Salar (撒拉族)

Geography of Salar (撒拉族)

No one really knows the precise history of where the Salars came from, though the current theory is that the originated from Samarkand during the Yuan dynasty. The largest group of Salars live in Xunhua County in southeastern Qinghai province which, though blessed with a mild climate, has little rain. The people grow crops such as potatoes, Tibetan barley and buckwheat; they also breed livestock, produce salt and weave wool.

• Population: 87,500
• Distribution:  Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang
• Language: Salar
• Religion: Islam

Language of Salar (撒拉族)

Their language is Turkic, almost the same as the Uyghur and Ozbek languages and has borrowed many words from Chinese and Tibetan due to long-term contacts with these ethnic groups. Most young and middle-aged Salar people now know how to speak and write Chinese.

History of Salar (撒拉族)

A Salar headman named Han was made hereditary chief during the Yuan dynasty. As the Ming dynasty came to power, he held onto his position by submitting to the new rulers. Military affairs, punishments, revenue, etc were taken care of by a bureaucracy working under him and with the population growth and the development of the economy, the Salar region was divided in two during the Qing dynasty: the ‘inner eight gongs’ of Xunhua and the ‘outer five gongs’ of Hualong. A ‘gong’ comprised a number of villages and was equivalent to the later township or ‘xiang’ administrative units.

Villages had many mosques and were dominated by Muslim clergy. Land was concentrated in the hands of rulers as the feudal economy developed. The landlord economy became dominant, with Salar landlords maintained their ownership of most of the land, oil mills, animals and water sources with the help of the political power, religious and feudal privileges. Most farmers owned no land or a tiny portion of land which was barren. Many times, large numbers of Salar farmers left their villages, which meant farmland went to waste and production halted.

Culture of Salar (撒拉族)

Salar folklore includes a rich heritage of fairy tales, legends and stories and the typical folk tune genre is the ‘Hua’er’ (flower), sung in Chinese. All Salar singers are skilled at singing impromptu lyrics according to their feelings at the time.

Religion and Modern Times of Salar (撒拉族)

Islam dominates the Salar way of life; customs and habits are similar to those of the nearby Hui people. Economic and social developments mean many traditional customs have changed over time, with polygamy having been abolished and child marriage being reduced. The practice of slaughtering animals for festivals, weddings and funerals has also been changed.

Traditionally, unmarried girls were not allowed to be seen in public and married women had to hide their faces from strange men. Recently, however, this has changed and women’s status as inferior to men is gradually disappearing.