Chinese Historian Su Beihai’s Manuscript about the History of Kazakh People in Central Asia: Historical and Source Study Analysis

Abstract

The article analyses the research work of Chinese scientist Su Beihai on Kazakh history, one of the oldest nationalities in Eurasia. This work has been preserved as a manuscript and its main merit is the study of Kazakh history from early times to the present. Moreover, it shows Chinese scientists’ attitude to Kazakh history. Su Beihai’s scientific analysis was written in the late 1980s in China. At that time, Kazakhstan was not yet an independent country. Su Beihai drew on various works, on his distant expedition materials and demonstrated with facts that Kazakh people living in their modern settlements have a 2,500-year history. Although the book was written in accordance with the principles of Chinese communist historiography, Chinese censorship prevented its publication. Today, Kazakh scientists are approaching the end of their study and translation of Su Beihai’s manuscript. Therefore, the article first analyses the most important and innovative aspects of this work for Kazakh history. It focuses on the stages of Kazakh history, traditions of statehood, economy, and culture. The Chinese scientist`s research on Kazakh history goes back to the ancient Saka period, to modern southern Kazakhstan, the emergence of the states of Dayuezhi and Wusuns in Zhetisu, Kangli state, the West Turkic Kaganate, the Turkic steppe, unification of Kara khan and Kara kidan (Western Liao), Genghis Khan’s invasion into Central Asia and the Kazakh steppes, Russian colonization, resettlement of Kazakhs in Russia and the Man Qin Empire, and others. In addition to Su Beihai’s positive research on the entire Kazakh history, the article provides critical reviews in the historiographical and source-study of several Chinese-centrist points of view.