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Kazakhs in China (Chinese:中国哈萨克族;Kazakh:جۇڭگو قازاقتارى) form the largestcommunity of Kazakhs outsideKazakhstan. They are one of the 56ethnic groups officially recognized by thePeople's Republic of China. There is one Kazakhautonomous prefecture – Ili inXinjiang – and three Kazakhautonomous counties – Aksay inGansu, andBarkol andMori in Xinjiang.

During the fall of theDzungar Khanate in the mid-18th century, theManchus of theQing Dynasty massacred the nativeDzungars ofDzungaria in theDzungar genocide, and afterwards colonized the depopulated area with immigrants from many parts of their empire. Among the peoples whomigrated into depopulated Dzungaria were the Kazakhs from theKazakh Khanates.^[1]

In the 19th century, the advance of theRussian Empire troops pushed the Kazakhs to neighboring countries. Russian settlers on traditional Kazakh land drove many over the border to China, causing their population to increase in China.^[2]

During theRussian Revolution, when Muslims facedconscription, Xinjiang again became a sanctuary for Kazakhs fleeing Russia.^[3] During the 1920s, hundreds of thousands of Kazakh nomads moved from Soviet Kazakhstan to Xinjiang to escape Soviet persecution, famine,^{[note 1]} violence, and forcedsedentarization.^[4] Kazakhs that moved to China fought for the Soviet Communist-backed UyghurSecond East Turkestan Republic in theIli Rebellion (1944–1949).

Toops^[who?] estimated that 326,000 Kazakhs, 65,000 Kyrgyz, 92,000 Hui, 187,000 Han, and 2,984,000 Uyghur (totaling 3,730,000) lived in Xinjiang in 1941. Hoppe^[who?] estimated that 4,334,000 people lived in Xinjiang in 1949.^[5]

In 1936, afterSheng Shicai expelled 30,000 Kazakhs from Xinjiang to Qinghai,Hui Chinese led by GeneralMa Bufang massacred Kazakhs, until there were only 135 of them left.^[6]

The arrival of the People's Republic of China at the end of The Civil War led to significant changes in Xinjiang. The Kazakhs and other ethnic groups in the region were granted autonomy around governance, language, and religion at first, but the end goal was for the Kazakhs to integrate into the new Chinese State.^[7]

In the early stages, this meant high spending on infrastructure and education, aiming to boost agricultural output and literacy respectively.^[7] The arrival of the Cultural Revolution saw the end of permissiveness and the beginning of a more hardline policy, as Kazakh party cadres were purged, Islamic practice restricted, and pastoralist herds collectivized.^[7] The end of pastoralism was especially harmful, as the connection to the land and nomadic lifestyle remains an important part of the Kazakh identity.^[8]

In more outward ways, Xinjiang began to change as well. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps began a series of projects aimed at urbanising the region.^[8] This, combined with the arrival of Han settlers led to a demographic shift as Kazakh areas were no longer majority Kazakh.^[7] This period also saw concerns over separatism, as worsening Sino-Soviet relations saw the USSR stirring up nationalist sentiments.^[7]

The end of the Cultural Revolution and rise of Deng Xiaoping led to a loosening of restrictions. The representation of Kazakhs rebounded, especially with the return of purged political leaders and Kazakhs who fled the country.^[7] The collectivisation policies were also rolled back, but ethnic tensions between Kazakh and Han persist.^[9]

But, there were limitations to the loosening of restrictions. The 1990s saw a wave of popular unrest and terrorist attacks that led to the Chinese Government instituting the Strike Hard campaign aimed at suppressing separatism and restoring security.^[10] This and the political climate after 9/11 led to a change in policy away from cultural assimilation to securitization, as the Chinese state increasingly cracked down on separatists and Islamist terrorists.^[10]

(Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >1% of county population.)

