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Tajiks in China

Mountain Tajiks
新疆塔吉克族牧民.jpg
Total population
(41,028 (Xinjiang of China) 1,000~2,000 (Sarikoli in Tajikistan))
Regions with significant populations
Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County
Languages
Sarikoli (majority), Wakhi (minority), Mandarin Chinese
Religion
Shia Aga Khani Nizari Ismailism
Related ethnic groups
Iranian peoples

Chinese Tajiks or Mountain Tajiks in China (Sarikoli: [tudʒik], Tujik; Chinese: 塔吉克族; pinyin: Tǎjíkè Zú), including Sarikolis (majority) and Wakhis (minority) in China, are an extension of the Pamiri ethnic group that lives in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. They are Mountain Tajiks, unlike Plain Tajiks in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. They are one of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the government of China.

Despite the name by which they are known in China, the Tajiks of Xinjiang are not the same as the Tajik people (who speak a Persian dialect, known as Tajik in Tajikistan or Dari in Afghanistan). The Tajiks in Xinjiang of China, are an extension of the Pamiri people, a different Iranic group who speak the indigenous Eastern Iranic Pamiri languages. Though most Tajiks in China also speak Persian.

Tashkurgan Town became the capital of the Sarikol kingdom (色勒库尔), a kingdom of the Pamir Mountains.

During the Qing dynasty, the Tajiks were administered by a system of Begs like the rest of Xinjiang. During the Qing dynasty the Chinese claimed suzerainty over the Taghdumbash Pamir in the south west of Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County but permitted the Mir of Hunza to administer the region in return for a tribute.


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Wikipedia

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