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The Yugurs, Yughurs, Yugu (; Western Yugur: ''Sarïg Yogïr''; Eastern Yugur: ''Šera Yogor''), traditionally known as Yellow Uyghurs, are a Turko- Mongolic ethnic group and one of China's 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, consisting of 16,719 persons according to the 2000 census. The Yugur live primarily in
Sunan Yugur Autonomous County Sunan Yugur Autonomous County () is an autonomous county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhangye, Gansu Province, China, bordering Qinghai province to the south. It is home to the majority of the Yugur ethnic group. The se ...
in Gansu, China. They are mostly
Tibetan Buddhists Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
.


Name

The ethnic groups' current, official name, Yugur, derived from its autonym: the Turkic-speaking Yugur designate themselves as ''Yogïr'', "Yugur" or ''Sarïg Yogïr'', "Yellow Yugur" and the Mongolic-speaking Yugur likewise use either ''Yogor'' or ''Šera Yogor'', "Yellow Yugur". Chinese historical documents have recorded these ethnonyms as ''Sālǐ Wèiwùr'' or ''Xīlǎgǔr''. During the Qing dynasty, the Yugur were also called by a term that included "fān", the Classical Chinese term for Tibetic ethnic groups (, "Xīlǎgǔr Yellow Barbarians/Tibetans"). In order to distinguish both groups and their languages, Chinese linguists coined the terms ''Xībù Yùgùr'', "Western Yugur" and ''Dōngbù Yùgùr'', "Eastern Yugur" based on their geographical distribution.


History

The Turkic-speaking Yugurs are considered to be the descendants of a group of Old Uyghurs who fled from Mongolia southwards to Gansu after the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840, where they established the prosperous
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom The Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom (), also referred to as the Hexi Uyghurs, was established in 894 around Ganzhou in modern Zhangye. The kingdom lasted from 894 to 1036; during that time, many of Ganzhou's residents converted to Buddhism. The Hexi Corr ...
(870-1036) with capital near present
Zhangye Zhangye (), formerly romanized as Changyeh or known as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It borders Inner Mongolia on the north and Qinghai on the south. Its central district is Ga ...
at the base of the Qilian Mountains in the valley of the
Ruo Shui Ejin River (), also Etsin Gol, Ruo Shui () or Ruo He in ancient times, is a major river system of northern China. It flows approximately from its headwaters on the northern Gansu side of the Qilian Mountains north-northeast into the endorheic E ...
. The population of this kingdom, estimated at 300,000 in Song chronicles, practised Manichaeism and
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
in numerous temples throughout the country. In 1037 the Yugur came under Tangut domination. The Gansu Uyghur Kingdom was forcibly incorporated into the Western Xia after a bloody war that raged from 1028 to 1036. The Mongolic-speaking Yugurs are probably the descendants of one of the Mongolic peoples that invaded
Northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climate ...
during the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth century. The Yugurs were eventually incorporated into Qing China in 1696 during the reign of the second Qing ruler, the
Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...
(1662–1723). In 1893, Russian explorer
Grigory Potanin Grigory Nikolayevich Potanin (alt. Grigorij Potanin) (russian: Григорий Николаевич Потанин; 4 October 1835 – 6 June 1920) was a Russian ethnographer and natural historian. He was an explorer of Inner Asia, and was th ...
, the first Western scientist to study the Yugur, published a small glossary of Yugur words, along with notes on their administration and geographical situation. Then, in 1907,
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comm ...
visited the Western Yugur village of Lianhua (Mazhuangzi) and the Kangle Temple of the Eastern Yugur. Mannerheim was the first to conduct a detailed ethnographic investigation of the Yugur. In 1911, he published his findings in an article for the
Finno-Ugrian Society Finno-Ugrian Society (french: Société Finno-Ougrienne, fi, Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura) is a Finnish learned society, dedicated to the study of Uralic and Altaic languages. It was founded in Helsinki in 1883 by the proposal of professor Ot ...
.


Language

About 4,600 of the Yugurs speak Western Yugur (a Turkic language) and about 2,800 Eastern Yugur (a Mongolic language). Western Yugur has preserved many archaisms of Old Uyghur. The remaining Yugurs of the Autonomous County lost their respective Yugur language and speak
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
. A very small number of the Yugur reportedly speak
Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...
. They use Chinese for intercommunication. Both Yugur languages are now unwritten, although the
Old Uyghur alphabet The Old Uyghur alphabet was a Turkic script used for writing the Old Uyghur, a variety of Old Turkic spoken in Turpan and Gansu that is the ancestor of the modern Western Yugur language. The term "Old Uyghur" used for this alphabet is misleadi ...
was in use in some Yugur communities until end of 19th century.


People

The Turkic-speaking Yugur mainly live in the western part of the County in Mínghuā District, in the Townships of Liánhuā and Mínghǎi, and in Dàhé District, in the centre of the county. The Mongolic-speaking Yugur mainly live in the county's eastern part, in Huángchéng District, and in Dàhé and Kānglè Districts, in the centre of the county. The Yugur people are predominantly employed in
animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, startin ...
.


Religion

The traditional religion of the Yugur is Tibetan Buddhism, which used to be practiced alongside shamanism.


References


External links


Slide shows, maps and other material on the Yugur from author Eric Enno Tamm
*Original Western Yugur texts with English translation plus PDF grammar of Sarig Yugu

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yugur Mongol peoples Turkic peoples of Asia Ethnic groups officially recognized by China Uyghur sub-ethnic groups Turkic Buddhists