Salar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Total population |
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| 104,503 (2000 census) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| China: provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
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other Turkic peoples |
| History of Islam in China |
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History |
| Major figures |
|
Lan Yu • Yeheidie'erding |
| Culture |
| Architecture |
| Islamic Cities/Regions |
| Ethnic Groups |
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Hui • Uygur • Kazakhs |
| Impact |
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (January 2009) |
Salar people (Salar: Salar, Turkish: Salar, Chinese: 撒拉族, Pinyin: Sālāzú) are a Turkish Oghuz people whose accent is the closest to the accent of Turkish people living in Turkey.[citation needed] They are also 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 循化撒拉族自治縣 and Hualong Autonomous County of the Hui Nationality 化隆回族自治縣), in Gansu (in Jishishan Autonomous County of the Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar Nationalities 積石山保安族東鄉族撒拉族自治縣) and in Xinjiang (in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture 伊犁哈薩克自治州).
Their ancestors were migrating Oghuz Turks who intermarried with the Tibetans, Han Chinese, and Hui. They are a patriarchal agricultural society and Muslims.
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[edit] History
According to Salar tradition, they are the descendants of the Salyr tribe, belonging to the Turkic Oghuz tribe of the Seljuk Turks. They also claimed to be descendants of Oghuz Khan. The word "Salyr meant "those who wave swords, spears and hammers everywhere". During the Tang Dynasty period, the Salyr tribe dwelt within China's borders - later moving west towards Central Asia.
The two brothers Haraman and Ahman, forefathers of the present day Salar tribe once lived in the Samarkand area. They held a lot of prestige at the local Islamic mosques, thus they gained the jealousy and hatred from the local king and ruling class which led to persecution. To flee from all this, the two brothers along with eighteen members of the same tribe saddled a white camel with their local water, soil, and a koran before heading east to looking for a new place to settle.
The wandering party trekked through the northern route of the Tian Shan mountain ranges into the Jiayuguan pass and passing through the present day Suzhou District, Ganzhou district, Ningxia, Qinzhou District, Gangu County, and eventually stopping at Ganjiatan (within today's Xiahe County).
Later, another forty sympathizers from Samarkand also followed their footsteps - they passed through the southern route of the Tian Shan mountain ranges and entered Qinghai. They journeyed along the Qinghai and Hunan coast into what is now Guide County and twelve of them decided to stay there.
The remaining twenty eight travellers met up with the Haraman group at Ganjiatan, and together they journeyed to today's Xunhua region. However during the night, their camel ran away so they lit a torch to try and track down the camel. The next day they climbed unto a nearby mountain to take a glance at the whole area. They saw that the soil was fertile and that it was a good place to settle.
Shortly after coming down the mountain they discovered spring water and found the lost camel lying beside the water. The people then measured the water and the soil and took note that the weight of the soil was the same as the soil which they had brought from Samarkand.
As a result, these two groups of migrants settled in this Xunhua region. As time progressed, these Samarkand people merged with the local Tibetan, Hui, Han Chinese and Mongolian peoples eventually forming the Salar people of today.
During the time of Genghis Khan's conquest, they were known as the Salyr tribe of Khorasan. One Salyr chief agreed to submit his lieutenants Aqman and Qaraman as mercenaries to the Mongol army.
In this way, these Turkmen Salyrs were spared the destruction which was brought upon the Khwarezmian Empire by the Mongol army. Forty years after Genghis Khan's conquest of Khwarezm, the Salyr lieutenants Aqman and Qaraman also joined the Mongols in the Siege of Diaoyu in Sichuan, a Song Dynasty stronghold.
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.
About one third of Salars are able to speak their own language. Many Salar also speak Tibetan in addition to Chinese. There are reported similarities with Turkmen.[citation needed]
[edit] 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.
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.
[edit] 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 a written language, as Ma et al. (2001) demonstrate, but the written language is rarerly used. There are reported similarities with Turkmen.
[edit] References
- Tenišev, E.R: Stroj salarskogo âzyka (The structure of the Salar language). Moscow, Nauka 1976).
- Lin Lianyun (林莲云): 汉撒拉、撒拉汉词汇 (Chinese-Salar Salar-Chinese lexicon. Chengdu, People's Press of Sichuan. 1992.
[edit] 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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