China is a multi-ethnic country, and the diversity of fifty-six ethnic groups proves our inclusiveness of national heritage. The Uyghurs who love flower hats, the hospitable Mongolians, the Miao people who have been passing down many legends, the Bai people who like the auspicious number 6, etc., are all important parts of China's national culture.
In terms of appearance, except for a small number of ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which have large eyes and high nose bridges, other ethnic groups are generally yellow-looking. However, among the fifty-six ethnic groups in our country, there is one ethnic group that is the exception, and that is the Tajiks.
They are not yellow people, but white people, with deep facial features, skin like snow, almost all foreigners, and the only pure white blood nation in our country. What is even more incredible is that they do not speak Chinese, but iranian languages, and the faith is also The Shia of Islam.
Why would a people who look a lot like Iranians appear on our soil? What kind of ethnic group is the Tajik people?
I. A "crown" on the Pamir Plateau
The majority of the Tajik people are generally distributed in The Central Asian countries of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and almost all of China's Tajiks live in Tashkurgan County on the Pamir Plateau, the only county in China that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to the 2021 demographic, there are 50,000 Tajiks in our country.
The national language of the Tajik people is Tajik, a branch of the Iranian language family. "Tajik" means crown, and they do love to wear a round hat decorated with precious stones, and from a distance, it is indeed a crown after crown on the Pamir Plateau.
The tajik people are very deep in facial features, tall and tall, and once they appear in the crowd, they are very eye-catching. And they are also very good at dressing, in addition to the round hats embellished with gems, their costumes are very bright and bright, women, young and old, love to wear colorful flower skirts, the colors are dazzling, you can see it from a distance on the plateau.
Like many ethnic minorities in our country, they can sing and dance, sing and dance well. Because the belief totem is an eagle, it also claims to be the descendant of the eagle, and there are many eagle elements in the nation. For example, a musical instrument called "Nayi" is a piccolo made of eagle bones, and they have created an eagle dance, which is listed as the intangible cultural heritage of our country. So in the Tajiks, we often see men playing the Nayi piccolo and women dancing the eagle dance in their own posture.
The Tajiks have not been rich since ancient times because they live on the Pamir Plateau, which is high and remote and inaccessible, and has been relatively closed since ancient times. Until now they are still self-sufficient in agriculture and animal husbandry, a situation that did not improve until after the reform and opening up, but now their means of transportation are still cattle, sheep and horses. Because the natural environment is too harsh, it is difficult to drive up the car.
However, because the closed environment is not disturbed by outsiders, their culture has been fully inherited. Nowadays, there are also many experts in China who are committed to studying the culture and art of the Tajik people, trying to pass on its essence to more people.
Now the state has also issued many policies to help tajiks, including building roads and schools for them, as well as providing them with completed living measures, in short, trying to improve the quality of life of Tajiks.
Second, the migration of ethnic groups, the change of territory, the Tajiks have become Chinese
Many people will wonder how this white ethnic group can become a Chinese, but there are still many historical factors left over. The Tajiks, who lived in many parts south of the Tianshan Mountains in China for a long time and were later involved in the settlement of Xinjiang at different times, were the ancestors of the Tajiks.
Their initial contacts with the Han people can be traced back to two thousand years ago, when the famous Zhang Qiantong Western Region Incident occurred in history, the Han Dynasty set up the Western Regions Capital Protection, and since then many Tajik ancestors have established a subordinate relationship with the Han Dynasty.
Moreover, the merchants of the Han Dynasty also continued to travel on the Pamir Plateau through the Silk Road, and the economic and cultural exchanges between the Han and Tajiks were even closer.
In the 2nd century AD, the ancestors of the Tajiks also tried to establish their own state, that is, the very famous State of Shupantuo in their history, which existed for nearly 500 years, until they were discovered by the Tubo people, and they could only submit to the Tubo under the obscenity of force.
After the unification of the Tubo Dynasty, it gradually stepped out of the closed inland plateau and had many close contacts with the Han. For example, Princess Wencheng and her relatives during the Tang Dynasty were all major events in that period. Later, the Yuan Dynasty turned out to be a Kublai Khan who could fight wars, and Tubo was directly incorporated into the territory of our country, which is now Tibet.
However, at that time, the Tajiks did not have a good life, their force value was too low, and they could only be continuously plundered and displaced by the separatist forces. Later, they simply hid in the deep mountains and old forests, and began to rely on the development of agriculture and animal husbandry to be self-sufficient and live a semi-nomadic life. Poor is a little poor, also very backward, better than security.
Therefore, after continuous migration, the Tajiks finally stayed on the Pamir Plateau of China to live in the midst of many twists and turns in history. And in the final change of China's territory for thousands of years, the Pamir Plateau where the Tajiks are located has a territory belonging to China, and they have become a serious Chinese.
Third, caucasians can also be Chinese, and frontier guards are not wasted
Many people will feel that they are not of the same race, and they cannot believe it after all, which is what the Tajiks have been suffering. When people look at their skin color and face, they will automatically classify them as Iranians or people from other countries, and they will not be associated with the Chinese of the Eight Classics anyway.
So many times they have to speak fluent Chinese, take out their ID cards and introduce themselves to the fact that they are a Chinese. Many times they are afraid that others will treat them as liars, and they will also talk about their own national history and how people living in Central Asia have gradually become involved in East Asia. As soon as this picture appears, it can always make people can't help but be funny.
In fact, the Tajiks love China more than many people who wear colored glasses to see people, because they have a nickname, called China's frontier guards.
When Tsarist Russia invaded China, the Tajik people began to voluntarily form militias, began to resist enemy invasion in the border areas, and fought in the front line of defending their homeland. On the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, the members of the Communist Party of China went to the Tajiks to do work in the pastoral areas, and the Tajik people also joined the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle without hesitation.
Until later, when they were ruled by the Kuomintang, they were not ashamed, and soon launched the Puli Revolution, which dealt a heavy blow to the Kuomintang's rule in the region. It can be said that the Tajik people are not inferior to any Han people in terms of their loyalty to defending their homeland, and the stability of the frontier is inseparable from their selfless dedication.
That is why the state has been supporting the Tajiks for so many years, trying to make a good living. We must not allow the people who have contributed to the country to live in the depths of the waters, and this should be the faith left to us by our history and culture!
Text/Lamb
References: "Eagles Fly with Bright Wings", Qiu Huadong