30 Days of Prayer - China Uyghur

30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World                     Ramadan 2007 / 1428:  September 13 - October 12

Strategic Silk Road in China

For Sunday, 23 September, Ramadan 2007. "Loving Muslims Through Prayer"

A key staging post on the ancient Silk Road, the city of Kashgar sits on the westernmost end of the Taklamakan Desert and is arguably the cultural and religious centre of Uyghur culture.

Kashgar is known for being a hotbed for conservative Islam and Uyghur nationalist and separatist sentiment. There is considerable tension between the Chinese rulers and the Uyghur population.

With a population of around 1 million (70% Uyghurs, 30% Chinese and growing), the Kashgar district is a microcosm for the rest of Xinjiang with conservative Muslim and ‘modern’ atheist values clashing head-on.

Kashgar is a strategic city. It boasts one of the largest weekly bazaars in Central Asia with tens of thousands of people – almost entirely Muslims – coming to trade from the surrounding countryside, and neighbouring Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan & Tadjikistan.

[Full Text] (available on Saturday)

Prayer Points

* May God break down the demonic principalities and powers. Fear and death reign unchecked; Please ask God to breakdown these ancient strongholds and release the Uyghur people into the freedom only Christ can bring.

* Lift up the city of Kashgar before the Lord.

* Pray for the completion of the Uyghur Scriptures, and their accessibility; The New Testament translation has recently been completed, but much of the Old Testament is yet to be translated and published. The Uyghur Bible is illegal in Xinjiang.

* More intercessors are needed; The spiritual barriers to this people hearing and responding to the Good News of Jesus Christ are immense. Please pray that God would raise an army of intercessors to stand in the gap for the Uyghur people of Xinjiang.

+ Google Map Link: Xinjiang, China

--- Interesting Facts ---
* We featured material about the Uyghurs two years ago in "30 Days".
* Uyghur is a Turkic language with an Arabic script (Uyghurs in the Central Asian countries use a Cyrillic script).

Our Interactive Flash Site: 30daysfire.net

Gospel Recording: 5 Audio recordings available in Uyghur

30 Days of Prayer - Dongxiang of China

Poorest, least literate and Muslim - the Dongxiang of China

Ramadan 2007 / 1428 : Day 08 for September 20 (We are posting these one day early to include all time zones.)

Population: estimate 514,000 (Year 2000 census)

Religion: Sunni Muslims

Fourth Largest

The Dongxiang people is the 4th largest of China’s 10 Muslim peoples. Literally, Dongxiang means “eastern villages” hinting that the Dongxiang came from further west. In fact it is thought that they originally came from the Sarta people of Central Asia. Between the 12th and 13th century, Genghis Khan invaded the Central Asia and captured the Muslim Sarta people - a term that once referred to Muslim traders in Central Asia. He brought them back to China and many intermarried with Mongol soldiers, some of the Sarta became slaves to the Mongols and some were sent to Gansu province as settlers. They fought for the Mongols in war and farmed their land in peace time. The largest concentrations of the Dongxiang still live in rugged and dry mountains of Gansu province, others are found in Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang Provinces in north-western China south of Mongolia and north-east of Tibet.

The Struggles

Over the generations they also mixed with Han, Mongolian, Hui and Tibetan peoples. Due to their seclusion in the remote area of the Northwest China for several centuries, the Dongxiang people formed their own unwritten language which is related to the Mongol language. Even if they do not have a system of writing they do have rich oral traditions including legends, stories, folk songs, riddles and proverbs. Many of them also know spoken Mandarin. However, government statistics show that the Dongxiang are among the poorest and least literate of China’s 56 ethnic minorities. Many of them have only had slightly over one year of schooling. Most Dongxiang children find it difficult to learn Chinese. Some international aide agencies have been spurred to act in collaboration with the Chinese government to begin bringing a solution to this problem. A Dongxiang - Chinese dictionary was recently produced which is proving to be a great help.

Three Treasures

The Dongxiang mainly engage in agriculture. Livestock rearing, especially of sheep, plays an important role in their economic life. Their major products include potatoes, wheat, maize, hemp, rapeseed and other industrial crops. The Dongxiang’s “three treasures”, apricots, melons and other fruits, enjoy good reputation throughout China. There are possibly 200 Christians among the Dongxiang, however most of them are not organised in house groups or churches.

Prayer Requests:

* Ask God to send Chinese Christians to live and announce the Gospel among the Dongxiang people. May there be opportunities to help them with medical, educational, social and agricultural projects.

* May God open the hearts of the Dongxiang in order that they could enter His kingdom.