Dungan people, Asia. Russian Turkestan

The Dungans are the descendants of the Huizu, who belong to the Chinese ethnic group. This people lives on the territory of Central Asia. It has traditions and way of life similar to other Asian peoples. However, there are also some differences. A characteristic difference between the Dungans and the Chinese is that they profess Islam.

population

The Dungans are a small ethnic group compared to the Chinese. There are about 115,000 of them.

Where live

The Dungan settlement area is distributed as follows:

Kyrgyzstan: 60,000;
Kazakhstan: 51,000;
Russia: 1,600.

Also, some part of the Dungans is located on the territory of Uzbekistan.

Language

The Dungan language belongs to the Chinese branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Writing was first conducted on the basis of Arabic characters, then in Latin, and later in Cyrillic.

Religion

The Dungan religion is Sunni Islam. These are very pious people who read the Quran. However, there are no religious fanatics among them.

Dungan mosque

Name

The ethnonym "Dungan" has several versions of its origin. According to one of them, the term is transformed Turkic word"turgan", which means "remaining". Legends say that the Dungans descended from the descendants of Tamerlane, who remained to live in China. Chinese researchers are considering a version of the origin of the term from the Chinese "tunken". It denoted the inhabitants of the lands bordering China, speaking their language.

Appearance

Dungans have all the signs of the Mongoloid race. They have round faces with narrow slit eyes and full lips. Epicanthus is present. The nose of most representatives of the ethnic group is somewhat longer and larger than that of the Chinese. Compared to the latter, they have more muscular, strong figures. In men, there is vegetation on the face and body. Previously, it was customary to wear a beard and mustache. The skin is swarthy, like all Asians. The hair is black, straight, the girls braid it in braids. In general, the people are quite attractive.

Story

The ethnogenesis of the Dungans is quite complex. The Turkic peoples, the Arabs, the Mongols, and the Chinese took part in the formation of the people. There is a legend according to which the Chinese emperor called Arab warriors to protect his country from enemies. In order for them to live on his land, he gave them beautiful Chinese girls. They founded families with them, from which the Dungans went. Most historians adhere to this version, considering the Dungans to be descendants from the marriages of Persians and Arabs with Chinese women. It is believed that the Mongol Yuan dynasty influenced the formation of the ethnic group. The population of non-Mongol origin was called "semuzhen" - people with colored eyes. They included all descendants from mixed marriages. From this group, the Mongols recruited people to control Chinese subjects. This explains why subsequently there were many merchants, bankers, and managers among the Dungans. Semuzhen practiced Islam. After the end of the Yuan reign, the Chinese emperor established a law according to which the Mongol population was obliged to marry Chinese women. Thus, the Chinese language spread among them. However, the attempt of assimilation by the Chinese failed, since Islam was the greatest spiritual value for the Dungans.

The Hui people (Chinese name Dungan) are known to have participated in the uprisings that took place during the reign of the Qing Dynasty (mid-1800s). Fleeing from extermination, many representatives of the people fled to the territory of the Russian Empire. They settled in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Chinese emperor demanded to extradite the refugees, but was refused. The adoption of Russian citizenship caused some misunderstanding. The authorities banned early marriages, which were accepted among the Dungans, as well as the custom of having long hair for men. The Dungans have much in common with the culture of the Chinese, but their identity remains original.

Life

Traditionally, the Dungans were engaged in agriculture and gardening. Gardening and raising domestic animals are widespread among rural residents. important industry Agriculture has long been occupied by rice cultivation. Irrigation systems were used for fields, water distribution through dug canals. Wheat, barley, millet, beans, corn were grown. Cultivated pears, apple trees, apricots. Rice was sown by hand, after the seed germination, the plot was weeded. Rice fields filled with water. The field was divided into several sections, separated by boundaries. Rice and wheat were threshed in water mills. Sesame, flax, and cotton were grown as industrial crops. Oil was pressed out of them. Linen and cotton were used to make fabrics. There were such crafts as:

Blacksmith craft.
Carpet production.
Pottery.
Weaving, sericulture.
Embroidery.
Jewelry manufacturing.

Sericulture and cotton growing played an important role. Since ancient times, the Dungans have been familiar with weaving, methods of making silk fabrics, satin, poplin, cambric. The materials were dyed by hand with plant substances. After that, a pattern was applied by stuffing or stamping. Cotton fabrics were used to make underwear and lining fabric. Silk, satin, satin were used for elegant clothes. Pottery is a highly developed type of craft. Masters made dishes, vases, vessels for wine, covered with colored glaze. There were many pottery schools different directions. Each master has his own art style. The predominant motifs were drawings of birds, animals, flowers. Images of pomegranate, peaches, apple blossoms were popular. Masters were also engaged in engraving of dishes, carving, stamping.

