View source for Yugurs

{{Short description|Turko-Mongolic ethnic group living in China}}
{{Redirect|Yugu|the village in Pakistan|Yugo, Baltistan}}
{{distinguish|Uyghurs}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Yugur
| image            = Family In Lanchow, China 1944 Fr. Mark Tennien Restored.jpg
| caption          = A Yugur family in [[Lanzhou, Gansu]], 1944
| total            = 14,706 (2020 census) [[File:Yugur autonomous prefectures and counties in China.png|center|frameless|260x260px]]
Distribution of Yugur [[autonomous prefecture]]s and counties in [[mainland China]]
| popplace         = [[Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu]], China
| langs            = [[Western Yugur language|Western Yugur]], [[Eastern Yugur language|Eastern Yugur]]
| rels             = {{hlist|[[Tibetan Buddhism]]|[[Tengrism]] ([[Shamanism]])}}
| related          = {{hlist|Old Uyghurs|[[Salar people|Salars]]|other [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] and [[Mongolic peoples]]}}
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
}}

The '''Yugurs''', '''Yughurs''', '''Yugu''' ({{zh|s=裕固族|t=裕固族|p=Yùgùzú}}; [[Western Yugur language|Western Yugur]]: ''Sarığ yoğır''; [[Eastern Yugur language|Eastern Yugur]]: ''Shera yogor''), traditionally known as '''Yellow Uyghurs''',<ref name="RudelsonRudelson1997">{{cite book|author1=Justin Jon Rudelson|author2=Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson|title=Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism Along China's Silk Road|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MT2D_0_eBPQC&q=sariq+yellow&pg=PA206|year=1997|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-10786-0|pages=206–}}</ref> are a [[Turkic peoples|Turko-]][[Mongolic peoples|Mongol]] ethnic group and one of China's 56 [[List of ethnic groups in China|officially recognized ethnic groups]], consisting of 14,706 persons, according to the 2020 census.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&q=yellow+uyghurs&pg=PA1142|title=Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world|author=Justin Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie|year=2009|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-08-087774-7|page=1142|access-date=31 October 2010}}</ref> The Yugur live primarily in [[Sunan Yugur Autonomous County]] in [[Gansu]]. They are mostly [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhists]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson, Justin Jon Rudelson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MT2D_0_eBPQC&q=yellow+uyghurs&pg=PA178 |title=Oasis identities: Uyghur nationalism along China's Silk Road |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-231-10786-2 |page=178 |access-date=31 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wong |first=Edward |date=28 September 2016 |title=Modern Life Presents Nomads of China's Steppe With a 'Tragic Choice' |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/world/asia/china-yugurs-gansu.html}}</ref> The majority of Yugurs speak a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]], while [[Eastern Yugur language|Mongolic]] and [[Chinese language|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>{{cite book|last=Allworth|first=Edward A.|author-link=Edward A. Allworth|title=Central Asia, 130 Years of Russian Dominance: A Historical Overview|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2XpddVB0l0C&pg=PA89|year=1994|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-1521-1|page=89}}</ref>

In 1037, the Yugurs came under [[Tangut people|Tangut]] rule.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dillon|first=Michael|title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQhQ3QKDezsC&pg=PA10|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-16664-2|page=10}}</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>{{cite book |last1=Bellér-Hann |first1=Ildikó |last2=Hann |first2=Chris |title=The Great Dispossession: Uyghurs between Civilizations |date=2020 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-91367-8 |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxogEAAAQBAJ&dq=Islam+qalmaq&pg=PA39 |language=en}}</ref>

The Yugurs adopted the [[Gelug]] order of Tibetan Buddhism in the late 16th century, under the influence of [[Sonam Gyatso, 3rd Dalai Lama|Sonam Gyatso]], the third Dalai Lama.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Berzin |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Berzin (scholar) |title=Tibetan Buddhism among Yellow Yugurs of Gansu |url=https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/buddhism-in-mongolia/buddhism-in-the-mongol-regions-of-china-1994/tibetan-buddhism-among-yellow-yugurs-of-gansu-1994 |access-date=2025-06-30 |website=studybuddhism.com |language=en}}</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>{{cite book|last=Tamm|first=Eric Enno|title=The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbpG8QEguXEC&pg=PA281|date=10 April 2011|publisher=Catapult|isbn=978-1-58243-876-4|page=281}}</ref>

==Language==
About 4600 Yugurs speak [[Western Yugur language|Western Yugur]], a [[Siberian Turkic language]], and about 2800 [[Eastern Yugur language|Eastern Yugur]], a [[Mongolic language]]. Western Yugur has preserved many archaisms of [[Old Uyghur]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHlCi_yws4YC&pg=PA431 |title=Studies on Turkish and Turkic Languages: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Turkish Linguistics |editor= Aslı Göksel, Celia Kerslake |pages=430–431 |publisher=Harrassowitz |year= 2000 |isbn=978-3447042932 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U1009DRu_vMC&q=yellow+uyghurs&pg=PA397|title=The Turkic languages|author=Lars Johanson, Éva Csató|year=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=0-415-08200-5|page=397|access-date=31 October 2010}}</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>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddddmhXofKoC&q=yellow+uyghurs&pg=PA212|title=Dislocating China: reflections on Muslims, minorities and other subaltern subjects|author=Dru C. Gladney|year=2004|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=1-85065-324-0|page=212|access-date=31 October 2010}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://horsethatleaps.com/chapter-11 Slide shows, maps and other material on the Yugur from author Eric Enno Tamm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811182225/http://horsethatleaps.com/chapter-11/ |date=11 August 2017 }}
*Original Western Yugur texts with English translation plus PDF grammar of Sarig Yugur [http://members.home.nl/marcmarti/yugur/]
<!--
== Literature ==
*Tamm,Eric Enno. (2010) "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China." Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. {{ISBN|978-1-55365-269-4}}. http://horsethatleaps.com/chapter-11
-->

{{Ethnic groups in China}}
{{Mongol Yastan}}
{{Turkic peoples}}
{{Turkic topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yugur}}
[[Category:Mongol peoples]]
[[Category:Turkic peoples of Asia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups officially recognized by China]]
[[Category:Buddhism in Xinjiang]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhism in China]]