Iasyr Shivaza

Yasir Shiwazi
Yasır Şivaza
Born	5 Mayor 18 May 1906 Aleksandrovka,Moskva District,Chuy oblast,Russian Empire
Died	18 June 1988(1988-06-18)(aged 82) Frunze,Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic,Soviet Union
Occupations	Writer poet editor translator linguist scholar social activist
Years active	1930–1965

Iasyr Shivaza(5 or 18 May 1906 – 18 June 1988), also known asXianma,was a Sovietpoet,writer,linguist,translator,andsocial activist,known for his contributions toDunganart and culture.

Iasyr Shivaza, sometimes spelledYasir Shiwazi,ShivazaorXianma(Dungan:Щянма),was of Dungan descent, as his family were from China'sShaanxi province,and moved toKyrgyzstanin the early 1880s, after the defeat of the Dungan Rebellion.

Shivaza founded Soviet Dungan literature and authored many textbooks in the Dungan language, helping improve literacy among the Dungan people, who were largely illiterate after fleeing theQing dynasty.His first book, "The Morning Star", was published in 1931 and is the first printed book in the history of the Dungan people. Shivaza wrote more than thirty works of literature, including collections of poems and short stories in Russian, Kyrgyz and Dungan. He translated classics of Soviet literature from Russian to Dungan, as well as works of Kyrgyz writers and poets into Dungan. His works have also been translated into otherlanguagesspoken by the variouspeoples of the USSR,some of which have been published abroad.

His works reflected bothChineseandRussian cultures.Particularly, the description of Russian folklore in his poetry and the repeated presentation of Russian characters and events reflect the poet's profound Russian complex.

Well respected amongCentral AsiansandChinese people,Shivaza's Dungan poems became popular in theSinosphereand the Soviet Union.

Name spelling

His name in theDungan languagewasЯсыр Шывазы(pronounced[jɑˈsərʃəwɑˈt͡sə]) and the corresponding name inMandarinisYǎsī'ěr Shíwázi( nhã tư ngươi · mười oa tử inSimplified Chinese,Nhã tư ngươi · mười oa tử inTraditional Chinese). Prior to the switch to the Cyrillic Alpha bet which he and others had created, his name was spelled "Jasьr Şьvazь" in the Latin Alpha bet used between 1932 and 1953. Before the Soviets banned the Arabic script in the 1920s, his name was rendered inXiao'erjingas يَاصِعَر شِوَذِ (nowadays used by someHui). During his literary activity, he was known by his pseudonym "Xianma" (Щянма).

According to Rimsky-Korsakoff (1991), his family name, "Shivazi" (Шывазы), literally means "the tenth child"; the corresponding expression is written in Chinese as mười oa tử.This kind of three-syllable family name is common among the Dungan people of the former Soviet Union.

There were two different spellings of his family name: "Shiwazi" and "Shivaza", the latter being used byRussophonesdue tonaming customsimposed by theRussian Empire(later the Soviet Union). He was fully known as Ясыр Джумазович Шиваза (Yasyr Dzhumazovich Shivaza,[jɪˈsɨrd͡ʑʊmɐˈzovʲɪt͡ɕɕːɪvɐˈza]) inRussian,with thepatrynomic"Джумазович" being derived from his father's Dungan name "Jiujiuzi" (Җюҗюзы, rendered in Russian as "Jumaza" or Джумаза). HisKyrgyznameЯсыр Жумаза уулу Шиваза(Yasyr Jumaza uulu Shivaza,[jɑˈsɯrd͡ʒumɑˈzɑuːˈɫuʃivɑˈzɑ],previously spelled "Jasьr Ƶumaza uulu Şivaza" in theUniform Turkic Alphabetand written as ياسىر شىۋازا in thePerso-Arabic script) was taken from his Russian name.

Personal life

Yasir Shiwazi was born on 18 May (or 5 May according to Russian sources) 1906 in the village ofSokuluk(Dungan:Сохўлў) some 30 km west ofBishkek,in what is known today as theChuy RegionofKyrgyzstan.His parents and grandparents were born in China'sShaanxiprovince, and came to Kyrgyzstan (at the time, part of theRussian Empire) from theIli regionin the early 1880s, after the defeat of theDungan Rebellionand thereturn of the Yining (Kulja) area to China.

