We continue our series on China’s 55 ethnic minority groups. This month features the Ozbek, Pumi, Qiang, Russian and Salar ethnic minorities.
 
The Ozbek ethnic minority 
Population: 14,800
Major area of distribution: Xinjiang
Language: Ozbek
Religion: Islam 
 
The Ozbek ethnic minority, with a population of 14,800, is scattered over wide areas of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Most of them being city dwellers, the Ozbeks live in compact communities in Yining, Tacheng, Kashi, Urumqi, Shache, and Yecheng.
 
History
The name Ozbek first originated from the Ozbek Khan, one of the local rulers under the Mongol Empire in the 14th century. Himself a Moslem, the Ozbek Khan spread Islam in his Khanate. In the 15th century, a number of Ozbeks moved to the Chuhe River valley, where they were called Kazaks. Those who remained in the area of the Khanate continued to be known as Ozbeks, who later formed the Ozbek alliance.
 
The ancestors of the Ozbek group moved to China's Xinjiang from Central Asia in ancient times. In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Ozbek merchants often traveled along "the Silk Road" through Xinjiang to do business in inland areas. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Ozbek trading caravans from Buhara and Samar Khan used Yarkant in Xinjiang as an entrepot for business deals in silk, tea, chinaware, fur, rhubarb and other such products. Some Ozbek merchants moved goods to inland areas via Aksu, Turfan and Suzhou (present-day Jiuquan of Ganzu Province). During this period, Ozbeks from Central Asia began to settle in certain cities in Xinjiang, and the number grew with each passing year. Later on Ozbeks also settled in Kashi, Aksu, Yarkant and other cities in southern Xinjiang and a number of places in northern Xinjiang.
 
Customs
The Ozbek people have frequent exchanges with various other ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and have particularly close relations with the Uygurs and Kazaks. The Ozbek, Uygur and Tatar languages all belong to the Tuskic branch of the Altaic language family and are very close to each other. The Ozbek script is an alphabetic writing based on the Arabic letters. The Ozbeks believe in Islam, and their customs, dressing and eating habits are basically the same as those of the Uygurs.
 
Both men and women wear skull caps with bright colored embroidery in unique patterns, and some are made of corduroy or black velvet. Women sometimes wear scarves on top of their caps. Men wear buttonless robes reaching the knee, with oblique collars and the right side of the front on top of the other. The robe is tied with a triangular embroidered girdle. Women wear broad and pleated dresses without girdles. Ozbek men usually wear leather boots and overshoes with low-cut uppers. Women's embroidered boots are very beautiful and unique in design. The collars, front openings and sleeves of men's shirts are trimmed with colorful, patterned lace, which is typical of the handicraft art of the ethnic group.
 
Like other ethnic groups in Xinjiang who believe in Islam, the Ozbek people do not drink alcohol and eat pork. They like mutton, beef and horse meat and dairy products. Crusty pancake and tea with milk are standard fare for all three meals of the day, and they enjoy stewed meat with potatoes, honey and syrup. "Naren," a mixture of minced cooked meat, onion and sour milk, dressed with gravy and pepper, is a table delicacy reserved for guests. The Ozbeks eat it with their fingers.
 
The Ozbeks build their houses in different designs. Some have round attics, and most are rectangular adobe houses with flat roofs. These wood and mud structures have thick walls with beautifully patterned niches, in which odd things can be placed. Patterns are also carved on wooden pillars.
 
Most Ozbek families are nuclear families with parents and children living separate, and brothers living apart from one another. There are also families in which three generations live together. Marriage between siblings or between people of different generations is strictly forbidden. The Ozbeks have traditional marital ties with the Uygurs and Tatars. In the past, marriages were completely arranged by parents. The boy's family had to present betrothal gifts to the girl's family and cover the cost of wedding feasts. The nuptial ceremony is as a rule held at the bride's home. The bride's parents would treat guests to fried rice and sweets during the day, and the newlyweds will go to the groom's home in the evening after the ceremony is held according to Islamic rules. Sometimes, relatives and friends of the bride would "carry the bride off" after the wedding ceremony, and the groom has to offer gifts to "redeem" her. When the "carried-away" bride is "redeemed," she has to make a circle round a fire in the courtyard before entering the house. This is perhaps a legacy of ancient nuptial ceremonies. Funerals are conducted according to Islamic rules. People who attend funerals tie a strip of white cloth around the waist, and women wear a piece of white cloth on their heads. The dead person's children stay in mourning for seven days. On the 40th, 70th and 100th day of the person's death, imams will be invited to chant scriptures.
 
