the people of the Taklamakan desert

The Uyghurs, those people of whom we hear lately as the victims of Chinese oppression in the Xinjiang province were traditionally the inhabitants of the oases across the Taklamakan desert. They are Turkic, claiming deep roots in several thousands of years of East Turkestan's history, against the claims of the Chinese, who would prefer not to recognize them such an ancient, autochthonous status in their territories. Another theory identifies their origin with the Tiele tribal coalition, somewhere in the Altai, between North China and Mongolia. The fall of Uyghur Khaganate in 842 is believed to have caused their migration. It is indeed a very complex, little known and insufficiently studied history, also implying such peoples as the Sogdians and other ancient trading communities. It is also not easy to say when they became Muslims. It was a slow, gradual process of penetration of Islam into China, rather than a trace of any datable conquest or any such event. The 14th century up to the beginning of the 16th century might be an approximation toward a time framework, so it is a rather late phenomenon of conversion, with a significant role of the Sufi version of Islam. On the other hand, their incorporation to China is relatively recent; it happened basically in the 20th century. The restrictions and control imposed upon them started in 2014, leading to the international attention paid to re-education camps and Uyghur genocide in recent years. 
This is just a beginning of my searching for the Uyghur and their narrations.