Tungan

Tungan is a term that has been used in some contexts as an exonym for the Dungan, a Central Asian Muslim community descended from Hui Chinese who migrated to the Russian Empire and later to present-day Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia during the 19th century. In contemporary usage, the ethnonym Dungan is preferred by scholars and the communities themselves, with "Tungan" appearing in older or cross-linguistic sources.

The Dungan language is a Mandarin-based Sinitic language spoken by Dungan communities. It developed in the context of contact with Turkic and Slavic languages and is written in multiple scripts depending on country and period; Cyrillic scripts were adopted in the Soviet era, and Arabic-script traditions also existed, particularly in Central Asia and among older generations. The language is closely related to Mandarin varieties but has unique phonological and lexical features.

Dungan communities are mainly located in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and parts of Russia, with smaller populations in Tajikistan and China. They are predominantly Muslim, following Sunni Islam, and maintain distinctive cultural practices, including traditional music, dress, and family structures. Education and bilingualism in national languages have influenced language maintenance and intergenerational transmission, shaping the community’s cultural and linguistic profile.