Utsul
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (at least 6,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 southern Hainan
|
|
| Languages | |
|
Tsat (native) Mandarin, Hainanese |
|
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Chams, Malay people, other Austronesian peoples |
The Utsuls ([hu˩ t͡saːn˧˨]; traditional Chinese: 回輝人; simplified Chinese: 回辉人; pinyin: Huíhuī rén) or (Chinese: 海南回族; pinyin: Hǎinán huízú) are a Chamic-speaking ethnic group which lives on the island of Hainan, China, and are considered one of the People's Republic of China's undistinguished ethnic groups. They are found on the southernmost tip of Hainan near the city of Sanya.
However, they are thought to be descendants of Cham refugees who fled their homeland of Champa in what is now modern southern Vietnam to escape from Vietnamese invasion. After the Vietnamese completed the conquest of Cham, sacking Vijaya, the capital of Champa, a Cham Prince and some 1,000 Cham moved to Hainan, where the Ming dynasty allowed them to set up an exile kingdom. Several Chinese accounts record Cham arriving on Hainan even earlier, from 986, when the Cham capital fell in 982, several Cham fled to Hainan during the Song dynasty. After the 982 fall of the capital Indrapura to Vietnam, some Cham fled to Guangzhou in addition to Hainan.
While most of the Chams who fled Champa went to neighbouring Cambodia, a small business class fled northwards. How they came to acquire the name Utsul is unknown.
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Wikipedia