Uyghur Language Guide: Cultural Differences

This guide provides supplemental readings and resources for learners of Uyghur.

Uyghur Culture According to a Uyghur Man, Early 30s, southern XUAR

Cultural Subjects

  • What to say when greeting someone: Uyghurs often say “Yaxshimusiz?" –"Yaxshi, sizchu?" and "Tinchliqmu?" –"Tinchliq, sizchu?” ("How are you?" –"Good, and you?") when greeting. The most common greeting among the public is the Islamic greeting “Essalamu eleykum" with the response –"Weeleykum essalam." 
  • It’s very common to ask people, “What are you doing? Where are you going?” when greeting.
  • Elderly: Elderly people usually ask if everybody in the family is well. Do not make elderly people come to you to shake your hand- always go to them.
  • Men greeting men: Shake hands 
  • Women greeting women: Greetings are different from region to region. In the North, women usually bow to each other (like men greeting women); in southern regions, such as Kashgar, women kiss each other on the cheek. In Khotan, women greet women by shaking hands like men do.
  • Men greeting women: Semi-bow to each other with right hand placed on the chest (grabbing one's own heart); no hand-shaking or kissing between men and women regardless of the region.
  • Cities vs. villages: In his opinion, "Cities are not much different from the West... but in villages, people are very honest, and very kind, helpful. Smiling always helps."
  • Yes: Nod your head to indicate "yes"
  • No: Shake your head to indicate "no"
  • Great: Give a thumbs up to indicate “great!”
  • F---k you: All fingers come together in the shape of a cone pointing upwards for “f--k you/whatever/I don’t care”; the middle finger is used for very bad situations and the meaning is two hundred times worse than flipping someone off in the U.S.
  • Most common Uyghur foods: nan, leghmen, polu (pilav), kebab
  • Alcohol: Uyghurs make a special kind of alcoholic beverage called “muselles” from grapes; the county of Awat is famous for its muselles wines. It’s a very sweet and strong drink.
  • In the north, Uyghurs also make alcohol from horse's milk called “qemiz.”
  • Tea: an inseparable part of everyday life. Uyghurs drink hot tea with every meal of the day. Most restaurants provide dinners with free tea. When you enter a restaurant, a cup of hot tea is the first thing the server will bring you before s/he delivers the menu or asks what you want.
  • In the North, having milk tea (etkenchay) with nan is an everyday breakfast.
  • Office workers vs. farmers: People who work for the government, in businesses, or as teachers (collectively called “ishchi-xizmetchi” (workers and office workers) have a very different concept of time than farmers (which constitute the majority of the population).
  • Workers and office workers schedule and plan everything because of the nature of their daily life. Farmers and people in villages do not schedule things or they do so with a very wide time range, for example, "Let's meet tomorrow morning" or "I invite you to dinner at my house on Friday."
  • Urumqi vs Beijing time: Urumqi (capital of Xinjiang) geographically belongs to +6 time zone; Uyghurs use +6 in everyday life and call it Urumqi Time or Xinjiang Time. Government offices, banks, schools, and Han Chinese businesses use +8 (Beijing time).
  • If you ask someone for the time or schedule an appointment in Xinjiang, it’s very important to know who are you scheduling it with: Han or Uyghur. The best way to clarify is to ask if they mean Urumqi time or Beijing time.
  • Bazar/Market day: One important thing to mention is that every village center has a bazar day (market day). You will see hundreds of street vendors on every street of the village center on bazar day.
  • Bazar day is on different days in every village so the vendors can go to 7 different bazars every week.
  • Local farmers and stores from the city come to the bazar and open their store on the street.
  • Bargaining: you can- and should- always negotiate the price. Bargaining is an important part of every deal made in the bazar. Whether it’s a cow, a bag of wheat, a flash drive, or laptop computer… people always bargain.
  • Department stores and super markets (big or small) typically have fixed prices for all goods.
  • Islam: The majority of the population believes in Islam.
  • One difference from the Islamic world is that women don’t go to mosques to pray; they pray at home.
  • More information listed under "Holidays"
