48. Chinese Nationalities Yugur Nationality (Yugu) - Page 1 -- Minorities by Descending Populations

Yugur Nationality (Yugu)

The Yugur ethnic group has a population of about 15,000, with 90% of them living in the South Yugur Autonomous County, and the rest in the Huangnibao area of Jiuquan in Gansu province. (In Chinese, "Yugur" means "wealth and stability").

The Yugur originated from the Huihe people who were nomads around the Erhui River during the Tang Dynasty. In the middle of 9th century, beset by snowstorms, feuds within the ruling group, and attacks from the Turkic Kirgiz, a group of Huihe migrated to the areas around Dunhuang, Zhangye and Wuwei in the Hexi Corridor. This was most fertile area in central-western Gansu province. With the passage of time, they gradually developed into a new ethnic group, the Yugur.

For historical reasons, three different languages are spoken by the Yugur people: a Turkic branch of the Altaic language family (Raohul), which is used by the Yugur people in the western part of the autonomous county; a Mongolian branch of the same language family (Engle), used by those in the eastern part of the county; and, the Chinese language, used by Yugur in Huangnibao. The Yugur languages do not have their own characters, and instead, use Chinese characters.