Yugurs
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The Yugurs, Yughurs, Yugu (Template:Zh; Western Yugur: Sarığ yoğır; Eastern Yugur: Shera yogor), traditionally known as Yellow Uyghurs,<ref name="RudelsonRudelson1997">Template:Cite book</ref> are a Turko-Mongol ethnic group and one of China's 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, consisting of 14,706 persons, according to the 2020 census.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Yugur live primarily in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County in Gansu. They are mostly Tibetan Buddhists.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The majority of Yugurs speak a Turkic language, while Mongolic and Chinese are also used in eastern provinces.
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 (870–1036) with capital near present Zhangye at the base of the Qilian Mountains in the valley of the Ejin River.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1037, the Yugurs came under Tangut rule.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> As a result of Khizr Khoja’s invasion of Qumul, many residents who rejected conversion to Islam escaped to nearby Dunhuang and Hunan in China proper. These were the ancestors of the Yugurs, who have remained Vajrayana Buddhists to the present day.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Yugurs adopted the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism in the late 16th century, under the influence of Sonam Gyatso, the third Dalai Lama.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1893, Russian explorer Grigory Potanin, the first Western scientist to study the Yugurs, published a small glossary of Yugur words, along with notes on their administration and geographical situation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Language
About 4600 Yugurs speak Western Yugur, a Siberian Turkic language, and about 2800 Eastern Yugur, a Mongolic language. Western Yugur has preserved many archaisms of Old Uyghur.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Both Yugur languages are now unwritten, although the Old Uyghur alphabet was in use in some Yugur communities until the end of 17th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
References
External links
- Slide shows, maps and other material on the Yugur from author Eric Enno Tamm Template:Webarchive
- Original Western Yugur texts with English translation plus PDF grammar of Sarig Yugur [1]
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