CHINA - Tajiks in China

This postcard shows the Tajiks ethnic in China, thank you Sumei for this wonderful swap.

The card reads : Most of the Tajiks live in compact communities in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County and the rest are scattered over areas in southwest Xinjiang, including Shache, Zepu, Yecheng and Pishan along western Tarim Basin.  According to the fifth national census in 2000, the Tajik numbered 41,028.

"Tajiks are a Persian-speaking Muslim group that lives in Western China around the snowcapped Pamirs, a mountain range shared with Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Related to ethnic groups in Afghanistan and Iran, the Tajiks are perhaps the most non-Chinese-looking people in China. They have copper-colored skin, round eyes and Caucasian features and some have blue eyes, freckles and red hair. Some believe they are descendants of subjects of Alexander the Great. Tajik in an Indo-European language closely related to Persian. The Chinese refer to the Pamirs as the "roof of the world" and many of the people that live here have little contact with the outside world.

The Tajik live mainly in the Tajik autonomous county—Tashkurgan (Taxkorgan) Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang— in the southwestern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This is near the borders of Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. A small number of them are scattered in Shache, Zepu, Yecheng, Pishan and other border regions in the western part of the Tarim Basin. Millions of Tajiks live in Afghanistan, Taijikistan and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union."  Read more here.