biographical notes

At the junction of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, there are a group of special residents with yellow skin and black hair who speak authentic Shaanxi dialect. They call government departments yamen, cadres officers and airplanes sails. The village children's song "The Moon is getting higher and higher, riding a white horse with a broadsword ..." has been sung for more than a hundred years, and Shaanxi opera is still a traditional project of the villagers. The place where they live is collectively called "Shaanxi Village".

history

120 years ago, a remnant soldier of the Shaanxi-Gansu uprising fled the country for fear of retaliation and entered the territory of Soviet Russia. This ragged team miraculously survived, from thousands of people to today's120 thousand people.

1.20,000 Huangpi people who speak Shaanxi dialect in the village and Russian when they go out have attracted the attention of some international experts and scholars, calling them "Donggan people".

As early as 1979, when Wang was a graduate student in the history department of Shaanxi Normal University, he happened to read a paper by a foreign scholar specializing in Soviet Russian history. When he talked about this period of history, perhaps it was out of academic sensitivity or out of concern for the same brothers and nations. In short, that passage touched his heart firmly: 100 years later, how are these Hui people doing? How did they go through these vicissitudes? Wang is eager to know more information.

1990 Wang won the qualification of studying in the Soviet Union by the State Education Commission with the first place in Russian in the whole region. Stepping on the ramp of the plane, I couldn't restrain my inner impulse: during my short study abroad, I must take time to visit the old folks in Shaanxi.

During his study in St. Petersburg Normal University, he took every opportunity to search for information. Less than three months after going abroad, Wang, who was in a hurry, set foot in Kazakhstan, 4000 kilometers away. There is a village here that is considered to be a gathering place for Donggan people-Yingpan.

The later scene made Wang unforgettable. Speaking an authentic Shaanxi dialect, he chatted with the boys of the village head, and several young people were shocked: How can you say such a thing? Wang is more excited. The surprised boy picked him up and walked around the village, shouting: My uncle's family is here (Shaanxi Muslims call Han Chinese my uncle)!

Sitting among the villagers, enjoying the primitive customs and etiquette of Shaanxi and Gansu a hundred years ago, Wang was filled with emotion. Due to historical reasons, nearly a hundred years of isolation, making Donggan people almost know nothing about today's China, regardless of Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Two years later, in June, 1993, Wang spent all his money and made a second visit to Shaanxi village at his own expense. This time, he left 100 families and 15 Donggan villages, and lived with Donggan for more than three months. When I came back, a box full of books and materials actually broke the tied tape.

Wang, now a professor at Shaanxi Normal University, is determined to write down this history-the history of the formation and development of Donggan people.