  • Uyghur families: In his opinion, "(The Uyghur) family is more 'united' compared to the West." Children live with their parents until marriage and they are always dependent on each other. Children (usually sons) bring their parents to live with them when the parents get very old.
  • Money: Parents take care of all their children's financial needs until they graduate from college and get a job. Also, friends and family (usually not the bank) are the main source of money for someone who wants to start a business. Friends usually lend money to each other when needed (for doing business or paying hospital bills.) Asking for interest is immoral, traditionally.
  • Many non-criminal court disputes are related to borrowing money and not paying it back.
  • Dating & Sex: In his opinion, "(Many) Uyghurs consider physical relationships without marriage to be shameful. Younger generations who are pretty modern, or Western, with their lovers hide their physical relationships from people. Pregnancy without marriage is impossible. It was this way even before Uyghurs converted to Islam."
  • Gift-giving: is very common; for example, people usually bring a gift for the host at dinner parties.
  • Marriage: When a girl gets married, she receives a huge number of gifts from the man's side such as jewelry and clothes.
  • Zakat: Uyghurs follow the Islamic tradition of zakat-giving: giving 1/40 of all your annual income/non-essential property to people in need around you.
  • Transparency: People may ask questions that Westerners find very sensitive in terms of privacy, such as asking, “Where are you going?” when greeting.
  • It is the locals' opinion, transparency and knowing what everybody is up to is more valued by Uyghurs.
  • Uyghurs celebrate two Islamic holidays: Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha, which they call Roza Heyt and Qurban Heyt.
  • "Heyt" is the Uyghurized pronunciation of "Eid" which means "festival/holiday." 
  • Roza Heyt: (Eid-al-Fitr) is the last day of Ramadan (which is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar) and is a conclusion of the fasting month. "Roza" means "fasting" in Uyghur. There is prayer in the morning and family gathers for a dinner party anytime after that. It is also the deadline for zakat (Islamic tax: 1/40th of all non-essential property goes to those in need.) 
  • Qurban Heyt: (Eid-al-Adha) is the biggest holiday. "Qurban" means "victim/sacrificed" (referring to a lamb.) People usually celebrate it for weeks. It starts with an Eid prayer at the mosque in the morning of the Eid day; then people gather in a square and dance, go home and sacrifice a lamb (a tradition from Abraham), and invite neighbors, friends, and relatives over for a dinner party. One third of the sacrificed lamb is used for the dinner party, one third is given to people in need, and the rest can be used at home (at least traditionally.)
  • Novruz: Uyghurs also celebrate Novruz, a very popular New Year holiday in Central Asia and Iran; it’s celebrated on March 21.
  • Bathing: Villagers usually do not bathe every day. It's mostly due to inconvenience.
  • However, they are very careful about cleanliness in other ways: washing your hands before eating is a must- every restaurant establishes a quick hand-washing station in addition to the bathroom.
  • Hats: Traditionally men wear a doppa (Uyghur hat)
  • Skirts: Traditionally women wear etles (ikad) skirts (full body skirt)
  • Uyghurs produce one of the best ikad silks in the world
  • Some religious Uyghur people don’t drink or smoke.
  • Smoking or drinking in front of parents, brothers, or sisters is very uncommon.
  • Politics: Avoid talking about politics. 
  • Tea: If you are passing by someone's house, they may invite you in to have tea but are just being polite. You can refuse their offer; it may or may not be convenient for them to host you at that time. 
  • Dance Parties: Smiling and dancing at dance parties helps you get accepted by others smoothly.
  • Paying: If you are trying to pay for an item or service you received, the person may say “it’s not necessary to pay”; s/he is probably just being polite, so pay it.
  • Uyghurs don’t split the check; usually the dinner host pays the bill. It’s OK if you insist to pay it, but avoid trying to split it because it hurts people's feelings. Pay it yourself in full or let them do it.
  • Dress: Wearing a doppa (Uyghur hat) among locals helps you become accepted. 
  • Pressure as hospitality: Repeatedly pushing for you to do something is a custom that shows one's hospitality, such as asking you to eat more and asking you to drink again and again. If you don’t want to, you can deny their requests by saying, “no thank you."