The Salar people (Salar: Salar, Chinese: ???, Pinyin: S?l?zú) are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They numbered 104,503 people in the last census of 2000 and live mostly in Qinghai (in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County ???????? and Hualong Autonomous County of the Hui Nationality ???????), in Gansu (in Jishishan Autonomous County of the Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar Nationalities ???????????????) and in Xinjiang (in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture ????????).

Their ancestors were migrating Oghuz Turks who intermarried with the Tibetans, Han Chinese, and Hui. They are a patriarchal agricultural society and Muslims.

History

Their origins are uncertain but according to Salar tradition, during the fourteenth and fifthteenth centuries their ancestors, possibly from an Oghuz tribe of the Seljuk Turks, left Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan and eventually settled in their present location in Gansu province. Over the course of their history, the ancestors of the Salar are believed to have merged with Tibetans, Han Chinese and Mongolians to form the present-day Salar.

In 1781, Qing armies crushed a Salar uprising with the results being disastrous for the Salar. As much as 40% of their entire population was killed in the revolt.

Culture

The typical clothing of the Salar very similar to other Muslim peoples in the region. The men are commonly bearded and dress in white shirts and white or black skullcaps.

The young single women are accustomed to dressing in Chinese dress of bright colors. The married women utilize the traditional veil in white or black colors.

They have a musical instrument called the Kouxuan. It is a string instrument manufactured in silver or in copper and only played by the women.

For the Salar, divorce is a very easy procedure, although it can only be requested by the husband. In order to dissolve the marriage, the man only has to tell his wife that he no longer wishes to remain married to her. The woman abandons the conjugal residence and he remains free to be married again.

The Salars have been in Qinghai Province, China since the Mongol Yuan period. For centuries they've maintained their Oghuz language remarkably similar to the Turkmen language spoken in the Qaraqum.

However, culturally they have strictly conformed to the Naqshbandi ways of their Hui coreligionists. Therefore many nomadic Turkmen traditions have been lost, and Turkmen music was forbidden. More secular minded Salars have resorted to appropriating Tibetan or Moghol (a Qinghai Mongolic Muslim group) music as their own.

Language

The Salar language has two large dialect groups. The divergence is due to the fact that one branch was influenced by the Tibetan and Chinese languages, and the other branch by the Uyghur and Kazakh languages. Only about one third of Salar speak their own language. In addition to Chinese, many Salar also speak Tibetan. Salar is not a written language. There are reported similarities with Turkmen.

References

• Teni?ev, E.R: Stroj salarskogo âzyka (The structure of the Salar language). Moscow, Nauka 1976).
• Lin Lianyun (???): ????????? (Chinese-Salar Salar-Chinese lexicon. Chengdu, People's Press of Sichuan. 1992.

External links

• The Salar ethnic minority (Chinese government site)
• Arienne M. Dwyer: Salar Grammatical Sketch (PDF)
• Ma Wei, Ma Jianzhong, and Kevin Stuart, editors. 2001. Folklore of China?s Islamic ` Nationality. Lewiston, Edwin Mellen.
• Ma Quanlin, Ma Wanxiang, and Ma Zhicheng (Kevin Stuart, editor). 1993. Salar Language Materials. Sino-Platonic Papers. Number 43.
• Ma Wei, Ma Jianzhong, and Kevin Stuart. 1999. The Xunhua Salar Wedding. Asian Folklore Studies 58:31-76.
• Ma Jianzhong and Kevin Stuart. 1996. ?Stone Camels and Clear Springs?: The Salar?s Samarkand Origins. Asian Folklore Studies. 55:2, 287-298.
• Han Deyan (translated by Ma Jianzhong and Kevin Stuart). 1999. The Salar Khazui System. Central Asiatic Journal 43 (2): 204-214.
• Feng Lide and Kevin Stuart. 1991. Ma Xueyi and Ma Chengjun. Salazu Fengsuzhi [Records of Salar Customs]; Han Fude, general editor. Salazu Minjian Gushi [Salar Folktales]; Han Fude, general editor. Minjian Geyao [Folk Songs]; and Han Fude, general editor. Minjian Yanyu [Folk Proverbs]. Asian Folklore Studies. 50:2, 371-373.

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