Formation of the “chinese” segment among the uyghurs of Kazakhstan in the context of the adaptation of immigrants from China to the USSR in the 1950-1960s

Abstract

The article examines specific features of adaptation of migrants, focusing on the case of the Uyghurs of Kazakhstan who moved from China to the USSR in the 1950-1960s. Migration from China to the USSR of that period was a top-down process; it was carried out according to an agreement between the governments of the two countries and in line with a general plan within the framework of repatriation campaign pursued by the Soviet government. It also was directly linked to the virgin-and-fallow-lands development campaign in Kazakhstan and was supposed to alleviate labor shortages. Adaptation of migrants to the Soviet environment was shaped in different ways and was specific for each ethnic group. For the Uyghurs, one of the important consequences of the adaptation was a formation of the “Chinese” segment in the Uyghur community of Kazakhstan.