The Ozbek ethnic group is one of those in Xinjiang that are good at singing and dancing and their folk music is melodious and appealing. They have a great variety of musical instruments. Most of them are plucked and percussion instruments. One string instrument with a triangular sound box is known for its sweet and appealing tone. Ozbek dances are famous for their vivacity, grace and variety. Most dances are solos, with the dancer waving her arms while turning round and round. The traditional tambourine dance is unique in style and very entertaining.
 
The Pumi ethnic minority  
Population: 29,700
Major area of distribution: Yunnan
Language: Pumi
Religion: Lamaism and Taoism 
 
The 29,700 Pumis are concentrated in the Yunnan Province counties of Lanping, Lijiang, Weixi and Yongsheng, as well as in the Yi Autonomous County of Ninglang. Some live in Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan Autonomous County of Muli and Yanyuan County. They are on rugged mountains as high as [8,580 feet] above sea level, cut by deep ravines.
 
According to Pumi legends and historical records, ancient Pumis were a nomadic tribe, roaming the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Their descendents later moved south to warmer, more verdant areas along valleys within the Hengduan Mountain Range. By the seventh century, the Pumis were living in Sichuan's Yuexi, Mianning, Hanyuan, Jiulong and Shimian areas, constituting one of the major ethnic minorities in the Xichang Prefecture. After the 13th century, the Pumis gradually settled down in Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Lanping. They farmed and bred livestock. Later, agriculture gradually took a predominant place in their economy.
 
The Pumis speak a language belonging to the Tibetan-Myanmese language family of the Chinese-Tibetan system. Although Pumis in the Muli and Ninglang areas once wrote with Tibetan characters, this was mainly for religious purposes. Gradually the Tibetan characters fell into oblivion, and most Pumis now use Chinese.
 
Pumi villages are scattered, usually at least [550 yards] from one another, on gentle mountain slopes. Pumis generally build their houses from wood and with two floors, the lower for animals and the upper for people. Almost all family activities indoors take place around the fireplace, which is in the middle of the living room on the upper level.
 
In addition to maize, their staple food, Pumis also grow rice, wheat and highland barley. Their variety of vegetables and fruits is limited to Chinese cabbage, carrots, eggplant and melons. A favorite food of the Pumis' is "pipa meat" -- salted pork wrapped in pork skin in the shape of a pipa, a plucked string Chinese instrument with a fretted fingerboard. They also like tobacco, tea and liquor. Liquor, in fact, is used both as a sacrificial offering and as a gift for the living.
 
Pumi women in Ninglang and Yongsheng often wrap their heads in large handkerchiefs, winding their plaited hair, mixed with yak tail hairs and silk threads. They consider plait beautiful, the more so the bigger it is. Normally, they wear jackets with buttons down one side, long, plaited skirts, multi-colored wide belts and goatskins draping over their backs. In the Lanping and Weixi areas, women tend to wear green, blue or white long-sleeved jackets under sleeveless jackets, trousers and embroidered belts. Often, they wear silver earrings and bracelets. Pumi men wear similar clothes: linen jackets, loose trousers and sleeveless goatskin jackets. The more affluent wear woolen overcoats. Most carry swords.
 
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Pumi society was in many ways still organized according to the pre-feudal clan system. In Yongsheng County, for example, clan members lived together, with different clans having different names. Families belonging to the same clan regularly ate together to commemorate their common ancestry. Marriage was primarily between clans. Internal disputes were arbitrated by the patriarch or other respected elders. Clan members shared a commitment to help one another through difficult times. In Yongsheng, ashes of the dead of each clan were placed in the same forest cave.
 
Pumi communities in Yongsheng and Ninglang counties were primarily made up of big families, while in Lanping and Weixi counties, small families prevailed. Only sons were entitled to inherit property, and the ancestral house usually was left to the youngest son. Monogamy was customary, although some landlords were polygamous. Parents chose their children's spouses, and marriage between cousins was preferred. Most women married at 15, while most men at 18. After 1949 such objectionable practices as forced marriage, engagement of children not yet born and burdensome marriage-related costs were gradually done away with.
 
Pumis celebrate the beginning of Spring Festival (the Chinese Lunar New Year) and the 15th of the first month of the lunar calendar. On the latter festival all Pumis, young and old, clad in their holiday best, go camping on mountain slopes and celebrate around bonfires. The holidays are devoted to sacrifices to the "God of the Kitchen" and to feasting, horse racing, shooting contests and wrestling.
 
Pumis are good singers and dancers. Singing contests in which partners alternate verses are a feature of wedding ceremonies and holidays. They dance to the flute, incorporating in their movements gestures tied to their work as farmers, hunters and weavers.
 