Jewelers made jewelry from gold, silver using precious stones. Used stones such as: ruby, turquoise, emerald. Pearls and corals were widely used. There was a division of labor according to certain types of jewelry. For example, there were masters of rings, earrings, bracelets. By order of wealthy people, jewelry was made for horse harnesses and military equipment. Stones trimmed the hilts of cold weapons, scabbards. Many types of women's jewelry were made: chest capes, pendants for the head, ears, nose, inserts for women's braids, and voluminous necklaces. Precious stones were supplied from India, Iran, Russia.

Traditions

Marriage unions among the Dungans were previously concluded at the choice of parents. There were early marriages, which is typical for Asians. Girls are not married to men of other faiths. But a Dungan man can marry a woman of another religion. Their children are raised as Muslims. wedding ceremony begins with matchmaking, then they agree on the amount of bride price. The bride is provided with a rich dowry. At the wedding, not only relatives walk, but the whole village. The number of guests often reaches 500 people. The wedding lasts 3 days. A bachelorette party is arranged for the bride, where she says goodbye to her relatives. Then they go to the groom's house. There, young people are given gifts, congratulated, danced, and treated themselves to festive food. Modern Dungans celebrate their wedding with a mullah, and then register in the registry office according to Russian tradition.
Dungans celebrate traditional Muslim holidays. This:

Ramadan. This is the holy month for Muslims during which fasting is observed. It starts at dawn and ends after sunset. Muslims consider this period a time of service to Allah.
Eid al Adha. The holiday of breaking the fast is celebrated at the end of Ramadan.
Eid al-Adha. Feast of the Sacrifice. Dedicated to the prophet Ibrahim, who remained faithful to religious beliefs. The most important and beloved Muslim holiday.
Nowruz. This holiday has nothing to do with Muslim customs, but it is celebrated by many Asian peoples. This New Year according to the astronomical solar calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox.

Cloth

The Dungan national costume resembles Chinese clothing. The main elements of the men's suit: a white calico shirt without a collar, canvas harem pants. The shirts have a loose fit, long straight sleeves without cuffs. They are worn loose. A straight-cut caftan is put on top, which also lacks a collar. In the cold season, they wore quilted robes with a turn-down collar. The dressing gown has a wide shelf fastened with a side fastener. The clothes were girdled with a wide belt, which was tied at the back. Small hats with a round crown like a skullcap served as a headdress.

Women's clothing more varied. The girls also wore costumes consisting of bloomers and a short shirt with wide sleeves. The clasp was made on the side. The bottom of the sleeves, the collar were processed with colored ribbons. A sleeveless jacket with a deep neckline is put on top. Also among the Dungans, dresses in chinese style straight cut with stand-up collar. They have narrow sleeves. The clasp is traditionally done obliquely. The edge of the shelf is treated with braid or garus. Despite the simple cut, the dresses are very feminine, emphasizing elegance. female figure. Another type of dress has a robe-like cut. This is a loose-fitting garment with wide, collarless sleeves. The edges of the shelves are trimmed with wide ribbons of a contrasting color. The dress has a wide smell, fastens with hinged loops.

Elegant clothes were sewn from silk, satin, richly decorated with embroidery. Zoomorphic, plant patterns are widespread: birds sitting on branches, ducks, pomegranates, grapes, peonies, lotuses. These are symbols of wealth, longevity, love, fidelity. Especially a lot of embroidery on the clothes and shoes of the bride. It is all covered with symbols reflecting a happy life, well-being. On holidays, a shoulder decoration such as a cape is worn over the dress. It consists of dozens decorative elements embellished with embroidery and rhinestones. The cape covers the entire chest and shoulders of the girl, at the top it reaches the neck. Festive shoes are sewn from silk fabrics on a lining. Boots are decorated with applique, colored patterns. The head is decorated with a hoop with pendants, flowers.

Food

From time immemorial, rice has been the staple food of the Dungans. Also in the diet there are a large number of vegetables, there is meat, flour products. However, rice still remains the special, most important product of the Dungan cuisine. Often it is cooked without salt, boiled for a couple. Rice is placed in bowls, a side dish of vegetables and boiled meat are placed in the middle of the table. Spicy snacks like Chinese are prepared from vegetables. traditional species vegetables are: carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the cuisine was enriched with products such as Bell pepper, potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes. Dungan cuisine uses a large amount of spices, just like Chinese cuisine. Onions, garlic, chili peppers, dill, celery, coriander, ginger, zira are widely used.

