Kharchin

Kharchin Mongols

Location of the Kharchin Mongols.
Regions with significant populations
China	593,000 (1987)
Mongolia	152 (2010)
Languages
Kharchin dialect of Mongolian
Religion
Tibetan Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Mongols, Mongols in China

The Kharchin (Харчин, ᠬᠠᠷᠠᠴᠢᠨ, qaračin) is a subgroup of the Mongols residing mainly (and originally) in North-western Liaoning and Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. There are Khalkha-Kharchin Mongols in Dorno-Gobi Province (Kharchin Örtöö was part of the province during Qing rule) and in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

They are descended directly from the Kharchin tümen of the Northern Yuan dynasty. The Kharchin tümen consisted of:

The eastern Tümed (Chaoyang county, Liaoning) and Mongoljin (Fuxin county, Liaoning) trıbes were also categorized as Kharchin traditionally.

Exact population data of the Kharchins in China is difficult to obtain because there was a great immigration of the Kharchins for Jindandao ethnic conflict during the late Qing dynasty, and that the former Josotu league was divided after the Qing dynasty and now belongs to the present three different provinces: Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Heibei. However, there are Liaoning's ethnic Mongols with over 600,000 population and Heibei's ethnic Mongols with over 100,000 population, both of who are mainly originated from the Kharchins except the smaller Mongol groups with Chahar, Barga, Oirad or other ethnic origins.

The term Kharchin first appeared in the history of the Yuan dynasty. In the early 13th century, the Kipchaks and the Qanqlis surrendered to the Mongol Empire. Because they were famous for distilling khara-airag (black koumiss), they were called Kharachin by the Mongols. Those Turkic peoples formed the kheshig in the Yuan dynasty after 1270. Because they formed a minority of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, they quickly assimilated with the Mongols and other groups.