Pre-1949 Life
The [Pumis] main work was farming crops. More than 90 percent of the Pumis, in fact, farmed land scattered on hill slopes. The Pumis' major crops were maize, wheat, broad bean, barley, oats, Tibetan barley and buckwheat. However, their output, relying largely on natural conditions, was generally very low. Their farm tools came mainly from Han areas. Their farming techniques were similar to those of their neighboring Hans, Naxis and Lisus, though the few Pumis who lived in isolated communities still farmed primitively.
 
Pumis also raised livestock, primarily cattle and sheep. Non-farm activities included manufacture of wool sweaters, linen, bamboo articles, liquor, charcoal and medicinal herbs. Hunting, bee-keeping, pig and poultry raising were also common. Some Pumis make fine crafts: lacquered wooden bowls made in Ninglang County are known for their fine workmanship. Before liberation, Pumis had no blacksmiths. Local tools were made of wood. All trade was bartered.
 
In the decades prior to 1949, landlords dominated the economy in Pumi areas in Lanping and Lijiang counties. Except for a limited number of "public hills," the landlords owned the land, and they exploited peasants by extorting rent in kind, that accounted for at least 50 per cent of the harvest. Pumi landlords and Naxi chiefs owned domestic slaves whom they could sell or give away.
 
Post-1949 Development
Since China’s national liberation in 1949, Pumis have become their own masters. They have been amply represented in local people's congresses and government agencies as well as in the National People's Congress. Democratic reforms were completed between 1952 and 1956. The reforms were accompanied by a large-scale construction program, which included irrigation projects, factories, schools and hospitals. Their arid land was transformed into terraced fields. Even in the cold, high-altitude Maoniushan area of Ninglang County, the Pumis reaped good harvests from [2,766 acres] of new paddy fields. New industries have been developed: ironwork and salt and aluminum mining. Highways have been built linking Pumi communities with neighboring areas.
 
The educational opportunities and health care facilities for Pumis are rapidly expanding. Most children now attend primary schools and many of them go on to middle schools. Medical workers at clinics and health-care stations have replaced witches as primary providers of care.
 
The Qiang ethnic minority  
Population: 198,300
Major area of distribution: Sichuan
Language: Qiang
Religion: Animism 
 
The Qiang ethnic minority has a population of 198,300 who mostly dwell in hilly areas, crisscrossed by rivers and streams, in the Maowen Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. A small number live with Tibetan, Han and Hui ethnic groups in such localities as Wenchuan, Dali, Heishui and Songpan.
 
They occupy a fertile land of mild climate and adequate rain. The mountain slopes are natural pastures. The area abounds in precious Chinese caterpillar fungus, bulb of fritillary, antlers, musk and bear's gallbladders, which are used for medicine. Deep in the forests are such rare animals as giant pandas, golden monkeys and flying foxes. The region is also rich in iron, coal, crystal, mica and plaster stone deposits.
 
History
"Qiang" was a name given by ancient Hans to the nomadic people in west China. The Qiangs were not a single distinctive ethnic group then. According to historical records, a clan group made their homes in what is today's Sichuan Province. The Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) court in the 2nd century had set up an administrative prefecture for the area. During A.D. 600 to 900 when the Tibetan Regime gradually expanded its rule over the region, some Qiangs were assimilated by the Tibetans and others by the Hans, leaving a small number unassimilated. These developed into the distinctive ethnic group of today.
 
The Qiangs do not have a written script of their own. They speak a language belonging to the Tibetan-Myanmese language family of the Chinese-Tibetan system. Owing to their close contact with the Han people, many Qiang people speak Chinese, which is also the written form for this ethnic group.
 
The Qiang and Han peoples have had time-honored close political, economic and cultural ties. Administratively, Han courts from the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties down to the Ming Dynasty all had political units in the Qiang-occupied areas. In the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the system of appointing local hereditary headmen by the central authority to rule over the Qiangs gave way to officials dispatched from the court. The central administrative system helped enhance the ties between the Qiang and Han ethnic groups. With their horses, medicinal herbs and other native produce, the Qiangs used to barter farm implements and daily necessities from the Hans. Mutual support and help stimulated the social and economic development of Qiang society.
 
For a long period before China’s national liberation in 1949, the Qiangs lived in primitive conditions marked by slash and burn farming. A feudal landlord economy dominated production. Landlords and rich peasants, who accounted for only 8 percent of the population, were in possession of 43 percent of the cultivated land. Poor peasants and hired farm hands, accounting for 43 percent of the population, had only 16 percent of the land. Many poor peasants lost their land due to heavy rent coupled with usury. They became hired laborers, wandering from place to place to make a living.
 
