Dungan

From Free net encyclopedia

Dungan (Template:Zh-cp; Дунгане) is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a Muslim people of Chinese origin. In China, Muslim Chinese are referred to as Hui and many Dungan refer to themselves as Hui. Dungan are found in parts of the former Soviet Union, especially in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia (mostly in Tatarstan).

1 History
2 Language
3 Culture
4 Religion
5 See also
6 External links

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History

The Dungan are thought to be Hui who fled China during the Hui Minorities' War in the 19th century. The name Dungan is of obscure origin, but is probably from Turkic döñän ("one who turns"). The Hui people, distributed across much of western and central China, are also referred to as "Dungans" by Turkic and Tajik peoples. It may refer to the eastern part of Gansu Province.

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Language

The Dungan language is essentially a Shaanxi dialect of Mandarin Chinese but uses the Cyrillic script and has only three tones instead of four. Dungani is influenced by Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Many Dungan also speak Kyrgyz and/or Russian.

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Culture

The Dungan are primarily farmers, growing rice and vegetables such as sugar beets. Many also raise dairy cattle. In addition, some are involved in opium production. The Dungan tend to be endogamous.

The Dungan are famous for their hospitality and hold many ceremonies and banquets to preserve their culture. They have elaborate and colorful observances of birthdays, weddings, and funerals. In addition, schools have museums to preserve other parts of their culture, such as embroidery, traditional clothing, silver jewelry, paper cuts of animals and flowers and tools.

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