Kazakh People 哈薩克族
Kazakh People 哈薩克族 are a Turkic people of Eastern Europe and the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan, but also found in parts of Uzbekistan, China, Russia, and Mongolia). Kazakhs are descendants of the Turkic tribes - Argyns, Khazars, Qarluqs; and of the Kipchaks and Cumans, Mongolic groups (Kiyat, Dughlat, Naimans, Kerait, Onggirat, Manghud, Jalayir) and other tribes such as the Kankalis, and ancient Iranic nomads like the Sarmatians, Saka and Scythians. Kazakhs populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea and remained in Central Asia and Eastern Europe when the nomadic groups started to invade and conquer the area between the 5th and 13th centuries AD.
The Kazakh language is belongs to the Kipchak (Northwestern) group of the Turkic language family. Kazakh was written with the Arabic script during the 19th century but changed to Latin alphabets in recent decades. However the Chinese Kazakh retain the usage of Arabic scripts. Kazakhs has preserved the folk tales of a creation god Jasagnan. Ancestors of modern Kazakhs believed in Shamanism and Tengrism, then Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity Church of the East. In the late 14th century, the Golden Horde propagated Islam amongst the Kazakhs and other tribes but was discouraged by the Czar Russia and the Soviet. Since the fall of the Soviet Union the Kazakhs have gradually employed a determined effort in revitalizing Islamic religious institutions.
There are about 1.7 million Kazakhs living in China, mostly in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Mori Kazakh Autonomous County and Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu. The Chinese Kazakhs speak two dialects of the Kazakh language and use the modified Arabic scripts.
Official portrait of a Kazakh family
A Kazakh family living in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang
Distribution of Kazakh people in China
Kazakh alphabets in Arabic & Latin
Kazakh Arabic & Latin scripts
Symbol of Kazakh people
An old oil painting of Kazakh people
Ancient Kazakh herders chiseled on the rock face of a Xinjiang mountain