For the preparation of meat dishes, lamb, beef, meat are used. poultry. Dungan vinegar is used as a marinade and an additive to dishes. It has a dark shade, has a pungent odor. Flour products are served with rice and meat dishes. Dungan cuisine distinguishes 6 main types of dough. Some are kneaded in salt water with the addition of soda, others - in animal fat. Noodles, pies, pasties, as well as brushwood and other sweets are prepared from the dough. Popular Dungan dishes:

Lagman. This is a thick fatty soup with meat, vegetables, noodles. There are many variations of its preparation. The ingredients are boiled in a large cauldron over an open fire. For a classic lagman, everything is cut into large pieces.
Mampar. Soup with dumplings. The dish consists of a broth with potatoes, carrots, onions, in which pieces of dough are placed.
Spicy eggplant. Young eggplants are boiled until soft, seasoned with vinegar, red pepper, olive oil.
Khoshans. Flour products, in appearance resemble deep-fried manti. Prepared from 2 types of dough. Unleavened is mixed with yeast, stuffed with chopped lamb meat and lard. Fried in oil.
Funchoza with vegetables. Carrots, cucumbers, sweet peppers are cut into strips, mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, curry, soy sauce. Rice noodles are added to the ingredients. Add garlic, cilantro, sprinkle with sesame seeds on top.
Alcoholic drinks are prohibited among the Dungans, this is dictated by the laws of Islam. Important role given to tea. Various types of tea are drunk with nuts, ginger, dried fruits, dates. There is an Asian recipe for tea with salt and milk.

Names

Due to the fact that the Dungan ethnogenesis was strongly influenced by Arab, Turkic, Mongolian peoples, among this ethnic group a large number of names of various origins are common. Traditional for Muslims are the names of the Prophet Muhammad and his associates. Also in use are the names of Arab caliphs. A lot of borrowings came from the Uighur, Chinese languages. A feature of the Dungan language is that it has a multitonality. In this case, the lexical system is based on the repetition of syllables. These features of the language make it possible to form a large number of names based on one source. When forming a derived name, the following rules are used:

doubling individual syllables;
adding a suffix to the word: -zy, -zhe, er. For example, Mamar means male name;
softening the name with a suffix. For example, the female name Fatur is translated as Fatimochka.

From each original name, 20-30 derivatives were formed. Therefore, now there is a strong variety of modern names. For example, from the anthroponym Muhammad, such names are formed as: Mur, Mumuzy, Murdanza, Khava, Hager, Mayor. From the female Fatima there were such names as: Fafar, Famer, Mezhez, Meme, Fatur.

Distinguish between an honorary name and a small, or household name. The first is called "jinmin". It is given to a person according to Islamic norms and represents the main name. The small one is called "shchemir", as they call a family member in everyday life. Examples of shemir education:

The name is given in honor of an event that occurred in a time period coinciding with the birth of a child: the birth or death of his relatives, family incidents, Religious holidays.
Boys can be assigned character traits, girls - the names of plants, animals, precious stones (Sanhu - coral, Shandan - lily).
The naming according to the account of each born child is the second, third, fourth. At the same time, the first was simply called "son" or "daughter."
Assigning a name by the name of the day of the week on which the child was born (if he was born from Thursday to Saturday, since these days are considered lucky).

Sometimes the child was given a negative name (a bad character trait, the designation of an animal that was considered evil, ugly). This was done in order to scare away evil spirits. The number of Dungan surnames is not so large. Their ancestors brought popular Chinese surnames: Lee, Dan, Ma. However, such reproduction is rare. More often there are 2-3-complex surnames. Often they consist of a root, to which a title or position is added. Modern Dungans may have Russian, European names.

Famous people

Abdujalil Yunusov. Master of Sports of the USSR in the types of wrestling sambo, judo, champion of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1983, recognized as the best judoka in Kyrgyzstan.
Maya Maneza. Weightlifter, playing for the national team of Kazakhstan. Born in Kyrgyzstan for a long time lived in China. 2 times became the world champion, she is also the champion of Kazakhstan, the Asian Games in 2010.
Zulfiya Chinchalo. A young athlete, Honored Master of Sports of Kazakhstan. 2 times won the title of world champion in weightlifting. She is also the champion of Kazakhstan, the silver medalist of the Asian Games in 2010 and the Olympic Youth Games in Singapore. Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest athlete in the history of the championships.

The famous Dungan writer is Shivaza Yasyr. He participated in the Great Patriotic War, was awarded orders and medals. Wrote several novels, many poems about wartime people. Manzus Vanahoon is a Hero Soviet Union for participation in the battle on the Kursk Bulge during the Second World War.

Character

Travelers and researchers describe the character of the Dungans as bold and resolute. Men are quick-tempered, they can violently sort things out. The Chinese consider them evil and vengeful. Perhaps this is a consequence of the long-term enmity between these two peoples. Dungans are distinguished by endurance and perseverance. They have a desire for a goal, good businessmen and managers come out of their midst. They are very sociable people who love fun, noisy companies.