In 1916, when he was 10 years old, he was sent to study at the village'sKoranic schoolwhere he studiedArabicuntil 1923. During this time, he worked at a blacksmith shop.He later mentioned that it was only by luck that he did not become amullah,like the other three students who reached the graduation.

After theOctober Revolutionof 1917, Shivaza's father, Jumaza Shivaza (pinyin: Shiwazi Jiujiuzi,Шывазы Җюҗюзы) participated in establishing Soviet power in the region, joining theCommunist Party of the Soviet Unionin 1919, and later becoming the chairman of thevillage Soviet.

Later 17-year-old Yasir Shiwazi was chosen, by drawing lots (there were no volunteers), to study at the Tatar Institute for Education of the Minority Group in Tashkent. During the six years (1924–30) that he spent there, Shiwazi, together with other Dungan students includingHusein Makeyevand Yusup Yanshansin, started working on designing a suitable Alpha bet for Dungan based on theSoviet Latin scriptand began writing Dungan poetry.

Shivazi died on 18 June 1988 at age 82 in Frunze, Kirghiz SSR,(nowBishkek,Kyrgyzstan).

Literary career

After graduation, Shiwazi spent two months in the fall of 1930 teaching at a Dungan school in Frunze (nowBishkek), participating in the creation of the first Dungan spelling books and readers. He was then transferred to an editing job at Kirgizgosizdat (Kyrgyzstan State Publishing House), where he worked until 1938, and then again in 1954–1957. He continued to write textbooks and to write poetry. At least three of his textbooks were published in 1933, and at 1934 he was admitted to the prestigiousUnion of Soviet Writers.He started translating Russian classics into theDungan languagewith his translation of severalPushkin's poems being published in Frunze in 1937.

He worked for the Union of Kyrgyz Writers in 1938–1941, and then again in 1946–1954. WhenNazi Germanyinvaded the USSR,he started to do war work, in Moscow and sometimes on the front lines, primarily writing and translating materials for theKyrgyz-languagenews-sheets published for the 100,000 or so Kyrgyz soldiers in theRed Army.

The post-war period was a productive one in Shiwazi's writing career. He participated in the committees designing the new Dungan Cyrillic Alpha bet, which was eventually introduced in 1953. In the 1950s, he was finally able to meet Chinese writers from China whom visited the Soviet Union at the time, and he made a trip to China in 1957 with a Soviet Dungan delegation.

Huimin bao

He, along with another Dungan poet Husein Makeyev, worked on theHuimin bao(Dungan:Хуэймин бо;Chinese:Dân tộc Hồi báo), which was published in Bishkek and named after the Hui people, and is the only Dungan-language newspaper. Since the 1930s, the newspaper had been renamed several times; first published in 1930 in theKirghiz ASSRasSabattuu bol(Kyrgyz:Сабаттуу бол,lit. 'Be Literate'), thenDun Xuәşir(Dungan:Дун Хуәщир,Chinese:Đông hoả tinh,lit. 'Spark of the East') in 1932 before all publications were ceased in 1939. As the Soviet Dungan newspaper resumed publication in 1957, it was renamedSulian huizu bao(Сўлян хуэйзў бо,Liên Xô hồi tộc báo,lit. 'Soviet Hui Newspaper'). During this time, Shivazi was appointed its editor-in-chief, holding that post until his retirement in 1965. In 1958, he then renamed the newspaper toShiyuedi qi(Шийүәди чи,Mười tháng kỳ,lit. 'TheOctoberBanner'), and then was finally renamed again asHuimin baoafter thecollapse of the Soviet Union.However, in 2014, this newspaper was renamed by the Chinese asZhun-ya Huimin bao(Trung á dân tộc Hồi báo,Dungan:Җун-я Хуэймин бо,lit. 'Central Asian Hui Newspaper') due to the fact that Dungan people (part of the Hui ancestry) are spread throughout Central Asia.

