyzes regarded black hair as "infelicitous" and insisted that black-eyed individuals were descendants of Han general Li Ling. source

Sometimes, these physical features still come up among Kyrgyz people.



Interestingly, the aforementioned Xinjiang is where the red-haired Tarim mummies have been found.

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