Title:Mystical Forest: Collected Poems and Short Stories of Dungan Ethnographer Ali Dzhon (and Other Works)

Born in Shor-Tyube, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1951, Dungan ethnographer and creative writer Ali Dzhon is widely regarded as the preeminent writer on the material and spiritual culture and history of the Dungan people, the Sinophone Muslims of Central Asia. Mystical Forest makes available for the first time in English a significant collection of Dzhon’s poems and short stories, which he penned in Russian over a span of more than half a century, from 1969 to 2021, bridging the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. In these rich literary works, Dzhon expresses his thoughts about the world around him, ponders the fate of his people and the meaning of life, and provides finely nuanced descriptions of his feelings about love, nature, and those around him. This book will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers interested in Dungan literature, history, and culture.

(Peter Lang, 2023)

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Dungan Folktales and Legends

This book is a unique anthology that acquaints English-speaking readers with the rich and captivating folk stories of the Dungans, Sinophone Muslims who fled northwest China for Russian Central Asia after the failure of the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) under the Qing dynasty. The most comprehensive collection of Dungan folk narratives, available now in English for the first time, this volume features translations of oral narratives collected in the former Soviet Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in the twentieth century. The Dungan folk narrative tradition is a vibrant and fascinating tapestry of Chinese, Islamic, and various Central Asian cultural elements.

(Peter Lang, 2021)

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