Shamieva, A., Khasanov, K. [Uyghur ABC book] Uyghursky Bukvar’. The first Uyghur female scientist wrote ABC for Uyghur in China

Shamieva, A., Khasanov, K. [Uyghur ABC book] Uyghursky Bukvar’. 

[Alma-Ata?], 1950. 78, [2] pp, illustrated. 8vo [265x175mm]. In Uyghur.

In original illustrated cardboard binding; lightly dusted, faded, rubbed. Some dusting and yellowing of the pages. Overall in good condition. 

Extremely rare Arabic-based Uyghur ABC book.

This Uyghur ABC book came out in a curious time for the Uyghur written language.

The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group originating from the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the titular nationality of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. The Uyghurs also live compactly on the territory of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (the Kazakh SSR, Kyrgyz SSR and the Uzbek SSR during the Soviet era).

Since the 11th century, Arabic writing has been used to write the Uyghur language. In the early 1920s the USSR began work on a massive linguistic project that would later be called Latinisation. It was a campaign to replace all writing systems in the Soviet Union with Latin script, adapting it slightly to the specifics of each language. First drafts of the possible adaptation of the Uyghur language were published in 1928, and later that year, a new 31-letter Latin-based alphabet was established. It didn’t receive the widespread usage it was intended to, with various journals being published either entirely, or partially in the old Arab-based script, and would very soon become obsolete.

The Latinisation campaign began to die down during the 1930s and was eventually replaced with Cyrrillisation campaign, leaving over 70 barely-used Latin-based alphabets in its wake. The work on Cyrillic-based Uyghur alphabet began in 1942 and was developed by a notable linguist and the first Uyghur female scientist Aisham Shamieva. The new alphabet (кирил-елипбә) included all 33 letters of the Russian alphabet, as well as 9 more letters for the specific sounds.

In 1949, after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Soviet linguists were sent to assist their Chinese colleagues in standardizing the various indigenous languages of China, which led to several Chinese minorities, including the Chinese Uyghurs, using the Cyrillic alphabet. It is safe to assume that Aisham Shamieva, being an expert in both Chinese and Uughur, was also called to the task.

This Uygur Primer ABC book published in 1950 in Arabic-based, during the high years of Sino-Soviet friendship. It includes a portrait of Mao Zedong, indicating that this ABC  was indeed meant to be used by Chinese citizens. Shamieva wrote it together with Kadyr Khasanov, a writer, a poet, and a well-known proponent of Uyghur culture.

However, as the tensions rose between the USSR and Chine, the Chinese decided to abandon the Cyrillic-based Uyghur alphabet and developed a new one, Latin-based, with both Uniform Turkic Alphabet and Pinyin influence, which was used on and off from 1959 to 1982, when it was replaced by old Arabic-based Uyghur script, that is used by Chinese Uyghur to this day. In an unexpected turn of events, The Uyghur ABC books edited by Shamieva and Khasanov, was made useful and topical again by the march of time.

We couldn’t trace any copy of this edition in USA or European libraries via OCLC.