Modern area of settlement and population

Total: 110000
Kyrgyzstan: 58409 () , 59994 ()

Kazakhstan: 51577 ()

Russia: 1651 ()

Language Religion Related peoples

Dungan

China

traditional Chinese:

東干族

Simplified Chinese:

东干族

Dunganese name

Dungan:

Huizu

Xiao"erjing:

حُوِ ذَو

Romanization:

Hueyzw

Hanzi:

回族

Dungan- people living in Kyrgyzstan, southern Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. There are also over 9.8 million Chinese-speaking Huizu Muslims in the PRC, who are often referred to as the same nationality. Dungans are descendants huizu, some of whom, like the more numerous Uighurs, moved to the territory of the Russian Empire in the 1880s after the defeat of the anti-Qing Dungan uprising in northwestern China. Dungan self-name in the modern Dungan Cyrillic script - huihui(cf. Chinese 回回), Huiming(Chinese 回民) "Hui people", lohuihui(Chinese 老回回) “venerable huihui" or җun-yan zhyn(Chinese 中原人, "People of the Central Plain"). Their language (see Dungan language) they call, respectively, "the language of the people hui"(dung. huizu yuyang; cf. whale. 回族语言) or "language of the Central Plains" ( Yun-yang hua, cf. whale. 中原话). In the USSR, during the process of national-state demarcation in Central Asia, initiated in 1924, the ethnonym "Dungan", which had been used earlier in Russian literature, was chosen as the official name for Chinese-speaking Muslims. In inner China, this word was not known. In Xinjiang, it began to be used by the surrounding peoples as a name (but not a self-name) of those huizu, who were massively resettled from the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi as military settlers - mainly in 1871 during the formation of the Ili Governor General with the center in Ghulja. According to one version, the word "Dungan" is of Turkic origin. According to another, recently proposed by Xinjiang University professor Hai Feng, the word dungan goes back to the Chinese word tunken(屯垦) - "military settlements of border lands", widespread in Xinjiang during its development by Qing China. In Chinese literature, words dongganren(东干人） "Dungan", dongganzu东干族 "nationality dungan» is used only in relation to the Dungans of the USSR / CIS countries.

One of the many restaurants in the Dordoi market in Bishkek advertising "Dungan cuisine"

Currently, the Dungans are most widely represented in the population of the Dzhambul region of Kazakhstan (about 40 thousand people; 36.9 thousand in all of Kazakhstan according to the 1999 census), as well as in northern Kyrgyzstan, where this people has approximately 55 thousand or 1 ,2% of the population of the republic (51,766 according to the 1999 census) According to the 2002 census, 800 Dungans live in Russia.

In the village of Milyanfan

Dungan in Kyrgyzstan

Notable Dungans

Masanchi, Magazy - member revolutionary movement, civil war, the struggle to establish Soviet power in Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
Vanahun, Manzus - participant in the Great Patriotic War. Hero of the Soviet Union
Maneza, Maya
Shivaza, Yasyr Dzhumazovich - Dungan Soviet writer
Chinshanlo, Zulfiya - Kazakhstani weightlifter, world and Olympic champion

The bulk of the Dungan people live in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Chinese-speaking fellow Dungans living in the west of China, their number reaches almost 10 million people, they adhere to Islam. The Huizu are the distant ancestors of the Dungans, there was a time when these same ancestors, in company with the Uyghurs, moved to the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century, the reason for this was the defeat of the Dungan uprising in northwest China. The uprising was widespread and historical sources known as the Anti-Cyn Uprising.

Soviet power during the Central Asian national-state delimitation in 1924, the word "Dungan" became the ethnonym for Chinese-speaking Muslims.
For the Chinese, this name was different. In Xinjiang province, it became widespread among peoples who were reforested from other provinces as military settlers.
One professor at Xinjiang University, who is called Hai Feng, put forward his theory that the word Dungan has Chinese roots, as it has a consonance with the word "tunken", which means in Chinese "military settlements located on the border zones." There is an unofficial version where the ethnonym "Dungan" is of Turkic origin.

Origin of the Dungan

Marriages created by Arabs and Iranians, during the time of trade crafts, gave in the future the development of the ethnogenesis of a nation called Hui, now living on the islands of Hainan, and in settlements like Yunnan and Guangdong. The Hui were similar to the Dungans, as they shared one religion. In this they differed from the Chinese in their time. They were Sunni Muslims. But they were closer to the Chinese, further examples of this will be given.

Merging the Dungan people with the Chinese did not bring any success for centuries. A sincere belief in the spiritual values of Islam was the main motivation for the survival of the Dungan ethnos, since it was this religion that formed the basis of the Dungan ethnos in some way as a people.
The Hui were a people similar to the Dungans in China.

