The Monguor people (Monguor: Mongghul), 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.Ha Mingzong, Ha Mingzhu, C.K Stuart.(2013) 'Mongghul Ha Clan Oral History Documentation', in Oral Literature in the Digital Age: Archiving Orality and Connecting with Communities, pg. 134.Hu, Alex J.(2010) 'An overview of the history and culture of the Xianbei ('Monguor'/'Tu')', Asian Ethnicity, 11: 1, 95 – 164.

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",Lü, Jianfu [呂建福], 2002. Tu zu shi [The Tu History] 土族史. Beijing [北京], Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she [Chinese Social Sciences Press] 中囯社会科学出版社. p. 1.Lü, Jianfu [呂建福], 2007. Tuzu ming cheng kao shi [A Textual Analysis of the Tu Names] 土族名称考释. Qinghai min zu xue yuan xue bao [Journal of Qinghai Nationalities Institute] 青海民族学院学报. 33: 39–49. p. 46. 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.Carroll, Thomas D. (1953). Account of the T'ù-yü-hún in the history of the Chìn dynasty. Berkeley, University of California Press.Molè, Gabriella (1970). The T'u-yü-hun from the Northern Wei to the time of the five dynasties. Roma, Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. 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" (or "White Mongols"). 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.Liu, Xueyao [劉學銚], 1994. Xianbei shi lun [the Xianbei History] 鮮卑史論. Taibei Shi [台北市], Nan tian shu ju [Nantian Press] 南天書局, p. 99.Lü, Jianfu [呂建福], 2002. Tu zu shi [The Tu History] 土族史. Beijing [北京], Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she [Chinese Social Sciences Press] 中囯社会科学出版社. p. 15–16.Wang, Zhongluo [王仲荦], 2007. Wei jin nan bei chao shi [History of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties] 魏晋南北朝史. Beijing [北京], Zhonghua shu ju [China Press] 中华书局, p. 257. 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.Smedt, A. de and Antoine Mostaert (1929). "Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansou occidental, Ie partie. Phonétique." Anthropos 24: 145–166.Smedt, A. de and Antoine Mostaert (1930). "Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansou occidental, Ie partie. Phonétique." Anthropos 25: 657–669, 961–973.Smedt, A. de and Antoine Mostaert (1931). "Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansou occidental, Ie partie. Phonétique." Anthropos 26: 253.Smedt, A. de and Antoine Mostaert (1933). Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansou occidental, IIIe partie. Dictionnaire Monguor–Français. Pei-p'ing, Imprimerie de l'Universite Catholique.Smedt, A. de and Antoine Mostaert (1945). Le dialecte monguor parlé par les Mongols du Kansou occidental, IIe partie. Peking, Catholic University.Mostaert, Antoine (1931). "The Mongols of Kansu and their Language." Bulletin of the Catholic University of Peking 8: 75–89. 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.Schram, Louis M. J. (1954). "The Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Frontier. Their Origin, History, and Social Organization." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 44(1): 1–138.Schram, Louis M. J. (1957). The Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Frontier: Part II. Their Religious Life. Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society.Schram, Louis M. J. (1961). The Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Frontier: Part III. Records of the Monguor Clans. History of the Monguors in Huangchung and the Chronicles of the Lu Family. Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society. 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.Schram, Louis M. J. (1954). "The Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Frontier. Their Origin, History, and Social Organization." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 44(1): 1–138. p. 28.

