Afanti Stories
01 · Historical Records
By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Afanti stories were already widely current in what is now the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, especially in the Kashgar region, and to this day they spread among the people by word of mouth.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Afanti stories are the collective name for a great many Uygur folk humorous stories whose protagonist is the legendary figure Nasreddin Afanti. Afanti means “sir” and is an honorific used by the Uygur people for the learned and widely experienced; originally it was a general form of reference. The “Afanti” familiar to the people of Kashgar is Nasreddin Afanti, an idealized figure riding a little donkey, combining wisdom, diligence, courage, humour and optimism, rich in wisdom and a sense of justice, who dares to hold in contempt the reactionary ruling class and all decadent forces. His humorous stories are extremely widely current, such as Selling the Shade of a Tree, The Rabbit Delivers a Letter, The Divine Doctor, Cutting Off an Ear, The Coldest Thing in the World, Comparing Wits, The Donkey That Steals Things, The Miser and The Donkey Speaks. The Afanti stories expose the ferocity and greed of the rulers and mock the ignorance of some, embodying the working people's diligence, optimism and upward striving, their richness in wisdom and sense of justice; they are humourous and widely admired and deeply loved by the people. The Afanti stories of the Kashgar region are rich and varied in content, including stories related to folk custom and stories telling the philosophy of daily life, and are an important part of Uygur folk literature. Over many years people have, around the figure of Afanti, continually continued and told these widely admired folk stories, making him the concentrated expression of the Uygur people's wit, humour and spirit of resistance, exposing the ugliness and stupidity of the powerful to the world, and also, with good-natured mockery, criticizing and correcting phenomena in daily life that are less than satisfactory.
Selling the Shade of a Tree and The Rabbit Delivers a Letter
The most widely current humorous pieces among the Afanti stories.
The Divine Doctor, Cutting Off an Ear and The Coldest Thing in the World
Resourceful stories exposing the ferocity and greed of the rulers and mocking ignorance.
The Figure of Nasreddin Afanti
The idealized figure riding a little donkey, combining wisdom, diligence, courage, humour and optimism.
The Occasions of Meshrep, Bazaar and Weddings
The folk occasions at which bearers tell the stories in turn, accompanied by instrumental music, song and dance.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Afanti stories of the Kashgar region are the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the local Uygur people; they artistically present the local customs and the people's pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty and their clear-cut hatred and love, and shape a wisdom-and-humour figure deeply loved by the people, with relatively high anthropological, ethnological and folklore value and positive educational significance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the Kashgar region, with its rich atmosphere of traditional Uygur culture, the Afanti stories have always been performed in people's homes by word of mouth within the family, and are also told in turn by bearers at meshrep, at the bazaar, at weddings and at festive gatherings, the participants accompanying them with games, instrumental music, song and dance, in a warm atmosphere.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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