1. History

2. Identity
    Genetics  Family names 

3. See also

4. References

The Utsuls ([{{IPA|hu˩ t͡saːn˧˨}}]; {{zh|t=回輝人|s=回辉人|p=Huíhuī rén|first=t}}) or Hainan Hui ({{zh|links=no |c=海南回族 |p=Hǎinán huízú|first=t}}), are a Chamic-speaking ethnic group which lives on the island of Hainan, 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.

History

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.^[3] 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 a kingdom-in-exile.^[4] 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.^[5][6]

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.

Identity

Although they are culturally distinct from other Hui people, the Chinese government places them as members of Hui nationality because of their Islam religion. From reports by Hans Stübel, the German ethnographer who made contact with them in the 1930s, however, their language is completely unrelated to any other language spoken in mainland China.^[7] About 3,500 of them are speakers of the Tsat language, which is one of the few Malayo-Polynesian languages that are tonal. Whereas other Hui people are Muslims who do not have a mother tongue or traditional ethnic language distinct from the Sinitic dialects, the Utsuls do have their own language, which is regarded as separate and distinct from Sinitic dialects. As a result, their classification as Hui people is controversial.

Genetics

Dongna Li and Chuan-Chao Wang have typed paternal Y chromosome and maternal mitochondrial DNA markers in 102 Utsat people to gain a better understanding of the genetic history of this population. High frequencies of the Y chromosome haplogroup O1a*-M119 and mtDNA lineages D4, F2a, F1b, F1a1, B5a, M8a, M*, D5, and B4a exhibit a pattern similar to that seen in neighboring indigenous populations. Cluster analyses (principal component analyses and networks) of the Utsat, Cham, and other ethnic groups in East Asia indicate that the Utsat are much closer to the Hainan indigenous ethnic groups than to the Cham and other mainland southeast Asian populations. These findings suggest that the origins of the Utsat likely involved massive assimilation of indigenous ethnic groups. During the assimilation process, the language of Utsat has been structurally changed to a tonal language; their Islamic beliefs may have helped to keep their culture and self-identification.^[8]

Family names

Some common Utsul family names include Chen, Ha, Hai, Jiang, Li, Liu and Pu.^[9]

See also

• Undistinguished ethnic groups in China
• Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

References

• Wolecin
• Wolecin, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
• Wolecin, Opole Voivodeship
• Wolek family (One Life to Live)
• Wolen
• Wolenice
• Wolental
• Wole oguntokun
• Wole Oguntokun
• Wole Parks
• Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa
• Woleswali
• WOLE-TV
• Woleu
• Woleu (department)
• Woleu Ntem
• Woleu-Ntem
• Woleń
• Wolf 1055
• Wolf 1055 A
• Wolf 1055 AB
• Wolf 1329
• Wolf359
• Wolf 562
• Wolf 562 c