Salar Ethnic Group came from Samarkand
The nationality that came from Samarkand
The Sala nationality calls itself as “Salar”. In Chinese historical books, there are over then kinds of calls to the Sala nationality, but most of them are the different transliterations of “Salar” or the abbreviation form “Sala”, such as “Sala”, “Shala” and “Salar”, etc.
About the source of the Sala nationality, the records in history are extremely brief. But rich oral legends are spread among the Sala people, among them, a most widely spread and representative legend says:
Long long ago, in the remote Samarkand, the middle part of Asia, there was a nomadic tribe named as Salur, and two brothers named as Galemang and Ahemang lived in this tribe. They were industrious, kind-hearted, and brave and resourceful, and were greatly supported and deeply loved by the people. However, the narrow-minded king envied them very much, saw them as thorns in his flesh, and wholeheartedly wanted to eliminate them. To prevent the persecution, the brothers led 18 clansmen, and a white camel, carrying the water and soil of the hometown and the Koran, left Samarkand and set out to the east to find new land of happiness. Then other 45 people followed them. They scaled mountains and forded streams, passed deserts and gobi, crossed vast and verdant mountains, entered Qinghai from Xinjiang, and finally reached and settled in Xunhua. They inhabited with the local Tibetan, Hui and other nationalities in harmony, multiplied and lived, and gradually formed a new national community—Sala nationality.
No doubt, there are false rumor or forced analogy parts in the legend contents or details. But, according to the comprehensive study of the related scholars to the language, race type, custom and habits, folk legend, historical record and other aspects of the Sala nationality, the ancestors of the Sala nationality were truly the Salur people, Wugusi tribe, west Tujue. They immigrated to the east from the middle part of Asia after the Mongolian western expedition, and have settled in Xunhua for seven to eight hundred years.
The Sala people have never forgotten their own remote hometown and the immigration history of their ancestors. Besides the above-mentioned legend, a kind of “Duiwei aoyina” (camel drama) had ever been universally popular among the Sala people. There were totally 4 performance participators, among them, 2 persons wore fur-lined jackets inside out and acted as camels. For the other two persons, one led the camel with one hand and wore gown, wrapped his head with “dasida’r” (white long tower), and acted as the ancestor of Sala nationality—Galemang, and the other person acted as the local person (Mongolian). By the mode of antiphonal singing and dialogue, they related the arduous process of their ancestors from Samarkand to Qinghai, and the information got on the journey. Though the form was simple, it played an irreplaceable important role to the record and spreading of the history and culture of the Sala nationality.