Original works

Shiwazi's literary production was ample and versatile. Along with politically loaded poems and stories, expected from any author who was to survive inJoseph Stalin's era, he wrote love poetry, poems out the past and present of his people and his land, aboutChina,and children's literature. Some of his poetry addressed to China, the land of his ancestors, welcoming the Communist revolution that was happening, or had just happened there.

Soviet Dungans being largely separated from China's written culture, the language of Shiwazi's poetry and prose - and the Dungan literary language in general - is closer to the colloquial, sometimes dialectal Chinese than to traditional Chinese. He was, however, familiar with some of the modern Chinese literature, such as works ofLu Xun,but, since he never had the opportunity to learn Chinese characters, he read the translated Russian versions.

Poem sample: "White Butterfly"

Following is a short poem by Shiwazi, "White Butterfly", originally published in 1974 in Dungan, along with its KNAB 1994 romanization based onPinyin,a morpheme-by-morpheme "transcription" into theChinese characters,and the English translation by Rimsky-Korsakoff (1991), p. 188–189.

Бый хўтер

Тэён җошон, бый хўтер,
Ни тэ гощин.
Ни лян җин гуон фадини,
Чиди чун фын.
Йисыр ни до тяншонли,
Зущён бый юн.
Йисыр зу до хуайүанли.
Ба щян хуар вын.
Җяр хуардини, вә канди,
Ниди щин го.
Дусы ниди да хуайүан,
Ни ющир луә.
Ни лян хун хуар фадини,
Тэёнйибан.
Дын нидини мо җүхуар.
Щүәбый модан…
Нисы чунтян, гуон зоди
Хуар кэди вон.
Зун луәбудо, хўтер-а,
Җин фуершон.

Bei hutier

Taiyon zhaoshon, bei hutier,
Ni tai gaoxin.
Ni lian jin guon fadini,
Qidi chun fen.
Yisir ni dao tianshonli,
Zouxion bei yun.
Yisir zou dao huayuanli.
Ba xian huar wen.
Jiar huardini, we kandi,
Nidi xin gao.
Dousi nidi da huayuan,
Ni youxir lue.
Ni lian hun huar fadini,
Taiyonyiban.
Den nidini mo juhuar.
Xuebei modan…
Nisi chuntian, guon zaodi
Huar kaidi won.
Zun luebudao, hutier-a,
Jin fuyershon.

Bạch con bướm nhi

Thái dương chiếu thượng, bạch con bướm nhi
Ngươi rất cao hứng.
Ngươi liền kim quang chơi đâu
Kỵ xuân phong.
Nhất thời ngươi đến bầu trời,
Đi hướng mây trắng.
Nhất thời đi đến trong hoa viên,
Đem hoa tươi nhi nghe.
Nhặt hoa nhi ngươi, ta xem,
Ngươi tâm cao.
Đều là ngươi đại hoa viên,
Ngươi có tâm nhi lạc.
Ngươi liền hoa hồng nhi chơi đâu,
Thái dương giống nhau.
Chờ ngươi đâu mao cúc hoa nhi,
Tuyết trắng mẫu đơn...
Ngươi là mùa xuân, quang tìm
Hoa nhi khai vượng.
Tổng lạc không đến, con bướm nhi a,
Kim lá cây nhi thượng.

White Butterfly

The sun is shining on a white butterfly,
You are too happy.
You are playing with a golden ray,
Riding the spring wind.
Now you are up in the sky,
Reaching towards the white clouds.
Now you are in the garden,
Sniffing the fresh flowers
In selecting the flowers, I see,
Your ambition is high.
The whole garden is yours,
Alight wherever you like.
You are playing with a red flower,
Which is like the sun.
The chrysanthemums are waiting for you,
And the snow-white peonies…
You are like spring, seeking only
The flowers in full bloom.
But you could never, oh butterfly,
Alight upon a golden leaf.

The poet writes of a butterfly, who is happy in the here-and-now of the spring, but who is not going to see the fall with its golden leaves. He appears to make a botanical error, however, mentioning a variety ofchrysanthemum(Chinese:Mao cúc hoa,Dungan:Mо җүхуа) among spring flowers, even though in reality they bloom in the fall.