Mixed marriages of Arabs and Iranians, during the time of trade crafts, gave in the future the development of the ethnogenesis of the Hui nation, now living on the islands of Hainan, and in settlements like Yunnan and Guangdong. The Hui were similar to the Dungans, as they shared one religion. In this they differed from the Chinese in their time. They were Sunni Muslims.
Among the reasons for the vitality of the Muslim community in China, first of all, was their uncountable number.
Also contributing to the survival of the Hui nation were factors such as: an uncertain geographical location and a very strong difference in appearance.
On the one hand, it can be said that the Chinese were not informed about the location of the large concentration of Muslim communities in the PRC, which could be defeated and, to some extent, weakened.
The main reason for the survival of the representatives of Islam in the land of the Chinese can be attributed to their adequate behavior in society, and their main task was not to engage in the spread of this religion in the territory of the PRC. In the event of violations of these simple rules Chinese authorities, in the end could lead to the fact that violators lose their right to life.
Unlike the Dungans, the Hui community were more similar to the Chinese in terms of language and many other characteristics. In China, the Hui has its own autonomous region with the name Ningxia Hui, which also gave them the status of a national minority in the country. The Autonomous Region is like a dependent republic to any country.

The revival of Islam in China began with the coming to power of Deng Xiaoping. He introduced the Chinese patriarchs in 1979. China began to recover good attitude with the people who adhered to Islam, this contributed to the improvement of the attitude of the Hui and Dungans with the Chinese state. As a result, the Islamic face Chinese world, became Dungan and Hui.

It is worth noting that the Dungans had very good experience in agriculture, and were also considered successful traders. At the time of their resettlement, mainly the countries of Central Asia. Many were forced to leave their property and belongings.

Dungan

So the Turkestans call the Chinese who converted to Islam? When this word appeared, and what it literally means, has not yet been clarified. The Chinese call D. now xiao-zhao- "younger population", and themselves da-zhao- "older population", D. themselves call themselves hoi hu. D. became famous from the beginning of the 60s, when they raised an uprising in the western provinces of China, East Turkestan and Dzungaria. The purpose of the uprising is not clear. Apparently, D. considered it reprehensible to obey the government of the pagans and had nothing to do with the national Chinese movement against the Manchu dynasty. See Dungan rebellion.

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DUNGAN

On the territory of Southern Kazakhstan, in Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang (China), the Dungan ethnic group lives - an offshoot of the Hui people (Hui Zu), living in Inner China (Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a small number - in other parts of the country). About 10 million Hui Zu live in China. There are three main ethnographic groups of the Hui: northern, southwestern (Yunnan-Sichuan) and southeastern (Guangdong). The Hui and Dungans profess the religion of Islam and speak Chinese dialects. As a result of the uprising against the government and the repression that followed, their ancestors were forced to move in the 18th century. to the west of the country from the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi.

According to the 1999 census, there were about 37,000 Dungans in Kazakhstan (most of which are located in the Dzhambul region), in northern Kyrgyzstan - about 52,000. Currently, 60,000 Dungans live in our republic. On the territory of Russia, 800 Dungans were registered (2002 census). Dungans are engaged in agriculture, trade in the markets, public catering.

Messages about this people are found in the writings of people who visited Western China. So, for example, the diary of Putimtsev, who in 1811 made a trip from the Bukhtarma fortress to the city of Kulja, was published in the Sibirsky Vestnik. He writes that the Tungans living in Ghulja and its environs are engaged in agriculture and petty trade, and maintain taverns. He further states that the Tungans, or Dungans, are Sunni Muslims and speak Chinese.

Various assumptions have arisen about the origin of this people. Among the local residents of East Turkestan, there was an opinion that the Tungans (Dungans), from among whom men were often called up to serve in the Chinese garrisons, descended from the soldiers of Alexander the Great. According to one version, given in the article by A. Kalimov “Dungan language”, placed in the 5th volume of the collection “Languages of the peoples of the USSR” (1968), the basis of the Hui ethnogenesis was the Arab-Persian captives assimilated by the Chinese, brought by the Chingizid khans at the end of the 14th century from Central Asia to China.

The famous scientist G.E. Grum-Grzhimailo, in his ethnological study “Materials on the Ethnology of Amdo and the Kuku-nora Region,” devoted one of the small paragraphs to this people: “In addition to the Mongols, in the Yuan era, a folk element penetrated into the province of Gan-su, until then remaining alien to this country - the natives Persia, Khiva, Samarkand and other areas of Iranian Asia, which, having been taken to the east by Genghis Khan, rallied here, thanks to the unity of religion, into a single people - the modern Dungans.

Some scholars believe that the main component in the period of the emergence of this people were the tribes of the southern Huns.

