Monguor people
The Monguor people, also known as Tu people, White Mongol or Tsagaan Mongol, are a Mongolic people and one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China.
According to the 2000 census, the total population was 241,198, who mostly lived in the Qinghai and the Gansu provinces. The 2010 census gave their number as 289,565, while the 2020 census gave their number at 281,928. The Monguor people speak the Monguor language, which belongs to the family of Mongolic languages but has been heavily influenced by both the local Chinese and Tibetan dialects. Today, nearly all Tu people also speak Chinese. Most are farmers and some keep livestock.
Their culture and the social organizations have been influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and local beliefs. A few Tu in Huzhu and Minhe are Christian, the result of on-going American and Korean missionary work in the area.
Ethnic origins
The ethnic history of the Monguor is contested. It has been variously suggested that their origins are related to the Tuyuhun Xianbei, to Mongol troops who came to the current Qinghai-Gansu area during the time of the Mongol conquests, to the Shatuo and/or to the Han Chinese.Terminology
Origins
Some references argue that the Chinese term "Tu" was derived from the name of Tuyühu Khan, who was the older son of the King of Murong Xianbei who migrated westward from the northeast in 284. The last character of Tuyühu, pronounced as "hun" today, may have been pronounced "hu" in some dialect of ancient Chinese language. The contemporary reference of this name is rendered "Tuyuhun" in China and the West should be "Tuyühu." It came from the Chinese phonetic transcription of his original name "Teihu", which is still a common name seen among the Monguor today. Since the Chinese language cannot represent "Tei," two characters of "Tu" and "yü" were used. The ethnonym "Tu" in Chinese came from the abbreviation of "the Tuyühu people" or "the people of the Tuyühu Empire." Between the years 908 and 1042, the reference became simplified into "Tuhu" and "Tüihu" people. As the other ethnic groups of the Tuyühu Empire came to be ascribed with different ethnonyms through subsequent history, the Xianbei who founded the empire remained to bear with the identity of "Tu."The name "Tu" was most likely associated with a derogatory meaning and "indigenous people". Its derogatory undertone came from the concurrent meaning of the Chinese character "Tu" for "soil." The ethnonym "Tu" is increasingly a self-reference.
Monguor
The reference of "Monguor" in the Western publications came from their self-reference as "Chaghan Monguor". It was derived from their origins from the Murong Xianbei, from whom Tuyühu Khan separated and who had been historically referred to as "the White Section" or "Bai Bu," due to their lighter skin. The term "Monguor" was first used by the European Catholic missionaries, Smedt and Mosaert, who studied the Monguor language and compiled a Monguor-French dictionary in the beginning of the twentieth century. Subsequently, the Flemish Catholic missionary, Louis Schram, made it into an international name through three volumes of extensive reports based on his experiences from having lived among them from 1911 to 1922. The term is a variant pronunciation of "Mongol" in the Monguor language, characterized by the final "-r" in place of "-l" in the Mongolian language.Despite that "Monguor" was made into an international name for the "Tu," it is not representative: the reference is only used by the Monguor in Huzhu and Datong counties in Qinghai, and when used, it should be combined with "Chaghan" in order to be distinguished from the "Khara" Mongols. In Minhe County, which holds the most densely populated "Monguor" settlement and where everyone speaks their native "Monguor" language, it is never used as an autonym.
Genetic studies
Sequences in the indicate that people similar to modern Greeks mixed with a Mongolian population around 1200 BC, contributing about 7,7% to the Tu genepool. The source of this European DNA might have been merchants travelling the Silk Road. This admixture may come from an earlier period as many of their carnival-like festivals and masked fertility rituals have similarities in the Hellenistic times with Dionysian representations, not in Byzantine Christian-era Greek celebrations.Distribution of Y-chromosome haplogroups in Monguor:
O=38.85
D=14.87
R1=14.05
N=11.57
C=9.09
J=5.79
others=5.78
History
Donghu
Their earliest origins from the Donghu are reflected in their account of the unique wedding ceremony attributed to Madam Lushi, who organized an ambush through an elaborate banquet combined with liquor and singing in order to subdue a bully named "Wang Mang". In historical terms, the "Wang Mang" people were recorded more than four thousand years ago as physically robust and active on the west of the present Liaoning, whose culture was associated with the Hongshan Culture. In archaeological terms, the Hongshan Culture gradually gave rise to the Lower Xiajiadian Culture and represented the transition toward the bronze technology. It eventually evolved into the Upper Xiajidian Culture, which was associated with the Donghu and characterized by the practice of agriculture and animal husbandry supplemented by handicrafts and bronze art. The Donghu was a federation formed from the Donghu, Wuhuan, and Xianbei.Among the northern ethnic groups, the Donghu was the earliest to evolve into a state of civilization and first developed bronze technology. Through the usage of bronze weaponry and armored cavalry in warfare, they maintained extensive dominance over the Xiongnu on their west. In the end of the third century B.C., the Xiongnu Maodun attacked to destroy the Donghu by surprise and caused disintegration in the federation. The Wuhuan moved to Mt. Wuhuan and engaged in continuous warfare with the Xiongnu on the west and China on the south. The Donghu spoke Mongolic language and was formed by the federation of the Donghu, Wuhuan, and Xianbei.
