Yasir Shiwazi

Name spelling His name in the Dungan language was and the corresponding name in Mandarin is Yǎsī'ěr Shíwázi (雅斯尔·十娃子 in Simplified Chinese, 雅斯爾·十娃子 in Traditional Chinese). Prior to the switch to the Cyrillic alphabet which he and others had created, his name was spelled "Jasьƣ Şьvazь" in the Latin alphabet used between 1932 and 1953. Before the Soviets banned the Arabic script in the 1920s, his name was rendered in Xiao'erjing as يَاصِعَر شِوَذِ (nowadays used by some Hui). During his literary activity, he was known by his pseudonym "Xianma" . 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 by Russophones due to naming customs imposed by the Russian Empire (later the Soviet Union). He was fully known as Ясыр Джумазович Шиваза (Yasyr Dzhumazovich Shivaza, ) in Russian, with the patrynomic "Джумазович" being derived from his father's Dungan name "Jiujiuzi" (Җюҗюзы, rendered in Russian as "Jumaza" or Джумаза). His Kyrgyz name (Yasyr Jumaza uulu Shivaza, , previously spelled "Jasьr Ƶumaza uulu Şivaza" in the Uniform Turkic Alphabet and written as ياسىر شىۋازا in the Perso-Arabic script) was taken from his Russian name.

Early life Yasir Shiwazi was born on 18 May (or 5 May according to Russian sources) 1906 in the village of Sokuluk some 30 km west of Bishkek, in what is known today as the Chuy Region of Kyrgyzstan.

Death Shivazi died on 18 June 1988 at age 82 in Frunze, Kirghiz SSR,

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 of chrysanthemum (, ) among spring flowers, even though in reality they bloom in the fall.

Translations

Having participated in the creation of the Dungan alphabet 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 by Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Mayakovsky. He translated song lyrics by Lebedev-Kumach and prose works by Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Maxim Gorky.

He also translated into Dungan some poems of the Ukrainian classic Shevchenko, of the Kyrgyz poets Sashylganov and Tokombaev, and even of the Belarusian Yanka 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 of Pushkin's The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda into Dungan along with its Pinyin-based KNAB 1994 transliteration, its morpheme-by-morpheme "transcription" into the Chinese characters, and an English translation.

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