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Dungan is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a group of Muslims people of Hui people origin. Turkic-speaking peoples in Xinjiang also sometimes refer to Hui Muslims as Dungans. In both China and the former Soviet republics where they reside, however, members of this ethnic group call themselves Hui because Dungans are descendants of historical Hui groups that migrated to Central Asia.
In the censuses of the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Dungans (enumerated separately from Chinese) are found in Kazakhstan (36,900 according to the 1999 census), Kyrgyzstan (58,409 according to the 2009 census) and Russia (801 according to the 2002 census). Aleksandr Nikolaevich Alekseenko (Александр Николаевич Алексеенко), "Republic in the Mirror of the Population Census" («Республика в зеркале переписей населения») Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia. 2001, No. 12. pp. 58–62.
Turkic Muslim slave-raiders from Kokand did not distinguish between Hui Muslim and Han Chinese, enslaving Hui Muslims in violation of Islamic law. During the Afaqi Khoja revolts Turkic Muslim Khoja Jahangir Khoja led an invasion of Kashgar from the Kokand Khanate and Jahangir's forces captured several hundred Hui people (Tungan or Hui) who were taken to Kokand. Tajiks bought two Chinese slaves from Shaanxi; they were enslaved for a year before being returned by the Tajik Beg Ku-bu-te to China. All Dungans captured, both merchants and the 300 soldiers Janhangir captured in Kashgar, had their queues cut off when brought to Kokand and Central Asia as prisoners. Many of the captives became slaves. Accounts of these slaves in Central Asia increased. The queues were removed from Dungan Chinese Muslim prisoners and then sold or given away. Some of them escaped to Russian territory where they were repatriated back to China and the accounts of their captures were recorded in Chinese records. The Russians record an incident where they rescued these Chinese Muslim merchants who escaped, after they were sold by Jahangir's Army in Central Asia and sent them back to China.
The Dungan in the former Soviet republics are Hui who fled China in the aftermath of the Hui Minorities' War (also known as the "Dungan Rebellion") in the 19th century. According to Rimsky-Korsakoff (1992), three separate groups of the Hui people fled to the Russian Empire across the Tian Shan mountains during the exceptionally severe winter of 1877/78 after the end of the Hui Minorities' War:
The next wave of immigration followed in the early 1880s. In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881), which required the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Upper Ili River basin (the Yining area), the Dungan (Hui) and Taranchi (Uyghurs) people of the region were allowed to opt to move to the Russian side of the border. Many chose to do so; according to Russian statistics, 4,682 Hui moved to the Russian Empire under the treaty. They migrated in many small groups between 1881 and 1883, settling in the village of Sokuluk some 30 km west of Bishkek, as well as in a number of locations between the Chinese border and Sokuluk, in southeastern Kazakhstan and in northern Kyrgyzstan.
The name Dungan is of obscure origin. One popular theory derives this word from Turkic döñän ("one who turns"), which can be compared to Chinese (huí), which has a similar meaning. Another theory derives it from the Chinese 东甘 (Dong Gan), 'Eastern Gansu', the region to which many of the Dungan can trace their ancestry; however the character gan (干) used in the name of the ethnic group is different from that used in the name of the province (甘).
The term "Dungan" ("Tonggan", "Donggan") has been used by Central Asian Turkic languages-and Tajik-speaking people to refer to Chinese-speaking Muslims for several centuries. Joseph Fletcher cites Turkic and Persian manuscripts related to the preaching of the 17th century Sufi master Muhammad Yūsuf (or, possibly, his son Afaq Khoja) inside the Ming Dynasty (in today's Gansu and/or Qinghai), where the Kashgarian preacher is told to have converted 'ulamā-yi Tunganiyyān (i.e., "Dungan ulema") into Sufism.. Lipman's source is: Joseph Fletcher, "The Naqshbandiya in Northwest China", in
Presumably, it was from the Turkic languages that the term was borrowed into Russian (дунгане, dungane (pl.); дунганин, dunganin (sing.)) and Chinese (), as well as to Western European languages.
