Uygurs
The first word that comes to mind when I wonder how I might describe the physical appearance of Uygurs (whee.gurr) to someone who has never encountered them is gypsy“. The gypsies I saw in Spain, wrinkled olive complexions, heads wrapped in flowery scarves, cloaked in mystery.
Really, they are difficult to describe because they are so variegated. I’ve performed mental experiments, mixing races, skin tones, hair color and texture, eyes, smiles, to try to discover their composition. My initial idea was the theory of sixths:
2/6 East Asian (Chinese)
2/6 Middle Eastern (Saudi Arabian)
1/6 North Asian (Russian)
1/6 North American (Native American)
This accounted for all of the striking similarity between many Uygurs and Han Chinese, as well as the stunningly pale complexion of others (and red hair, or thick black-brown eyebrows), notwithstanding the hint of more red than yellow in the skin tone of still others. I tried to squeeze this into a more constrained formula of thirds:
1/3 East Asian
1/3 Middle Eastern
1/3 North Asian
But the ratios felt inaccurate. Finally, I achieved my masterpiece of quarters:
1/4 East Asian
1/4 Middle Eastern
1/4 North Asian
1/4 Southeast Europe (Greek)
It accounts for the occasional olive complexion I see. The thing is, in any given individual one of the quarters can grow to dominate the features, overcoming most of the racial characteristics of the other quarters, but leaving at least one of the recessive quarters basically intact. Thus we have a mix of beautiful people who sometimes look nothing like one another. Kasmojahn and his nuclear family are a terrific example of this amazing fusion. Standing among the crowds of Uygurs at that Kashgar bazaar, one experiences a visual diversity equal to that of New York City.