Life Style
The Qiangs dress themselves simply but beautifully. Men and women alike wear gowns made of gunny cloth, cotton and silk with sleeveless sheep's wool jackets. They like to bind their hair and legs. Women's clothing is laced and the collars are decorated with plum-shaped silver ornaments. They wear sharp-pointed and embroidered shoes, embroidered girdles and earrings, neck rings, hairpins and silver badges.
 
Millet, highland barley, potatoes, winter wheat and buckwheat make up their main staple foods. The Qiangs drink a great deal of wine and smoke orchid leaves.
 
They live in blockhouses made of piled up stones of different sizes. Unique in style, solid and practical, these houses are two or three stories high. The first floor is for livestock and poultry, the second retained as bedrooms and the third for grain storage. The Qiang people are skilled in opening up roads on rocky cliffs and erecting bamboo bridges over swift rivers. The bamboo chain bridges they built, laid with boards, stretch up to 100 meters with no nails and piers being used. Some of the Qiangs are excellent masons and are good at digging wells. During slack farming seasons they go to neighboring places to do chiseling and digging. Their skills are highly acclaimed.
 
Marriages, mainly monogamous, were arranged by parents in the past. Usually, the wives were several years older than their husbands. It was common for cousins to marry and for bridegrooms to live with their wives' families. And it still is not unusual for brides to live in their parents' houses within a year or so after marriage. In Qiang society, younger brothers could make their widowed sister-in-laws their wives and elder brothers could marry the widows of their younger brothers. Such habits have been gradually discarded since liberation.
 
Most Qiangs were believers of Animism, except for those who lived near Tibetan communities and were followers of Lamaism. The Qiangs worshipped white stones placed on roofs as the "Heavenly God."
 
The Qiang people have created a unique culture and arts and crafts. The clever and deft Qiang women can do embroidery and drawnwork extemporaneously without designs. The Qiangs are good singers and dancers. "Wine song," "plate song," "mountain song" and "leather drum" dances with accompaniment of gongs, tambourines, sonas and bamboo flutes are popular.
 
New Life
The Qiang area was liberated in January 1950. In July, 1958 the Maowen Qiang Autonomous County was established. By relying on collective efforts, they carried out large-scale capital construction projects in their rocky region, where productivity used to be low because of backward local conditions and the shortage of men. Among the projects are tractor stations, reservoirs, hydroelectric stations and pumping and drainage facilities. Now more farm machinery is used and scientific farming methods have been introduced. Grain output increases every year.
 
In the Qiang area, which had no industry and highways before, enterprises have sprung up and two concrete and 28 steel-chain bridges have been built over the Minjiang River. The area's total highway mileage has reached [161.2 miles]. A postal route network covers every corner of the area.
 
The over 20 primary and nine middle schools that have been built in post-1949 years enroll over more than 80 percent of school-age children. Thanks to the efforts of medical workers, mass screening and treatment has brought black fever and hook worm, two major epidemic diseases, under control. New delivery methods have greatly raised the infant survival rate and the Qiang population has risen markedly.
 
The Qiang area is dotted with small hydroelectric power stations. Electricity reaches almost all households and is used in processing farm and sideline produce and in mining and industry. People's life has been enriched by village film projection teams and a broadcasting network.
 
 
The Russian ethnic minority  
Population: 13,500
Major area of distribution: Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia
Language: Russian
Religion: Orthodox Eastern Church 
 
The ethnic Russians in China living in Ili, Tacheng, Altay and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
 
They first began moving to China from Tsarist Russia after the 18th century. More entered various parts of Xinjiang after the 19th century, and even after the October Revolution in 1917.
 
They speak Russian, their customs and clothing are almost identical to those of the Russians in Russia, and most of them believe in the Orthodox Eastern Church.
 
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Russians living in towns were mostly employed in various repairing businesses, transport, handicrafts, horticulture, animal husbandry and bee-keeping. In rural areas, groups of about 10 Russian families lived together in small villages. They reclaimed and cultivated the wasteland on the banks of the Ili and Tekes rivers.
 
They had achieved a fairly high level of development in production and culture. But under reactionary rule, they were exploited and oppressed.
 
The Russians living in urban areas now work mainly in industry, transport, finance, trade and medicine.
Although the Russian ethnic group in China has a small population, it has deputies to the National People's Congress and the regional People's Congress. They take an active part in running state and regional affairs.
 