In English and German, the ethnonym "Dungan", in various spellings, has been attested as early as the 1830s, typically referring to the Hui people of Xinjiang. For example, James Prinsep in 1835 mentioned Muslim "Túngánis" in "Chinese Tartary".James Prinsep, "Memoir on Chinese Tartary and Khoten". The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 48, December 1835. P. 655. On Google BooksPrinsep's article is also available in "The Chinese Repository", 1843, p. 234 On Google Books. A modern (2003) reprint is available, . In 1839, Karl Ernst von Baer in his German-language account of Russian Empire and adjacent Asian lands has a one-page account of Chinese-speaking Muslim "Dungani" or "Tungani", who visited Orenburg in 1827 with a caravan from China; he also mentions "Tugean" as a spelling variant used by other authors.Karl Ernst von Baer, Grigoriĭ Petrovich Gelʹmersen. "Beiträge zur Kenntniss des russischen Reiches und der angränzenden Länder Asiens". Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1839. p. 91. On Google Books R.M. Martin in 1847 mentions "Tungani" merchants in Yarkent County.Robert Montgomery Martin, "China; political, commercial, and social; an official report". 1847. p.19. On Internet Archive
The word (mostly in the form "Dungani" or "Tungani", sometimes "Dungens" or "Dungans") acquired some currency in English and other western languages when a number of books in the 1860-1870s discussed the Dungan rebellion in northwestern China. At the time, European and American authors applied the term Tungani to the Hui people both in Xinjiang, For example, Thomas Edward Gordon writes of "Tunganis" with taifu wall pieces (small cannons) guarding the walls of Yaqub Beg's capital Kashgar (in today's Western Xinjiang) in his book The roof of the world: being a narrative of a journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian frontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir. A The Times journalist in " Russia and China in Central Asia" (reprinted by The Brisbane Courier, Wednesday 8 January 1879) distinguishes "the Tungan Country" (today, eastern Xinjiang) and "Eastern Turkestan" (corresponding to Yaqub Beg's state in today's western Xinjiang). He talks about "the Tungani who had erected in the various cities of Hami City, Barkol County, Qitai County, Urumqi, and Manas County a confederacy of no mean power". and in Shaanxi and Gansu (which at the time included today's Ningxia and Qinghai as well). Authors aware of the general picture of the spread of Islam in China, viewed these "Tungani" as just one of the groups of China's Muslims.See e.g. an anonymous article, " Mohammedanism in China", in The Living age, Volume 145, Issue 1876. 29 May 1880. Pp. 515–525. Reprinted from the Edinburgh Review. While using "Mohammedans" as the generic description of Chinese Muslim's throughout the article (including e.g., the Panthays then recently rebelling in Yunnan), the author describes "an insurrection, beginning in Singan-fu, and spreading to Gansu in 1862, in which the Tungani (a mysterious race of Muslims dwelling in that region, supposed to be the remnant of the armies of Kublai Khan) were the chief actors" (p. 524).
Marshall Broomhall, who has a chapter on "the Tungan Rebellion" in his 1910 book, introduces "the name Tungan or Dungan, by which the Muslims of these parts i.e., are designated, as distinguished from the Chinese Buddhists who were spoken of as Kithay. The reference to "Khitay" shows that he was observing the two terms as used by Turkic speakers.. A 1966 reprint by Paragon Book Reprint is available. Relatedly, the Russian word for China is also Kitai (China), and in Chinese is kitaitsy (китайцы), a label that is not applied to the Dungans (дунгане in an ethnic sense; that is, Dungans and kitaitsi (Chinese) were regarded as different ethnic groups or nationalities. Broomhall's book also contains a translation of the report on Chinese Muslims by the Ottoman Empire writer named Abd-ul-Aziz. Abd-ul-Aziz divides the "Tungan people" into two branches: "the Tunagans of China proper" (including, apparently all Hui people in "China proper", as he also talks e.g. about the Tungans having 17 mosques in Beijing), and "The Tungans of Chinese and Russian Turkestan", who still looked and spoke Chinese, but had often also learned the Uyghur language.
