Abstract:
The article analyses the research work of Chinese scientist Su Beihai on Kazakh history, one
of the oldest nationalities in Eurasia. This work has been preserved as a manuscript and
its main merit is the study of Kazakh history from early times to the present. Moreover, it
shows Chinese scientists’ attitude to Kazakh history. Su Beihai’s scientific analysis was written in the late 1980s in China. At that time, Kazakhstan was not yet an independent country.
Su Beihai drew on various works, on his distant expedition materials and demonstrated
with facts that Kazakh people living in their modern settlements have a 2,500-year history.
Although the book was written in accordance with the principles of Chinese communist
historiography, Chinese censorship prevented its publication. Today, Kazakh scientists are
approaching the end of their study and translation of Su Beihai’s manuscript. Therefore,
the article first analyses the most important and innovative aspects of this work for Kazakh
history. It focuses on the stages of Kazakh history, traditions of statehood, economy, and
culture. The Chinese scientist`s research on Kazakh history goes back to the ancient Saka
period, to modern southern Kazakhstan, the emergence of the states of Dayuezhi and Wusuns in Zhetisu, Kangli state, the West Turkic Kaganate, the Turkic steppe, unification of
Kara khan and Kara kidan (Western Liao), Genghis Khan’s invasion into Central Asia and
the Kazakh steppes, Russian colonization, resettlement of Kazakhs in Russia and the Man
Qin Empire, and others. In addition to Su Beihai’s positive research on the entire Kazakh
history, the article provides critical reviews in the historiographical and source-study of
several Chinese-centrist points of view.