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" (or "White") in order to be distinguished from the "Khara" (or "Black") 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 DNA of the Tu people 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.A genetic atlas of human admixture history, Hellenthal et al., 2014.Side 1: Greek-Like (7,7 %), Hazara (0,5%). Side 2: Han China-Like (26,7%), Yi (16,9%)Modern genes yield atlas of ancient inter-ethnic sex, Nature, 13 February 2014 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.Lucas Christopoulos; Dionysian rituals and the Golden Zeus of China http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp326_dionysian_rituals_china.pdf pp.5–63

Distribution of Y-chromosome haplogroups in Monguor:

O=38.85(O2=31.42,O1a=4.13,O1b=3.3)

D=14.87

R1=14.05(R1a=13.22,R1b=0.83)

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,The folktale accounted "Madam Lushi," which in Chinese suggest the last name of "鲁". The important role of Lu Tusi was presented in Schram (1961). The Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Frontier: Part III. Records of the Monguor Clans. History of the Monguors in Huangchung and the Chronicles of the Lu Family. Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society. who organized an ambush through an elaborate banquet combined with liquor and singing in order to subdue a bully named "Wang Mang".Hu, Jun (1994). Minhe Monguor Folktales (collected and translated folktales from Monguor and Chinese). China's Monguor Minority: ethnography and folktales. Sino-Platonic Papers. No. 59, pp 132–184. Kevin Stuart and Limusishiden.In Chinese record, the name of Wang Mang, who were historically recorded as "汪芒" was often confused with the name of "王莽." See Anonymous (2002). "Lu shi tai tai xiang wang mang [Madam Lushi subdues Wang Mang] 鲁氏太太降王莽[汪芒]." Zhongguo tu zu [China's Tu Nationality] 中国土族 13 (1): 49.Lü, Jianfu [呂建福], 2002. Tu zu shi [The Tu History] 土族史. Beijing [北京], Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she [Chinese Social Sciences Press] 中囯社会科学出版社. p. 1–2.Li, Zhinong [李志农] and Ding Bofeng [丁柏峰] (2004). Tu Zu: Qinghai Huzhu xian Dazhuang cun diao cha [The Tu Nationality: investigation in Dazhuang Village of Huzhu County, Qinghai] 土族: 靑海互助县大庄村调查. Kunming [昆明], Yunnan da xue chu ban she [Yunnan University Press] 云南大学出版社.Chen, Zhaojun [陈照俊], Li Xingzhong [李兴忠], Lü Jianliang [吕金良], Keith Slater, Kevin Stuart, Wang Xianzhen [王献珍], Wang Yongwei [王永伟], Huaizhi [辛怀志] Xin, Zhu Meilan [朱梅兰], Zhu Shanzhong [朱山忠], Zhu Wenhui [朱文辉] and Zhu Yongzhong [朱永忠] (2005). Zhongguo Minhe Tu zu min jian gu shi [Folktales of China's Minhe Monguor] 中国民和土族民间故事. München, Lincom Europa. 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.Lü, Jianfu [呂建福], 2002. Tu zu shi [The Tu History] 土族史. Beijing [北京], Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she [Chinese Social Sciences Press] 中囯社会科学出版社. p. 3.The Wang Mang people were likely the predecessors or a fraction of those who became known as the Xiongnu later on the west of the Donghu. Ethnically the Xiongnu comprised diverse groups of Hunmi, Guifang, Xianyun, and Rongdi in northwest China and northern grassland of Mongolia. The geographic areas of their activities were centered in Hetao and along Great Mt. Qing in southern Inner Mongolia, see Lin, Gan [林干]. (2007). Xiongnu shi [The Xiongnu History] 匈奴史. Huhehaote [呼和浩特], Nei Mengguo ren min chu ban she (Inner Mongolia People's Press] 内蒙古人民出版社. p. 4.In physical anthropological perspectives, some Xiongnu groups manifested European, Central Asian and Eastern Asian Mongolic features, whereas the Donghu were principally of Mongolic people of Eastern and Northern Asian origins. See Zhu Hong [朱泓] (1994). "Ren zhong xue shang de xiong nu, xian bei yu qi dan [The Xiongnu, Xianbei and Qidan in racial perspectives] 人种学上的匈奴、鲜卑与契丹." Beifang wen wu [Northern Cultural Relics] 北方文物 38(2): 7–13. 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.