Meshrep

What it is

A meshrep is a gathering where Uyghurs make music, recite poetry, dance and talk, with a form that holds the evening together. The music is usually of the muqam kind, played on the dutar, and it speeds up as the night goes on. Besides the entertainment, a meshrep is a place where moral questions are raised and settled, in what the sources call ad-hoc tribunals. Gatherings are held in mosques, in public meeting places, or in the courtyard of a member's family home. Relatives and neighbours come together there, and no fixed number of guests is set.

Who takes part

Documented versions from the 1990s were mostly gatherings of men, but the practice itself was never only for men. According to UNESCO, all Uyghurs are counted as practitioners, and there is no ceiling on how many people may attend. Old and young, women and men alike, may sing, dance, answer riddles or join the games. Fieldwork in some parts of Xinjiang records men and women taking part side by side. In certain local forms, though, a meshrep was mainly a men's occasion: the women and children of the host household stayed indoors, coming out only to carry in food or serve the guests.

Leaders and order

Each meshrep has its officers. A senior man known as the yigit bashi leads it, a disciplinarian called the passip begi keeps conduct in line, and thirty younger men, the ottuz oghul, sit on carpets arranged by seniority. Music carries the gathering: dutar players work through muqam melodies that speed up as the evening goes on, while others try to outlast one another in whirling circle dances. Some meshreps add songs, short skits or talks by religious leaders. Wrongdoing among the men, polygamy for instance, is named in public, and the man responsible may be slapped or caned. There is no set limit on how long a meshrep lasts or how many people come. Among the Dolan Uyghurs, gatherings ran all night with hundreds of guests.

Politics and bans

For a long time these groups also did part of the work of local government, settling disputes and keeping order, and they still do so outside China. The 1990s brought a sharper edge. Young men in Yining had been meeting in informal clubs, known as olturax, which mixed drinking with verse and tunes. Islamic youth groups formed in the evenings, took the name meshrep, criticised the olturax as un-Islamic, kept membership lists and read from the Quran. Xinjiang authorities banned the gatherings in July 1995. Many carried on quietly, or handed their duties to neighbourhood watch groups. In 1997 an anticrime campaign led to arrests of meshrep leaders and talibes in Yining, followed by mass unrest known as the Ghulja Incident.

Today and change

After the Ghulja Incident, Uyghurs who opposed the authorities left for Almaty in Kazakhstan, where meshrep continued in the way it had been kept in Ili. In November 2010, UNESCO accepted a nomination from China and added meshrep to a register for heritage that needs urgent protection. Since 2016, under the Chinese government's crackdown on Uyghurs, it has grown harder for Uyghur communities to arrange their own meshrep, and what some places offer instead is a performance staged for visitors.

How Meshrep is kept

Guests arrive at a mosque, a meeting place or a member's courtyard and take their places on carpets by age. The yigit bashi opens the gathering and the passip begi watches over behaviour. Dutar players begin with muqam pieces and the tempo rises through the evening. Depending on the local form, those present sing, dance, guess riddles or play games, and whirling dancers compete to see who lasts longest. Moral matters are raised; anyone judged to have done wrong is named before the group and may be beaten or fined. Songs, skits or a talk by a religious leader may follow. The gathering ends when the company decides, since no hour is fixed.

When and where

Traditionally a meshrep was held at harvest time and at weddings, circumcisions and a girl's coming of age. Some groups met much more often, and in 1990s Yining the informal olturax clubs came together most weeks. Nothing fixes how long a meshrep runs; the Dolan Uyghurs were known for gatherings that went on all night.

Meshrep belongs to the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, and Yining (Ghulja) in the Ili region is where its modern history was made. Gatherings also take place in mosques, public sites and family courtyards. Uyghurs in Kazakhstan have held meshrep since the 1970s, and after 1997 many moved to Almaty and kept the practice there.

What Meshrep means

For those who keep it, a meshrep is more than an evening of music. It is a place where a community sees itself and settles what it owes to one another: good conduct, respect for elders, shared responsibility. The leader, the disciplinarian and the seated men make the group's standards visible. Poetry and muqam carry memory across generations. Later, Islamic groups gave the name meshrep a religious and nationalist meaning, so the word can stand for both a cultural gathering and a claim about how Uyghur life should be lived.

Questions people ask about Meshrep

See also

Lion danceA dynamic ritual dance featuring costumed lions, drums and martial acrobaticsKizombaA close, slow couple dance from Angola, named after a Kimbundu word for partyTush kyizAn embroidered wall hanging made for a child's wedding in Kyrgyz and Kazakh homesChinese knottingA folk craft of cord tied into lucky shapes, made in China and given as charms

Good reading and sources

• MeshrepUNESCO, Heritage listing
• MeshrepUNESCO, Article

• Meshrep on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.