Brief Introduction of Yugur Ethnic Group

The animal husbandry nationality at the foot of the Qilian Mountain

Yuku nationality is one of the minor nationalities and peculiar nationalities in Gansu province, and has totally 10,569 people. They mainly distribute in Sunan Yuku nationality autonomous county and Huangnibao Yuku nationality village in Jiuquan city. 

The source of the Yuku nationality was the Huihe that roved around the Erhun River basin as a nomad in the Tang dynasty. In the middle period of the 9th century, one branch of the Huihe migrated to the regions of Dunhuang, Zhangye and Wuwei on the Hexi Corridor in Gansu province, and it was called as the Hexi Huihe in history. They contacted and got along with all the adjacent nationalities, and gradually formed a sole nationality. 

The Yuku nationality calls itself as “Yaohur”, and has many other names. According to the record of history, their ancestors were called as “yellow head Huihe” in the Song dynasty, “Saliweiwu” in the Yuan dynasty, “Saliweiwur” in the Ming dynasty, and “Xila weigur” in the Qing dynasty. After the founding of the new China, in 1954, “Yuku” was decided as the nationality name according to the willing of the people of their own nationality, for it was similar as the pronunciation of “Yaohur”, and Sunan Yuku nationality autonomous county was founded. 

Sunan Yuku nationality autonomous county locates in the long and narrow region, at the northern foot of Qilian Mountain, in the middle part of Hexi Corridor, and the pasture is vast. The Yuku nationality has lived on animal husbandry industry since the ancient times, and created long and unique national culture.

The Yuku nationality uses two languages, one is called as the western Yuku language, and the other is called as the eastern Yuku language, and the people who use the two languages respectively occupy a half. The western Yuku language belongs to the Tujue language group, A’ertai language system, and has close relationship with the Uygur language, Hazak language and the Kirgiz language, which are in the same language group with it; the eastern Yuku language belongs to the Mongolian group, A’ertai language system, and has close relationship with Mongolian, Dongxiang language, Bao’an language and the Tu language, which are in the same language group with it. The Yuku nationality has no words of their own nationality. 

The Yuku nationality believes in Tibetan Buddhism. And most of their traditional festivals have relationship with the religious custom.