Later authors continued to use the term Dungan (in various transcriptions) for, specifically, the Hui people of Xinjiang. For example, Owen Lattimore, writing c. 1940, maintains the terminological distinction between these two related groups: "T'ungkan" (i.e. Wade-Giles for "Dungan"), described by him as the descendants of the Gansu Hui people resettled in Xinjiang in 17–18th centuries, vs. e.g. "Gansu Moslems" or generic "Chinese Moslems".Owen Lattimore. Inner Asian Frontiers of China. Page 183 in the 1951 edition. The term (usually as "Tungans") continues to be used by many modern historians writing about the 19th century Dungan Rebellion (e.g., by Denis C. Twitchett in The Cambridge History of China,. Twitchett's definition (p. 215) is in line with the authors of 1870s–1880s, rather than with that of more recent Lattimore: for Twitchett, "Tungans" include the Huis of Shaanxi and Gansu as well, not just of Xinjiang by James A. Millward in his economic history of the region, or by Kim Ho-dong in his monograph).
The following table summarizes location of Dungan villages in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, alternative names used for them, and their Dungan population as reported by Ma Tong (2003). The Cyrillic Dungan spelling of place names is as in the textbook by Sushanlo, Imazov (1988); the spelling of the name in Chinese characters is as in Ma Tong (2003).
| + Dungan villages in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ! Village name (and alternatives) !! Location (in present-day terms) !! Foundation !! Current Dungan population (from Ma Tang (2003)) | |||
| Masanchi (; ) or Masanchin (Russian: Масанчин; Dungan language: Масанчын; 馬三成), prior to 1965 Karakunuz (Каракунуз, Караконыз). Traditional Dungan name is Ingpan (Cyrillic Dungan: Йинпан; Russian: Иньпан; , Yingpan) | () Korday District, Jambyl Region of Kazakhstan (8 km north of Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan) | Spring 1878. 3314 people from Shaanxi, led by Bai Yanhu (白彦虎). | 7,000, current mayor: Iskhar Yusupovich Lou |
| Sortobe (; , Shortyube; ; , Xinqu) | () Korday District, Jambyl Region. On the northern bank of the river Chu opposite and a few km downstream from Tokmok; south of Masanchi (Karakunuz) | (Karakunuz group) | 9,000 |
| Zhalpak-tobe, (; , Jiaerpakeqiubai) | Jambyl District, Jambyl Region; near Grodekovo, south of Taraz | 3,000 | |
| Yrdyk (; ; , Erdaogou) | () Jeti-Ögüz District of Issyk-Kul Region; 15 km south-west from Karakol. | Spring 1878. 1130 people, originally from Didaozhou (狄道州) in Gansu, led by Ma Yusu (馬郁素), a.k.a. Ah Yelaoren (阿爺老人). | 2,800 |
| Sokuluk (; Dungan: Сохўлў; , Saohulu); may also include adjacent Aleksandrovka (Александровка) | Sokuluk District of Chüy Region; 30 km west of Bishkek | Some of those 4,628 Hui people who arrived in 1881–1883 from the Ili River Basin (Xinjiang) . | 12,000 |
| Milyanfan (; ; , Miliangchuan) | Ysyk-Ata District of Chüy Region. Southern bank of the Chu River, some 60 km west of Tokmok and about as much north-east of Bishkek. | (Karakunuz group (?)) | 10,000 |
| Ivanovka village (; ) | Ysyk-Ata District of Chüy Region. Southern bank of the Chu River, some 30 km west of Tokmok. | (Karakunuz group (?)) | 1,500 |
| Dungan community of Osh (; or 敖什, Aoshe) | Osh Region | Spring 1878, 1000 people, originally from Turpan in Xinjiang, led by Ma Daren, also known as Ma Da-lao-ye (馬大老爺) | 800 |
The position of the Kazakhstan villages within the administrative division of Jambyl Region, and the total population of each village can be found at the provincial statistics office web site. Population data for Zhambyl Province towns and villages (1999–2002)
Besides the traditionally Dungan villages, many Dungan people live in the nearby cities, such as Bishkek, Tokmok, Karakol.
Reportedly, Dungans were "strongly anti-Japanese". During the 1930s, a White Russian driver for Nazi Germany agent Georg Vasel in Xinjiang was afraid to meet Hui general Ma Zhongying, saying: "You know how the Tungans hate the Russians." Vasel passed the Russian driver off as a German.
In February 2020, a conflict broke out between ethnic Kazakhs and Dungans in the Korday area in Kazakhstan on the border to Kyrgyzstan. According to official Kazakh sources, 10 people were killed and many more were wounded. In the altercation, cars and homes were burned and rifles were fired. 600 people fled across the border to Kyrgyzstan.
