Dungan People

Dungan People

Dungan (Russian: Дунгане Dungane, Dungan: Хуэйзў Huejzw) is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a Muslim people of Chinese origin. Turkic-speaking peoples in Xinjiang Province in China also refer to members of this ethnic group as Dungans. In both China and the former Soviet republics where they reside, however, members of this ethnic group call themselves Hui.

In the censuses of the now independent states of the former Soviet Union, the Dungans, who are enumerated separately from Chinese, can be found in Kazakhstan (36,900 according to the 1999 census), Kyrgyzstan (58,409 according to the 2009 census), and Russia (801 according to the 2002 census).