Uyghur literature

Uyghur writing system observed significant changes by its native writers who switched from Turkic script to Arabic that originally began in the 10th century until the 12th century. This development adopted language reforms from Arabic literature. Yūsuf Balasaguni, Mahmud al-Kashgari, Ahmad Yugnaki, and Ahmad Yasawi were among the leading writers of that time who flourished Uyghur literature by adopting language reforms. Also, Ahmad Yasawi one of the other writers who introduced new genre in Uyghur literature. Yesevi's poetry collection Divan-i hikmet (Book of Wisdom) is composed of various dialects, such as Arabic and Persian, which features Turkic metre.

History

The modern Uyghur language is a Karluk language from the Turkic language family. It is not descended from Old Uyghur.

From the late 15th century, the Chagatai language became the dominant literary language of Central Asia. Chagatai is sometimes referred to as ‘ancient Uyghur’ in China.

Poetry has been especially important in the history of Uyghur literature, and writers of the Uyghur diaspora are attempting to keep traditions alive despite the efforts of the Chinese government to undermine Uyghur culture.