The “Last” Lop People

The “Last” Lop People

The “Last” Lop People

The Lop people are another subgroup of the Uyghur ethnic group. Before the Qing Dynasty, around 400 to 500 Lop households lived by the shores of Lop Nur. Due to long-term isolation in a closed social environment and separation from the outside world, they had no strict social organization, no military force, no written language, and spoke a muffled Lop language. Economically, they “did not farm grains, did not raise livestock, and lived solely by fishing in small boats,” and the fish in Lop Nur at that time were over a meter long.

In the 22nd year of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty (1757), the Minister of War Aligun led troops in a campaign against the Zhungar Sarbas forces and only discovered the Lop people while searching the mountains and patrolling the lakes. From then on, they were incorporated as subjects of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing government managed them using the Beks system. In 1896, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin received assistance from the Lop chieftain Kunchik Bek during his expedition to Lop Nor. In 1797, a smallpox epidemic in Kara and Milan claimed the lives of most Lop people. Those who had left their villages dared not return, scattering in all directions — some fled to Luopu in Hotan region (Luopu being a phonetic variation of Lop), others went to Tianganlik, Dungkutan, and the Nancaohu area of Luntai. By 1887, only 74 Lop households remained in the Lop and Qunke villages, later moving to Abudan village. In 1921, Ashihan Aji, a wealthy woman (bey) from Shaya County, built a pasture for her 12,000 sheep, blocking the Tarim River near Qiongmaili Village in Yuli County, causing the river to change course. It broke through Tiemen Fort, surged into the old course of the Kongque River, and diverted the Tarim River water into Lop Nur. With the lower reaches of the Tarim River running dry, the Lop people living in Abudan were forced to migrate south to Milan. Starting from the Qing Dynasty, due to management under the Beks system and cohabitation with the Uyghur people, the Lop gradually became Sinicized and began a life of farming and animal husbandry. Many Lop people enjoy long lives — today, centenarian Lop elders who have lived through three centuries still reside in the national villages of Yuli County and Ruoqiang Milan.