Dungan people facts for kids
The Dungan people are a group of Muslim people whose families originally came from China. Today, many Dungan people live in parts of the former Soviet Union and in a region of China called Xinjiang. Their ancestors were the Hui people from China. While Russians and Turkic-speaking people call them Dungan, the Dungan people call themselves Hui, just like their ancestors did.
Dungan Language
The Dungan language comes from Mandarin Chinese. It is most similar to the Chinese dialects spoken in the Gansu and Shaanxi provinces of China. The Dungan people call their language the Hui language.
Like Chinese, Dungan is a tonal language. This means the meaning of a word can change depending on the pitch of your voice. However, Dungan is different from modern Chinese because it uses some older words that are no longer common in Chinese dialects today. It also has many words borrowed from Arabic and Persian.
Another big difference is how Dungan is written. Unlike Chinese, which uses Chinese characters, the Dungan language is written using the Cyrillic alphabet. This is the same alphabet used for languages like Russian.
Images for kids
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The gate of the Dungan Mosque in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan.
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An old picture showing Dungan and Kashgar Chinese people doing shooting exercises.
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A museum in Milyanfan village.
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A house in Milyanfan village, Chüy Region of Kyrgyzstan.
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Many restaurants in Bishkek advertise "Dungan cuisine".
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The Dungan mosque in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan.
See also
In Spanish: Pueblo dungano para niños