The Salar ethnic minority 
Population: 87,500
Major areas of distribution: Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang
Language: Salar
Religion: Islam 
 
Past Socio-economic Conditions
There have been different theories put forward on the origin of the Salars. The prevalent view held at the moment is that the ancestors of the Salars came from the region of Samarkand in Central Asia during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
 
Xunhua County, which the largest group of the Salars live, is a mountainous area situated along the banks of the Yellow River in southeastern Qinghai Province. Although it has a mild climate and fertile land crisscrossed by canals, it is handicapped by insufficient rainfall. Before China’s national liberation in 1949, farmers here did not have the capability of harnessing the Yellow River, and the county was often referred to as "arid Xunhua." The Salars are mainly farmers, going in for such crops as wheat, Tibetan barley, buckwheat and potatoes. As sideline occupations, they engage in stock breeding, lumbering, salt-producing and wool-weaving.
 
During the Yuan Dynasty, a Salar headman bearing the surname of Han was made hereditary chief of this ethnic minority. With the rise of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), he submitted to the new rulers and continued to hold his position. He had under him a basic bureaucracy [that] looked after such things as military affairs, punishments, revenue and provisions. Following the development of the economy and the expansion of the population, the region inhabited by the Salars was divided into two administrative areas, i.e. the "inner eight gongs" of Xunhua and the "outer five gongs" of Hualong, during the early period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). A "gong" included a number of villages, equivalent to the later administrative unit of "xiang" (township).
 
New organizational setups were introduced during the following years of the Qian Dynasty to step up the control and exploitation of the Salars. During both the Ming and Qing periods Salar men were constantly subjected to conscription, which was an extremely heavy burden on the Salar people.
 
As the Salars were devout Muslims, the villages were dominated by the mosques and the Muslim clergy. Along with the development of the feudal economy, land became concentrated in the hands of the ruling minority -- the headman, community chiefs and imams.
 
Prior to the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the landlord economy was dominant. Relying on their political power, and feudal and religious privileges, the Salar landlords maintained ownership over most of the land and farm animals, as well as water sources and oil mills. Most of the Salar farmers, on the other hand, were either landless or owned only a very insignificant portion of barren land. They were subjected to crippling land rents and usury, in addition to all kinds of heavy unpaid labor services including building houses, felling trees and doing transportation work for the landlords. As a result, at times there were large-scale exoduses of Salars from their villages, leaving the farmlands lying waste and production at a standstill.
 
Culture
The language of the Salars, which belongs to the Tujue (Turkic) branch of the Altaic language family, is almost identical with the languages of the Uygurs and Ozbeks, with whom they share the same religion. It contains quite a number of words taken from the Chinese and Tibetan languages as a result of long years of mutual contacts. Nowadays, most young and middle-aged Salars know how to speak Chinese, which is also accepted as the written language of the Salar ethnic group.
 
The Salar people have a rich and colorful tradition of folklore. Many of the legends, stories and fairy tales sing the praises of the courage and wisdom of the laboring people, and lament the hard lives of the Salar women in the past, as well as their struggle against feudal oppression. The typical folk tune genre is the "Hua'er (flower)," a kind of folksong sung sonorously and unrestrainedly in the Chinese language. However, in most cases it is presented with a sweet, trilling tone due to the influence of Tibetan folk songs. The singers are all able to fill in impromptu words according to whatever happens to strike a chord in their hearts. Significant reforms have been introduced to this form of art since 1949. The Salars now sing to express their rejoicing over their new life. Amateur theatrical troupes, and song and dance groups are flourishing among the Salar people.
 
Customs
Deeply influenced by Islam, the customs and habits as practiced among the Salars are roughly the same as those of the Huis that live nearby. Women like to wear kerchiefs on their heads and black sleeveless jackets over clothes in striking red colors. They are good at embroidery and often stitch flowers in five different colors onto their pillowcases, shoes and socks. Men wear flat-topped brimless hats of either black or white colors, and wear sheepskin coats without linings and woolen clothing in winter. Young men living along the banks of the Yellow River love to swim. Some of the customs and habits of the Salars have changed over the years as a result of social and economic development. Polygamy, for instance, has been abolished, and cases of child marriage have been greatly reduced. The extravagant practice of slaughtering cattle in large numbers for weddings, funerals and festivals has been changed.
 
Women of the Salar ethnic minority in the past suffered tremendously under religious strictures and feudal ethics. Unmarried girls were not allowed to appear in public, while married women had to hide their faces in front of strange men. They had to turn their faces sideways when answering an inquiry and make a detour should they meet a strange man coming their way. But, in recent decades, Salar women have broken away from such practices and the traditional concept of men being superior to women is slowly disappearing. Salar women are now taking an active part in all local production endeavors. 
  

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