Xianbei
As the Wuhuan and Xiongnu came to be worn out from the lengthy battles, the Xianbei preserved their strengths by moving northward to Mt. Xianbei. In the first century, the Xianbei defeated the Wuhuan and northern Xiongnu, and developed into a powerful state under the leadership of their elected Khan, Tanshihuai. In the third century, the Eastern Han dynasty disintegrated into three kingdoms, including the Cao Wei in the north, the Eastern Wu in the south, and the Shu Han in the southwest. In 235, the Cao Wei assassinated the last Khan of the Xianbei, Kebineng, and caused disintegration in the Xianbei Kingdom. Thereafter, the Xianbei pushed their way inside the Great Wall of China and established extensive presence in China.During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Xianbei founded six kingdoms: the Former Yan, Western Yan, Later Yan, Southern Yan, Western Qin and Southern Liang. Most of them were unified by the Tuoba Xianbei, who established the Northern Wei, which was the first of the Northern dynasties founded by the Xianbei. In 534, the Northern Wei split into an Eastern Wei and a Western Wei. The former evolved into the Northern Qi, and the latter into the Northern Zhou, while the Southern dynasties were pushed to the south of the Yangtze. In 581, the prime minister of Northern Zhou, Yang Jian, usurped the throne and founded the Sui dynasty as Emperor Wen of Sui. His son, Emperor Yang of Sui, annihilated the Chen dynasty and unified northern and southern China, thereby bringing an end to the Northern and Southern dynasties era. Over the course of this period, the Xianbei who entered into China were immersed among the Chinese and later classified into "Han". Yet, not all branches of the Xianbei shared this fate. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, Tuyühu, a branch of the Murong Xianbei, undertook a westward migration that allowed them and those who followed them to develop in a different path.
Westward migration
The separation of Tuyühu from the Murong Xianbei occurred during the Western Jin dynasty, which succeeded the Cao Wei in northern China. Legends accounted the separation to be due to a fight between his horses and those of his younger brother, Murong Wei. The actual cause was intense struggle over the Khanate position and disagreement over their future directions. The fraction that supported Murong Wei into the Khanate position aimed at ruling over China, whereas Tuyühu intended to preserve the Xianbei culture and lifestyles. The disagreement resulted in Tuyühu to proclaim as the Khan, or Kehan, and undertook the long westward journey under the title of the Prince of Jin, or Jin Wang, followed by other Xianbei and Wuhuan groups. While passing through western Liaoning and Mt. Bai, more Xianbei groups joined them from the Duan, Yuwen, and Bai sections. At the Hetao Plains near Ordos in Inner Mongolia, Tuyühu Khan led them to reside by Mt. Yin for over thirty years, as the Tuoba Xianbei and Northern Xianbei joined them through political and marriage alliances. After settling down in the northwest, they established the powerful Tuyühu Empire named to his honor as the first Khan who led them there, by subjugating the native peoples who were summarily referred to as the "Qiang" and included more than 100 different and loosely coordinated tribes that did not submit to each other or any authorities.After Tuyühu Khan departed from the northeast, Murong Wei composed an "Older Brother’s Song," or "the Song of A Gan:" "A Gan" is Chinese transcription of "a ga" for "older brother" in the Xianbei language. The song lamented his sadness and longing for Tuyühu. Legends accounted that Murong Wei often sang it until he died and the song got spread into central and northwest China. The Murong Xianbei whom he had led successively founded the Former Yan, Western Yan, Later Yan, and Southern Yan. Their territories encompassed, at their height, the present Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan, and their capitals included Beijing and other cities. Through these establishments, they were immersed among the Chinese, whereas the Xianbei who followed Tuyühu Khan preserved their language and culture.