The Kazakh population in China has a distinct culture, mostly based on a series of genealogical records that in addition to stipulating lineage, keep the traditional ways of life alive.^[11] Some Kazakhs are nomadic herders and raise sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. These nomadic Kazakhs migrate seasonally in search of pasture for their animals. During the summer the Kazakhs live inyurts, while in winter they settle and live in modest houses made of adobe or cement blocks. Others live in urban areas and tend to be highly educated and hold much influence in integrated communities. The Islam practiced by the Kazakhs in China contains many elements of shamanism, ancestor worship, and other traditional beliefs and practices.^[12]

Kazakh is still spoken in the community, although unlike Kazakh varieties in Kazakhstan, it takes influences from Mandarin and is written in the Arabic script. Chinese Kazakhs almost always speak Uyghur or Mandarin in addition, both of which are used for interethnic communication.^[13] Thus, Kazakh remains important but is seldom spoken outside the home, with the exception of Kazakh-majority areas.^[13] Many Kazakhs feel ethnically distinct from other groups in Xinjiang and connected to Kazakhs across the border in Kazakhstan.^[14] However, the rollback of Kazakh-medium education and the Russification of post-Soviet Kazakhs across the border means this feeling is not quite universal.^[14]

• Osman Batur (1899–1951) – Kazakh chieftain who fought both for and against theNationalist Chinese government in the 1940s and early 1950s
• Dalelkhan Sugirbayev (1906–1949) – Kazakh chieftain who fought against the Nationalist Chinese government and sought to join the Chinese Communists in 1949
• Qazhyghumar Shabdanuly (Kazakh:Қажығұмар Шабданұлы; 1925–2011) – Kazakh Chinese political activist and author writing in Kazakh language. For more than forty years, Shabdanuly was imprisoned by the People's Republic of China for his political views.
• Ashat Kerimbay (Асхат Керімбай) – Chinese politician
• Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed (Мұхтар Абрарұлы Құл-Мұхаммед) – politician and public figure of Kazakhstan; First Deputy Chairman of "Nur Otan" party
• Janabil Jänäbil Smağululı (Жәнәбіл Смағұлұлы) – Chinese politician
• Mayra Muhammad-kyzy (Kazakh:Maıra Muhamedqyzy; Maira Kerey) – opera singer. She was the first Kazakh at the Parisian Grand Opera, and is an Honored Artist of the Republic.
• Mamer – folk singer
• Rayzha Alimjan (Риза Әлімжан;رايزا ٴالىمجان) – Kazakh Chinese actress and model
• Xiakaini Aerchenghazi (Шакен Аршынғазы) – speed skater who competed in the2018 Winter Olympics
• Rehanbai Talabuhan – speed skater who competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Adake Ahenaer (Ақнар Адаққызы) – speed skater
• Yeljan Shinar (Елжан Шынар) – footballer currently playing as a defender for Shenzhen
• Yerjet Yerzat – Chinese footballer for Chongqing Dangdai Lifan FC
• Yeerlanbieke Katai (Ерланбек Кәтейұлы) – freestyle wrestler; bronze medals winner at the2014 Asian Games, and competed in the2016 Summer Olympics
• Zhumabek Tursyn –mixed martial arts fighter; he previously fought as aBantamweight in theUltimate Fighting Championship^[15]
• Kanat Islam – boxer who won bronze medals at the2008 Summer Olympics,2007 World Championships, and the2006 Asian Games
• Yushan Nijiati – amateur boxer; bronze medal winner at the2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships in the 91 kg division
• Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan (Тоқтарбек Танатхан) – amateur boxer; competed in themen's middleweight event at the2020 Summer Olympics
• Walihan Sailike (Уалихан Сайлық) – Greco-Roman wrestler; bronze medal winner in the60 kg event at the2018 World Wrestling Championships, and bronze medal winner in the2020 Summer Olympics
• Ahenaer Adake (Ақнар Адақ) – speed skater; competed in the women's 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters, and team pursuit events at the2022 Winter Olympics
• Sayragul Sauytbay (Сайрагүл Сауытбай) – doctor, headteacher, political activist &whistleblower about theXinjiang internment camps

• Chinese people in Kazakhstan
• China–Kazakhstan relations
• Yi–Ta incident
• Kyrgyz in China
• Uzbeks in China
• Dungans

• Benson, L; Svanberg, I. (1988)The Kazakhs in Xinjiang, in L. Benson; I. Svanberg (eds.)The Kazakhs of China: Essays on an Ethnic Minority. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, pp. 1–107.
• Tazhibayeva, S.Zh; Nevskaya, I.A; Mutali, A.K; Kadyskyzy, A; Absady, A.A; (2023)"Lexical Peculiarities of Kazakh Spoken in China",Turkic Studies Journal, 5(4), pp. 130–145. Available at:
• Salimjan, G. (2021) "Mapping Loss, Remembering Ancestors: Genealogical Narratives of Kazakhs in China,"Asian Ethnicity, 22(1), pp. 105–120.doi:10.1080/14631369.2020.1819772

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• Map of Kazakh share by county

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