The Dongxiang people (autonym: Sarta or Santa (撒爾塔); , Xiao'erjing: دْوݣسِيْاݣذُ) are Mongolic people and one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Most of the Dongxiang live in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture and surrounding areas of Gansu Province in Northwestern China, half of them in Dongxiang Autonomous County, which is part of Linxia. According to the 2010 census, their population numbers 621,500, although research has found that the number is inflated due to Hui identifying themselves as Dongxiang for the census, in order to benefit from minority policies. Origin and development The Dongxiang are closely related to other Mongolic peoples like the Monguor and Bonan. Scholars speculate that their identity as an independent ethnic group arose through contact with Central Asians, due to whom the Dongxiang converted to Sunni Islam in the 13th century. For years, many Chinese scholars assumed that the Dongxiang were descendants of Mongolian troops posted in the Hezhou area by Genghis Khan (1162-1227 AD). Another possibility is that they could be a mixture of many peoples including Mongolian, Han and Tibetan groups. Yet another theory states the Dongxiang's origin lies in the thirteenth century when Mongol soldiers were stationed to garrison the Linxia and Western Gansu region during the Mongol's conquests of Northern China. Genetic studies have shown that the majority of Dongxiangs share very similar genetic membership with other East Asian populations, revealing a common genetic makeup. The Dongxiangs also showed significant genetic homogeneity with the Han Chinese, which supports a simple cultural diffusion for the origin of the Dongxiang in China. The American Asiatic Association published an account of the Dongxiang's origins in the "Asia, Volume 40". A Muslim Mongol, Ma Chuanyuan, who was the supermagistrate of five districts, was interviewed and gave a story on his people's origins. The conversion to Islam by a clan descended from Genghis Khan angered their relatives, who drove them all the way to Eastern Linxia. This occurred at the twilight of the Yuan dynasty. East Linxia was described as a land of "thorns and yellow earth". The author estimated a number of 100,000 Mongolian Muslims. They spoke Mongolian but were all illiterate. The account described them as a community of one hundred thousand, Mongol by race, Islam by religion and Chinese by culture. The majority of them were monolingual. Dongxiang were also known as Santa (San-t'a) people, it was reported