Ethnology and ethnography researcher Turkic peoples Kurbangali Khalid gives the following versions: the Dungans are the descendants of 10,000 Arab warriors sent by the Abbasid caliph at the request of the Chinese emperor to suppress an uprising in his country in 188 AH; they are descendants of settlers from Samarkand and Bukhara; their ancestors are part of the army of Emir Timur who remained in China.

There is a legend that connects the origin of the Dungans with three thousand Arab warriors sent by the Prophet Muhammad to China. In a note about the life of the Dungans who settled in the Semirechensk region, the following legend is given. During the reign of the Tang Emperor Taizong, the maternal uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, the nobleman Wang-ge-shi (ibn Hamza), arrived in the Middle State, accompanying the holy book of the Koran at the head of three thousand men. Taizong ordered the ruler of his capital, Chang-an, to build a mosque. At the request of the Chinese emperor Wang-ge-shi settled in the capital with his retinue. Subsequently, when the number of newcomers increased, Tai-tsun ordered the construction of Muslim temples in Nanjing and Canton. The authors of the article noted that the Dungans call themselves “Tungani”.

According to another version, a certain emperor from the Tang dynasty, ruling in 618 - 907, once had a dream in which a young man saved him from death. According to the sages, the monster that threatened their ruler with death is a danger in the form of neighboring nomadic peoples, and the image of a young man dressed in green clothes, symbolized appeared in the west new religion. The emperor sent envoys to Arabia asking for help. The Arab and Persian warriors who arrived in China are participating on the side of the Chinese in the war against the nomads. From their marriage with Chinese women, children are born who formed a new ethnic community of the Dungans.

China in the Tang era had contacts with both Central Asia, and with the Arab rulers. In the middle of the 8th century, when the Chinese courtier and general of Turkic origin An Lushan, at the head of the frontier troops, rebelled against Emperor Su-zong, Caliph Abu Jafar Al-Mansur came to the aid of the latter and sent his soldiers to China. An Lushan was defeated, and the Arab soldiers remained in China. There are mausoleums of Arabs who are revered as saints, and the Chinese Muslim Dungans perceive them as their ancestors, reading suras of the Koran on the graves. So, for example, in 742 in the then Chinese capital of Chang'an (now Xi'an), a famous mosque was built, later called the Great Xi'an Mosque.

According to another version of the legend, a detachment of two thousand people came to China from the west. They demanded land for themselves to settle in, and then Chinese girls as wives. Militant newcomers instilled fear in the Chinese, so they were given land, but none of the local women wanted to marry strangers. The governor invited them to come to the city feast and choose women from among the widows sitting with the old women in the third row of spectators, for the first row were girls, in the second - married women. The aliens came to the town square, hiding their weapons under their clothes. Noticing beautiful girls and young women sitting in the first and second rows, the soldiers captured them. The Chinese tried to protect them, but were forced to retreat in front of the armed guests. The descendants of these warriors preserved the religion of their fathers - Islam. They used it as mother tongue their mothers, but considered themselves a special people.

The closest to the truth is the opinion of the researcher of ethnogenesis and history Eastern peoples ON THE. Aristov, who believed that “... Turkic admixtures to the Chinese are very sharply manifested by 15 million Dungans of northern and western China, who apparently are the descendants of the okianized Huns, Tukyu Turks and Uighurs, who took Chinese citizenship in tens and hundreds of thousands, settled in northern China and received Chinese language, clothing and a significant part of the customs, but retained most of their Turkic blood, and with it the Turkic character and inclinations. With the adoption of Islam through the mediation of the Turks-tribesmen, these oscillated Turks acquired, in addition to the previous one, a new barrier separating them from the Chinese…”.

Apparently, one of the components of the Hui people was the southern branch of the Xianbei tribes, who submitted to China in 632 and settled in the area between Ganzhou and Liangzhou. In ancient chronicles, they are referred to as Helan, after Mount Helan in the vicinity of Ningxia, Gansu Province. Among the materials contained in the publication “Systems of personal names among the peoples of the world” (M., “Nauka”, 1989), a message is given that the ancestors of the Dungans (mostly people from various regions of Northern China, mainly from the province of Shaanxi, Gansu , as well as from Xinjiang and even Manchuria) at different times moved to the territory that was part of the Russian Empire. But the bulk of the Dungan settlers arrived in Central Asia in 1876-1883, after the defeat of the uprising of the Muslim population in northwest China against Manchu-Chinese rule (1862-1878).

The sociolinguistic reference book “Languages of the Peoples of Kazakhstan”, published in 2007, provides information about the ethnic and religious heterogeneity of the Dungans, most of whom are Hui who converted to Islam. Among the ancestors of this people, the Sinicized Tanguts are indicated, which included Iranian and Turkic-speaking groups. Part of the Hui, after the suppression of Muslim uprisings, fled to the west in the 19th century, where they received the name Dungan, unknown to the population of inner China. The Hui groups living in South and Southwest China are believed to be the descendants of the Arab colonists who settled here in the 7th–10th centuries and mixed with the Chinese. Hui is often referred to as the entire Chinese-speaking Muslim population of China.