Translations

Having participated in the creation of the Dungan Alpha bet and bringing literacy to the Dungan people, Shivaza also did a large amount of work in making literary works from other languages available in Dungan. He rendered a number of classical and modern works of Russian poetry into the Dungan language. He has translated a number of works byPushkin,Lermontov,Nekrasov,Mayakovsky.He translated song lyrics byLebedev-Kumachand prose works byLeo Tolstoy,Chekhov,andMaxim Gorky.

He also translated into Dungan some poems of the Ukrainian classicShevchenko,of the Kyrgyz poets Sashylganov and Tokombaev, and even of the BelarusianYanka Kupala.

Being fluent in Kyrgyz, Shivaza also translated some of his works into Kyrgyz.

Translation sample

Following are the first two stanzas of Shivaza's translation ofPushkin'sThe Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Baldainto Dungan along with its Pinyin-based KNAB 1994 transliteration, its morpheme-by-morpheme "transcription" into the Chinese characters, and an English translation.

Ю йигә лодолэ

Нэхур ю йигә лодолэ,
Тасы йигә мынтулэ,
Лодо зэ базаршон җуан,
Та ба юди за хуа кан.

Йигә Балда до мянчян,
Бу җы та вон нани җуан,
Та ги лодо фәди хо:
"Виса ни җир чеди зо,
Ни зэ җытар ба са зо? "

You yige laodaolai

Naihour you yige laodaolai,
Tasi yige mentoulai,
Laodao zai bazarshon zhuan,
Ta ba youdi za hua kan.

Yige Balda dao mianqian,
Bu zhi ta won nani zhuan,
Ta gi laodao fedi hao:
"Wisa ni jir qiedi zao,
Ni zai zhitar ba sa zao? "

Có một cái lão đạo tới

Kia hầu có một cái lão đạo tới,
Hắn là một cái mông đầu tới,
Lão đạo ở ba trát thượng chuyển,
Hắn đem có tạp hoá xem.

Một cái Baal đạt tới trước mặt,
Không biết hắn hướng nơi đó chuyển,
Hắn cấp lão đạo nói rất đúng:
“Vì sao ngươi hôm nay thức dậy sớm?
Ngươi tại đây đạt nhi đem gì tìm?”

There was a priest

There was a priest,
He was dim-witted.
The priest was walking around thebazaar,
He looked at all kinds of goods.

OneBaldacame up to him,
Himself not knowing where he was going,
He said to the priest:
"Why did you get so early today?
What are you looking for here? "

Scholarly works

• "Хуэймин бо" (Huimin bao,Frunze, 1957–1964; then known as "Шийүәди чи", 'The Banner of October Revolution')
• "Лёнминщин" ('Morning Star', 1931)
• "Гәминди лон" ('The Wave of the Revolution', 1932)
• "Тёҗянхади сывын" ('Selected Poems', 1958)
• "Хома, чунтян ('Hello, Spring', 1966)
• "Хо пын-ю" ('Good Friends', 1958)
• "Щин сывын", Frunze, 1973; "Мой новый дом" ('My New Home', Frunze, 1969)

Awards

• Order of the Red Banner of Labour- 6 June 1956
• Order of Peoples Friendship - 22 August 1986
• Order "Badge of Honour" (x3) - until 1 November 1958
• Medal For Labor Valour - 4 May 1962

References

Main source

• Svetlana Rimsky-Korsakoff Dyer, "Iasyr Shivaza: The Life and Works of a Soviet Dungan Poet". Verlag Peter Lang GmbH, 1991.ISBN3-631-43963-6.(Contains a detailed bibliography and ample samples of Shivaza works', some in the original Cyrillic Dungan, although most in a specialized transcription, with English and sometimes standard Chinese translations).

Other literature

• Сушанло Мухамед, Имазов Мухаме. "Совет хуэйзў вынщүә". Фрунзе, "Мектеп" чубаншә, 1988. (Mukhamed Sushanlo, Mukhame Imazov. "Dungan Soviet Literature: textbook for 9th and 10th grade".Frunze,1988).ISBN5-658-00068-8.