Uyghurs
Rian Thum explored the concepts of identity among the ancestors of the modern Uyghurs in Altishahr (the native Uyghur name for eastern Turkestan or southern Xinjiang) before the adoption of the name "Uyghur" in the 1930s, referring to them by the name "Altishahri" in his article "Modular History: Identity Maintenance before Uyghur Nationalism". Thum indicated that Altishahri Turkis did have a sense that they were a distinctive group separate from the Turkic Andijanis to their west, the nomadic Turkic Kirghiz, the nomadic Mongol Qalmaq, and the Han Chinese Khitay before they became known as Uyghurs. There was no single name used by them to refer to themselves, the various native names Altishahris used to refer to themselves were Altishahrlik (Altishahr person), yerlik (local), Turki, and Musulmān (Muslim), the term Musulmān in this situation did not signify religious connotations, because the Altishahris would exclude other Muslim peoples like the Kirghiz when referring to themselves as Musulmān. Dr. Laura J Newby has also noted that the sedentary Altishahri Turkic people felt themselves as a separate group from other Turkic Muslims since at least the 19th century.
Uyghurs in Beijing
During the Tang dynasty, the ancient Uyghur Kingdom and the Tang government had close relations and large numbers of ancient Uyghurs of Mongolia including merchants and soldiers migrated to Youzhou (modern Beijing). The Tang governor of Youzhou, Zhu Tao, who rebelled against the Tang dynasty in 783, had a Uyghur wife and 3,000 Uyghur cavalry under his command. After the Uyghur Kingdom was conquered by the Yenisei Kirghiz in 840, many Uyghurs fled south to Tang China and some 30,000 settled in Youzhou. In the Liao dynasty, Youzhou became the Southern Capital of the Liao and Uyghurs merchants lived in a part of the city known as the "Weiwuerying" or the "Uyghur Camp."