Why I am Here (at demonstration in front of Florida Splendid
Why I am Here
I am an Uighur from Kashgar, the ancient Uighur city where the actual Apak Hoja Tomb and Id Kah Mosque are located. My name is Turdi Hoja, even though it was spelled Tuerdi Huji on my passport. For this reason quite a few people asked me If I am related to Apak Hoja. I am not directly related to him, except the name Hoja came into popular use after Apak Hoja.
Apak Hoja Tomb was built around 1640 AD, for Apak Hoja's Father Yusup Hoja, who was a political and religious leader of Kashgar Kingdom. After he died, his eldest son Apak Hoja inherited his position and earned more fame than his father , therefore when Apak Hoja died in 1693, he was buried in the same tomb and the tomb was renamed after him. According to legend, Apak Hoja descended from the Holy prophet Mohammed. For this reason, local Uighurs regard his tomb as a holy place. Every year thousands of Uighurs make the pilgrimage to the tomb from all over Eastern Turkistan.
After almost a century, the Chinese invaded Eastern Turkistan and took one of Apak Hoja's descendents, Iparhan as hostage and brought her to the Chinese King. According to legend, she killed herself when she was forced to marry the Chinese King.
In order to cover up the historical fact that Eastern Turkistan was an independent country before the Chinese invasion and the Communist authorities fabricated a story about the Tomb. They called the tomb Xiangfei Mu, a Chinese name which can not be pronounced by Uighurs. I learned their version of the story only after I learned Chinese.
According to them, the name Xiangfei refers to Iparhan. Even though she was not much more famous than any one of the 72 family members buried there, the Chinese referred to the place with her name just because of the Chinese connection that was twisted and glorified by them. When I read the guide book published by Splendid China, I was shocked that they referred to Xiangfei and Apak Hoja as the same person. Not only was one female and the other one a male, they also lived a century apart.
Referring to Apah Hoja as a female name is so funny, because Apak Hoja is a male name which in no way could be taken as a female name.
The Id kah mosque replica displayed here was built in 1422. The date is clearly recorded on the walls of the Mosque. But the booklet published by Splendid China indicates it was built in 1798.
I am very disappointed that the Park authorities are not acting in a responsible way. They disregard all the well known historical facts, and are trying to cheat American visitors with lies. Twisting and lying about the history of minorities is a very well known practice of the Chinese communists. It is very obvious that Splendid China does not operate just for cultural exchange, it operates as a propaganda machine for the Chinese government. I am strongly offended by their obviously politically motivated lies about Apak Hoja and Id Kah. This is the reason I came here to protest.
