The Salar people () are a Turkic ethnic minority of China who largely speak the Salar language, an Oghuz language. The Salar people numbered 130,607 people in the last census of 2010. The Salars live mostly in the Qinghai-Gansu border region, on both sides of the Yellow River, namely in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Hualong Hui Autonomous County of Qinghai and the adjacent Jishishan Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar Autonomous County of Gansu and in some parts of Henan and Shanxi. There are also Salars in Northern Xinjiang (in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture). They are a patriarchal agricultural society and are predominantly Muslim. Salars live in Gansu's Lintan County and Xining, Linxia County and Qinghai's Hualong Hui autonomous county and Xunhua Salar autonomous county. History Origin According to Salar tradition and Chinese chronics, the Salars are the descendants of the Salur tribe, belonging to the Oghuz Turk tribe of the Western Turkic Khaganate. During the Tang dynasty, the Salur tribe dwelt within China's borders and lived since then in the Qinghai-Gansu border region. Over the centuries, they mixed with neighboring Tibetans, Hui, Han Chinese and Mongols, developing the distinctive modern Salar language and culture. Islamic legend According to a legend, two brothers Haraman and Ahman, possibly forefathers of the present day Salar tribe once lived in the Samarkand area. They were highly ranked at local Islamic mosques, which led to persecution from local rulers. The two brothers fled along with eighteen members of the tribe on a white camel with water, soil and a Quran before heading east. The group trekked through the northern route of the Tian Shan mountain ranges into the Jiayuguan pass and passing through the present day Suzhou District, Ganzhou District, Ningxia, Qinzhou District, Gangu County and eventually stopping at the present Xiahe County. Later, another forty people from Samarkand joined the group. The group passed through the southern route of the Tian Shan mountain ranges and entered Qinghai. They arrived at the present Guide County and twelve of them settled there. The Koran, the two brothers brought on their journey to China is to this day still preserved in Xunhua at Jiezi Mosque. The Nanjing Museum has repaired the Koran to protect it from decay. Ming dynasty The Salar clan leaders voluntarily capitulated to the Ming dynasty around 1370. The chief of the four upper clans around this time was Han Baoyuan and the Ming