The Formation and Development of Dongxiang Nationality

The origin and formation of Dongxiang nationality are mainly Salta people, and gradually merged with the local Hui, Han and a few Mongolian people. Dongxiang people call themselves "Salta", which originally meant "businessmen". 12, 13 century Salta is a member of all ethnic groups who believe in Islam and live in Central Asia, mainly Semu people. According to the Secret History of Mongolia, at the beginning of the 3rd century/kloc-A.D., Genghis Khan "recruited zalta and Houlle for seven years", and a large number of zalta people were "sent" eastward, some of whom were stationed in Dongxiang area of Hezhou. Later, Yuan Shizu ordered the general households to be changed into civilian households, so he settled in Dongxiang area. In the Ming Dynasty, "Hezhou Annals" recorded that "filial piety is named in local chronicles, and Xia Tongxi". "Yellow River tribes are connected with Kangju", and a large number of exotic place names in Dongxiang area correspond to the names of Salta and tribes. The names of Ganduguang, Nalunguang, Salle, Kumaitu, Hulasong and Naiman in Rudong Township are the same as or similar to those of Gandugung in Central Asia, Nalunguang in Kyrgyzstan, Saripura, Tuckermann, horasan and Naiman between Samarkand. There are many villages named after craftsmen in Dongxiang place names. Up to now, there are still some families that say that their ancestors came from Arabia, Persia and Central Asia. On one occasion, forty missionaries headed by Hamsa and eight Saeed headed by Ali Atta came to Hezhou to preach. Among them, 14 people settled in Dongxiang and were buried in Dongxiang after their death. Their descendants are distributed in Gaoshan, Daban, Pingzhuang and Longquan townships in dongxiang county. Some Dongxiang people are similar in appearance to Central Asians, with beards, high noses and deep eye sockets.

Some Islamized Mongolians were mixed in the formation of Dongxiang nationality. Some followers of Ananda, king of Anxi in Yuan Dynasty believed in Islam and might go to Dongxiang nationality area. Dongxiang language belongs to Mongolian language family and was influenced by Mongols when it was formed. Some Han people settled in Dongxiang nationality through immigration, stationing troops, stationing fields, and Guangxing, and some merged with Dongxiang nationality. Today, some Dongxiang ethnic groups in dongxiang county Suonan Town, such as the Wangs, the Wangs, the Gaos in Wang Ji Township, the Huangjia in Daban Township and the Huangjia in Tangwang Township, all claim that their ancestors were Han nationality and later became "Sui Yi San Sa 'erta". Dongxiang county Baihe Township Qianlajia Village, etc. , saying that their ancestors were Tibetans. In the Ming Dynasty, Hezhou had "Kefan Baizhai". Among the villages set up, Dongxiang has five villages: Suonanba, Hongyazi, Lamachuan, Santiaogou and Lizishan, which are under the jurisdiction of Zuosuo, Yousuo, Qiansuo and Zhongqian respectively. Villagers in these villages are organized into thousands of families to pay tribute to local officials and perform their duties. In the middle of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, Hezhou changed to Lijia system and Dongxiang set up 9 Li. The civilian households under Li's jurisdiction belong to citizens.

Dongxiang nationality in Ming Dynasty mainly engaged in agricultural production, and animal husbandry also occupied an important position. Many of Dongxiang people's daily necessities are made of wool, which has historical traces of raising horses and sheep. Among these place names, there are many racetracks, "Guo" (Yanggou), "Foguang" (Niugou) and (Ma) Mountain. Handicraft industries in Qing Dynasty included Mao Mao craftsmen (i.e. fur making), brown weaving, felt rolls, ironware, stone carving, mills and oil mills, among which brown weaving and felt rolls were the most famous. By the Republic of China, Dongxiang's brown weaving technology had been greatly improved. Single thread is changed to double thread, which can weave fine patterns. The number of weft yarns increased from 400 to 1200. There are many kinds of carpets made by Dongxiang people, such as spring carpets, autumn carpets and sand carpets. The communication channels between Dongxiang and other regions are mainly through the Yellow River, Taohe River and Daxia River. There are Heicheng Ferry, Yanchang Ferry, Hongya Ferry and Hejiadu Ferry on the Yellow River, and Maxiangkou Ferry, Liu Hong Ferry, Yesong Daban Ferry and Ketuo Ferry on Taohe Ferry. Daxiahe Ferry has a folding bridge, an oil city bridge and a turbid lake bridge. In addition to the wooden boat ferry, there are sheepskin rafts. Wooden and stone tools play an important role in agricultural production. The main crops are potatoes, wheat, corn, peas, highland barley, oats, buckwheat, millet and soybeans. Among them, the potato yield is high and the sowing area is large. In the Qing Dynasty, there were six sets of fair trade, including Sonan and Tangwang. In the early years of the Republic of China, it increased to 10 episode. Dongxiang nationality was heavily exploited by the landlord class in the old society. They were responsible for land taxes and the duties of historians. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, Dongxiang paid land tax of about 1000 yuan and land tax of 2300 yuan. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the government paid 24,000 stones of civilian grain and 24,000 stones of public grain each year, totaling 48,000 stones. 1948, Han qigong captured 3,000 soldiers at a time, forming a tragic scene of "the market is deserted and there is no youth in the countryside". Historically, the Dongxiang people, together with other ethnic groups, waged an indomitable struggle against the cruel oppression of the feudal ruling class. Among them, there is the famous anti-Qing struggle of Dongxiang nationality in April in the fifth year of Qing Shunzhi (1646). In the forty-six years of Qing Qianlong (178 1), when Su Forty-three led the rebel army through the area, about 2,000 people from Sonan, Tangwangchuan and Hongjiqiao joined the anti-Qing movement. In the ninth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1859), Ma, Ma Lulu and Min Lingbing of Dongxiang nationality blocked the Qing army and participated in the siege of Hezhou and Shuangcheng. In the 26th year of Guangxu, Ma Fushou, known as the five generals in Hongnitan, Dongxiang, and 1500 soldiers from Ma Zhong Primary School in Basuli fought against Eight-Nation Alliance in Beijing. 1928, participated in the struggle against the national army; From 65438 to 0943, Mamuge, Mashardong and Ma of Dongxiang nationality led their troops to participate in the "Gannan Peasant Uprising" and resisted the Kuomintang rule.

Dongxiang language belongs to Mongolian family of Altai language family. In the works of Japan and some western countries, it is called "Salta language". Sentence structure is the order of subject, object and predicate, adverbial precedes predicate and attribute precedes modifier, which is different from Sonanba, Wangjiaji and Nalesi dialects. In Dongxiang language, 32.89% of the vocabulary is the same as or similar to Mongolian; Chinese vocabulary accounts for about 49%, and the rest are Arabic, Persian and Turkic vocabulary. Most Dongxiang people also know Chinese, and Chinese characters are the common language of Dongxiang people.