Utsul people
| 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 unrecognized ethnic groups. They are found on the southernmost tip of Hainan near the city of Sanya.
The Utsuls are thought to be descendants of Cham refugees who fled their homeland of Champa in what is now modern central Vietnam to escape the Vietnamese invasion. After the Vietnamese completed the conquest of Cham in 1471, sacking Vijaya, the last capital of the Cham kingdom, a Cham prince and some 1,000 followers 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, shortly after the Vietnamese captured the earlier Cham capital of Indrapura in 982, while other Cham refugees settled in Guangzhou.
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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