Like other varieties of Chinese, Dungan is tonal. There are two main dialects, one with four tones and the other, considered standard, with three tones in the final position in words and four tones in the non-final position.
Some Dungan vocabulary may sound archaic to Chinese people. For example, they refer to a President as an "Emperor" (Хуаңды/皇帝, huan'g-di) and call government offices yamen (ямын/衙門, ya-min), a term for mandarins' offices in ancient China. Their language also contains many loanwords from Russian language, Arabic, Persian language and Turkic languages. Since the 1940s, the language has been written in Cyrillic script, though the language has historically also used Chinese characters and Xiao'erjing (Arabic script used for Chinese), though these are now considered obsolete.
Dungan people are generally multilingual. In addition to Dungan Chinese, more than two-thirds of the Dungan speak Russian language and a small proportion can speak Kyrgyz language or other languages belonging to the titular nationalities of the countries where they live..
"are of middle height, and inclined to be stout. They have high and prominent foreheads, thick and arched eyebrows, eyes rather sunken, fairly prominent cheek-bones, face oval, mouth of average size, lips thick, teeth normal, chin round, ears small and compressed, hair black and smooth, beard scanty and rough, skin smooth, neck strong, and extremities of average proportions. The characteristics of the Dungans are kindness, industry, and hospitality. They engage in husbandry, horticulture, and trade. In domestic life parental authority is very strong. After the birth of a child the mother does not get up for fifteen days, and, without any particular feast, the child receives its name in the presence of a mullah the day succeeding that of its birth. Circumcision takes place on the eighth, ninth, or tenth day. When a girl is married she receives a dowry. In sickness they have recourse to medicine and doctors, but never to . After death, the mullah and the aged assemble to recite prayers; the corpse is wrapped in white linen and then buried, but never burned. On returning from the interment the mullah and the elders partake of bread and meat. To saints they erect monuments like little mosques, for others simple hillocks. The widow may re-marry after 90 days, and on the third anniversary of the death a feast takes place."
The Dungan are primarily farmers, growing rice and vegetables such as sugar beet. Many also raise dairy cattle. In addition, some are involved in opium production. The Dungan tend to be endogamous.
The Dungan are well known 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.
The Dungan still practice elements of Chinese culture, in cuisine and attire, up to 1948 they also practiced foot binding until the practice was banned by the Soviet government, and later the Chinese government. The conservative Shaanxi Dungan cling more tightly to Chinese customs than the Gansu Dungan.
The Dungans have retained Chinese traditions which have disappeared in modern China. Traditional marriage practices are still widespread with matchmakers, the marriages conducted by the Dungan are similar to Chinese marriages in the 19th century, hairstyles worn by women and attire date back to the Qing dynasty.
Shaanxi female attire is still Chinese, though the rest of the Dungans dress in western attire. Chopsticks are used by Dungans. The cuisine of the Dungan resembles northwestern Chinese cuisine.Svetlana Rimsky-Korsakoff Dyer (1979). 9780909879112, Faculty of Asian Studies, ANU. . ISBN 9780909879112 However, being Muslims they do not consume pork, one of the most popular meats in Chinese cuisine, and meat is procured in accordance to being halal.
Around the late 19th century the bride price was between 240 and 400 rubles for Dungan women. Dungans have been known to take other women such as Kirghiz and Tatars as brides willingly, or kidnap Kirghiz girls. Shaanxi Dungans are even conservative when marrying with other Dungans; they want only other Shaanxi Dungans marrying their daughters, while their sons are allowed to marry Gansu Dungan, Kirghiz, and Kazakh women. As recently as 1962, inter-ethnic marriage was reported to be anathema among Dungans.
For religious reasons, while Hui people do not consider themselves Han and are not Han Chinese, they consider themselves part of the wider Chinese race and refer to themselves as Zhongyuanren. The Dungan people, descendants of Hui who fled to Central Asia, called themselves Zhongyuanren in addition to the standard labels Lao Huihui and Huizi.
Zhongyuanren was used generally by Turkic Muslims to refer to Han and Hui Chinese people. When Central Asian invaders from Kokand invaded Kashgar, in a letter the Kokandi commander criticizes the Kashgari Turkic Muslim Ishaq for allegedly not behaving like a Turkic-origin Muslim and wanting to be a Zhongyuanren.
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