The Dungan self-name is Hui Hui, Hui Ming, Lo Hui Hui (Lao Hui Hui) or Yun Yang Zhyn (zhong yuan jen). The term Dungan in Xinjiang began to be used by the surrounding peoples as the name of those Hui Zu who were massively resettled from the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi as military settlers - mainly in 1871 during the formation of the Ili Governor General with the center in Ghulja.

Until the middle of the 20th century, the terms hui, hui-hui, hui-zu, hui-min usually referred to the entire Muslim population of China, regardless of ethnic background. Then the Dungans were called Hui or Hui Zu, and the Uighurs were called Weiur Zu, Weiur Ren (weiwur ren) and Chantou ‘chalmon bearers’. Northwestern Hui Zu sometimes refer to themselves as zhong yuan ren, lit. ‘people of the Central Plain’ (area of the Weihe and Huanghe river basins). This name was also preserved among the Dungans, who settled at the end of the 19th century. in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: Central Asian and Xinjiang Dungans most often call themselves zwn-jan (junyan, jun-yan). The first assumption was that this name is a kind of pronunciation norm for the word Dungan. However, upon closer examination, it turned out that the given self-name is a dialect form of the mentioned phrase zhong yuan (ren).

The outstanding scientist and traveler Chokan Valikhanov mentions the Dungans in his "Diary of a trip to Gulja 1856": "Among the Chinese there are Muslims called hoi hoi. These are the descendants of the Turks, resettled in China for another three centuries. They have lost their nationality, they wear a Chinese dress, a braid, they speak Chinese, but they have their own mosques and hold prayers. The mosque was built as a Chinese shrine, and the Chinese inscription says that this is the temple of God. They have their own mullahs, called akhun. God instead of Allah they call in their conversation foya, and Muhammad - Memeti".

He provided more detailed information about this people in a note to the following lines from his remarkable work "On the state of Altyshar, or six eastern cities of the Chinese province of Nan-lu (Minor Bukharia) in 1858-1859": "Tungeni, in Chinese hoi-hoi , Chinese Muslims from the provinces of Shanxi, Gansu and Sichuan; all the Tungen live in Lesser Bukharia in private houses, they run restaurants (fuzul) or work as a contract driver for the delivery of tea transports.

Below is the content of the note written by Ch. Valikhanov:

Until now, very little was known about this curious people. The members of our mission constantly confused them with the Lesser Bukharians and usually called them Turkestans. their hoi hoi, which means "Muslim", they call themselves Dungeni or tungeni.

The migration of this people to China, as their scientists say, took place at different times and from different Muslim countries6 this is proved by the fact that some of them follow the teachings of Imam Hanifi, others follow the teachings of Imam Shafi. The Tungeni wear Chinese clothes, have a Chinese face type, and speak Chinese. In their libaises(mosques) read prayers in Arabic with Chinese commentaries.

The Tungeni are zealous Mohammedans: they trim their mustaches, do not smoke tobacco, do not drink wine, and feel disgust for pork, but this does not prevent them from marrying Chinese women, all the more willingly because they use the right to raise children in their own law. The Tungeni are reminiscent of the Polish Tatars and, like them, are especially honest, so that the Chinese government mainly replaces police posts with them. The characteristic feature of this nation is the industrial spirit, developed to the highest degree.

It must be assumed that the Tungen society is numerous, because there is no corner of the empire where they are not. In Ghulja and Chuguchak they make up a significant part of the population. Missionary de la Bruniere says that 1/3 of the population of the city of Liaodun in Manchuria are Mohammedans. Despite the unity of religion, the Tungeni are alienated from the Lesser Bukharians and other Central Asians, who, in turn, little distinguish them from the Chinese. During the last uprising in Kashgar, they were slaughtered on equal terms with the infidels.

Iv. Selitsky in a short note “The agricultural industry of the taranches and Dungans who moved from the Ili region to the Semirechensk region”, placed in the “Kyrgyz steppe newspaper” (No. the number of which moved to Semirechie, refer to the descendants of 7000 Kashgar Muslims from different cities of East Turkestan, evicted by the Chinese to the Ili Valley for agriculture and food supply for the Chinese troops. The author of the article draws attention to what names were used by neighboring peoples for the ethnic group, which later adopted the ethnonym Uighur: the Chinese, on the other hand, called the ram khuizy and, along with other Muslims, according to the turbans worn by honorary rams, - chantu, and the Kalmyks, like all Muslims, are called kotan ... ".

