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China to Obliterate Uyghur Names in East Turkestan
Washington, May 19 (UIA) –
The Chinese authorities in East Turkestan demanded the
indigenous Uyghurs to start the process of changing
their names from the Uyghur language into Chinese
pinyin on June 01, 2002, an official Chinese document
said.
A document entitled “The Implementation of
Transliterated Minority Names into Chinese Pinyin”
stated that all Uyghur people must officially begin to
change their names into Chinese pinyin no later than
September 2003. It said that the newly born Uyghurs
must begin the process on June 01 and the school age
Uyghurs should start no later than September 01.
The document, which was issued by “Xinjiang” Uyghur
Autonomous Regional Government on December 25, 2002,
asked all the party and government organs in the
region to facilitate the implementation of this policy.
This new Chinese policy aimed at officially changing
Uyghur names into Chinese pinyin draws immediate
criticism from Uyghur organizations abroad.
Dilshat Rishit, spokesman for East Turkestan
Information Center based in Germany, said, “We
strongly protest and condemn such a policy of
assimilation and sinification. We demand the Chinese
government and the international community to take
immediate measures to redress our legitimate concerns.
Because this is a policy of cultural genocide”.
“This policy contradicts the Chinese Constitution and
the Autonomous Law because both of them promote the
development of indigenous languages recognized by
China without official intervention. Therefore, this
is a systematic attempt by the Chinese authorities to
further dilute the Uyghur identity and sinify them
into greater Chinese culture”.
According to the Chinese Constitution, every
nationality has the right to freely use and develop
its own language, and the state respects the use and
development minority languages. According to
Autonomous Law, the Uyghur language is the official
language of “Xinjiang” Uyghur Autonomous Region, and
its status is equal to Chinese language.
Rishit said, “The Chinese government has already
replaced the Uyghur language in East Turkestan in
matters of administration, education, media, and
communications. The Uyghur language is practically
becoming an unspeakable obsolete language in the
“autonomous region” designated by China. This has
serious political and cultural consequences for the
Uyghurs to exist as a people”.
The transliteration of Uyghur names into Chinese
pinyin totally distorts their original pronunciation
and meaning since a name like “Ibrahim” becomes
“Yibulaying” in Chinese pinyin. The Chinese pinyin has
almost no connection with Uyghur names. Most Uyghur
oppose such a practice that they have to adopt a
Chinese pinyin name for themselves as their official
and legal names.
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