Description

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The Dungans are Chinese Muslims, living mainly in the Kirghiz and Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republics, whose ancestors migrated to Russia more than a hundred years ago. They speak the Kansu and Shensi dialects, but write their Chinese speech with the Cyrillic alphabet. I syr Shivaza (1906-1988) is the most celebrated poet of the Dungans. He wrote numerous poems and many novels, he translated works from Russian and Kirghiz into Dungan, he compiled school textbooks for Dungan children and he helped in the creation of the present Dungan alphabet. I syr Shivaza worked in the Kirghiz State Publishing House, edited a Dungan newspaper, and served in the Second World War as a war correspondent. The present work discusses his life and achievements.

About the Author

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The Author: Svetlana Rimsky-Korsakoff, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University, was born in China in 1931 of Russian parents. She lived in Kunming and Peking, was educated in Chinese schools, and graduated from Fu-jen University at Peking. She came to Australia in 1952. Her main research is on the Soviet Dungans (the Chinese Muslims living in the Soviet Union) and thirteenth century colloquial Chinese.