Iv. Selitsky calls the taranches who migrated from the Ili region long-suffering, and the Dungans warlike. About the latter, he writes the following: “Dungan (actually in Turkic turgan‘remaining’) are called by the Chinese xiao-zhao ‘younger population’, and they call themselves hoi-hu. These are also newcomers to the Ili region from Chinese territory.” The author ends his note historical reference: “After the return of Kulja, by virtue of the treaty on February 12, 1881, the Chinese, the Ili taranchi and Dungans moved to the Semirechensk region, the first among 11 too thousand families and the second - up to 1500 families, where they indulged in their usual peaceful occupations - agriculture, gardening, horticulture and partly trade.

According to the pre-revolutionary ethnographer, the author of the work “Tavarikh hamse” Kurbangali Khalid, the Chinese called the Dungans the collective name shao zhu (small people, small offspring), in contrast to themselves - da zhu (big people, large offspring). In all likelihood, the names xiao-zhao and shao-zhu are phonetic variants of the same complex ethnonym.

IN research literature there is a different spelling of the term Dungan: dungan, tungan, dungan, dungen, tungen. Based on the phonetic similarity of words, Hai Feng, a professor at Xinjiang University, put forward a version about the origin of the word Dungan from the Chinese tunken, which means ‘military settlements of border lands’. This assumption is questionable because in modern Chinese literature the ethnonym under consideration has a phonetic form different from the lexeme tunken and is found in compound words Dungan-ren and Dungan-zu. The word Dungan is used by the Chinese to refer to only that part of the Hui Zu people who live in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

On one of the Internet sites regarding the ethnonym Dungan is given interesting example so-called folk etymology. In 1862-1877, in the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ninxia, there was an anti-Qing uprising of the ancestors of the Dungans - Huizu. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the Manchurian-Chinese troops. The remnants of the rebels decided to leave China to the west, where the Muslims of the Russian Empire lived. They walked several thousand kilometers of difficult roads, crossed the border of the Qing Empire. locals when they asked the settlers where they came from, they allegedly answered: Dungan, which in the Shensi dialect means "From the East." And over time, the word "Dungan" spread and became the name of the Chinese Hui Muslims in Tsarist Russia.

IN Kazakh language there are synharmonic variants of the specified word: dungğan (dunğan) ~ dünggen (düngen). The etymological study of the ethnonym under consideration is caused by the one encountered in the article by O.I. Zavyalov "Sino-Muslim texts: graphics - phonology - morphonology" (Problems of Linguistics, 1992, No. 6) with a remark that the origin of the name Dungan is unknown. Kurbangali Khalid expressed an opinion about his Turkic origin. The place of origin of the new name (Eastern Turkestan), its phonetic appearance, as well as etymological analysis clearly testify to this.

In morphemic terms, this word is divided into two parts: the root dun- ~ dün- ~ dön- and the past participle affix -gan (-gen). In the Turkic languages, the mentioned root has several interconnected meanings, the main of which are ‘to turn; rotate; come back; convert to some faith’, i.e. ‘adopt a new religion’. The specified verb was also used in the meaning of ‘turn away from something’, if it followed the noun in the form of the original case: Tatar. Üz dīne’nnän dünep, sez’neng dīn’gä kerde ‘Turning away from my faith, I accepted your religion’. When considering one of the self-names of the northwestern part of the Hui-zu and Dungan - the phrase lao hui-hui (lo hui), which translates as "venerable Muslims", the following is found interesting fact: in literal translation, the above ethnonym means ‘old returnees’.

The Chinese word lao has a direct meaning of ‘old’ and figurative meaning of ‘respectable, respected’, since old age is a respectable age. The second component of the phrase huwei ‘returned; converted’ is essentially a synonym for the Turkic lexeme düngän ~ dünggän. The word huwei itself is complex and apparently formed by combining two stems: hui ‘return, turn’ + wei ‘be, become’, i.e. become a convert to Islam. The Xinjiang Uighurs call the Dungan Chinese huihui. Therefore, the name of Chinese origin - hui and Turkic - Dungan have the same semantic basis, i.e. etymon - ‘converted [to Islam]’. The antonym of the word düngän in this case is the term qalmaq ‘kalmak’; Kalmyk’ – derived from the Turkic verb qal- ‘to stay’, used in the meaning of ‘remaining in paganism’.

The study of the genesis of the Hui Zu people and the etymological analysis of the name Dungan will make it possible to get closer to unraveling the origin of the ethnic group that speaks Chinese dialects but professes Islam. Ethnologists rightly believe that the Dungans are a people that arose from different ethnic components. The basis of their formation was local peoples Northwest China with the participation of Turkic, Iranian, Arabic components based on the Chinese language and the Muslim religion.