The Dongxiang are one of China’s official minority groups. They were called “Dongxiang
Hui”, “Dongxiang Mongolian” prior to 1949, when their name was changed to the Dongxiang
(East District) people. Most of the Dongxiang live in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture
and surrounding areas of Gansu Province in northwestern China. According to the 2010
census, their population numbers 621,500. Dongxiang people communicate with Dongxiang
language which belongs to the Mongolian Language of the Altaic family. Many of their
vocabularies are borrowed from Chinese, and some are from Turkic, Arabian and Farsi,
without their own writing form. Historians are divided in their views about the ethno-origin
of the Dongxiang ethnic minority. Some hold that the Dongxiangs were descendants of
Mongolian troops posted in the Hezhou area by Genghis Khan (1162–1227) during his
western conquest. Other historians believe that they were a mixed population consisting
of Muslims, Mongolians and Han Chinese. Moreover, the Dongxiang group claimed to be
Sarta (a similar word Sartrefers tothe Arab traders and Turkic-speaking city dwellers
in Central Asia), suggesting another possibility of western Asian origin (http://www.chinatravel.com/facts/dongxiang-ethnic-minority.htm). Thus, regarding the issue of the ethno-origin of the Dongxiang group, previous
studies with limited genetic markers and small sample size have been unable to provide
a clear answer [
1
,
2
,
3
]. Yao et al. recently analysed 15 autosomal STRs in 372 individuals from Dongxiang
and Hui in Linxia, Gansu province and determined their population affinity with 45
populations (13,793 individuals) all around the world. Both genetic distance and Bayesian-clustering
methods showed significant genetic homogeneity between the two Muslim populations
and East Asian populations, suggesting a common genetic ancestry [
[4]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Forensic Science International: GeneticsAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Proofs of the origin of Dongxiang ethnic group based on the population genetics.Ethno-Natl. Stud. 2002; 1 (in Chinese): 35-40
- Research on the physical characteristics of Dongxiang Nationality in Gansu province, northwest China.Acta Anthropol. Sin. 1991; 10: 127-134
- The origins and genetic structure of three co-resident Chinese Muslim populations: the Salar, Bo’an and Dongxiang.Hum. Genet. 2003; 113: 244-252
- Genetic evidence for an East Asian origin of Chinese Mmuslim populations Dongxiang and Hui.Sci. Rep. 2016; 6: 38656
- Y chromosome STR typing in crime casework.Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2009; 5: 77-84
- Chromosome Y microsatellites: population genetic and evolutionary aspects.Int. J. Legal Med. 1997; 110: 134-149
- Novel Y-STR typing strategies reveal the genetic profile of the semen donor in extended interval postcoital cervico vaginal samples.Forensic Sci. Int. 2003; 136: 58-72
- Developmental validation of a novel 5 dye Y-STR System comprising the 27 Yfiler Plus loci.Sci. Rep. 2016; 6: 29557https://doi.org/10.1038/srep29557
- Chelex 100 as a medium for simple extraction of DNA for PCR-based from forensic material.Biotechniques. 1991; 10: 506-513
- International Society of Forensic Genetics DNA Commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG): an update of the recommendations on the use of Y-STRs in forensic analysis.Forensic Sci. Int. 2006; 157: 187-197
- The new Y chromosome haplotype reference database.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2015; 15: 43-48
- Molecular Evolutionary Genetics.Columbia University Press, New York1987 (p. 178)
- Genetic polymorphisms and mutation rates of 27 Y-chromosomal STRs in a Han population from Guangdong Province, Southern China.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2016; 21: 5-9
- Haplotype analysis of the polymorphic 40 Y-STR markers in Chinese populations.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2015; 19: 255-262
- Genetic polymorphism of 17 Y chromosomal STRs in Kazakh and Uighur populations from Xinjiang, China.Int. J. Legal Med. 2014; 128: 743-744
- Genetic analysis of 17 Y-STR loci in Han and Korean populations from Jilin Province, Northeast China.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2016; 22: 8-10
- Genetic polymorphisms of 26 Y-STR loci in the Mongolian minority from Horqin district, China.Int. J. Legal Med. 2016; 130: 941-946
- Genetic analysis of 17 Y-chromosomal STRs haplotypes of Chinese Tibetan ethnic group residing in Qinghai province of China.Forensic Sci. Int. 2008; 175: 238-243
- Population genetic data for 27 Y-STR loci in the Zhuang ethnic minority from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the south of China.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2017; 27: 182-183
- Genetic polymorphism of 23 Y-STR loci in the Zhuang minority population in Guangxi of China.Int. J. Legal Med. 2015; 129: 737-738
- SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL2018
- Continent-wide decoupling of Y-chromosomal genetic variation from language and geography in native South Americans.PLoS Genet. 2013; 9: e1003460
- Analysis of genomic admixture in Uyghur and its implication in mapping strategy.Am. J. Hum. Genet. 2008; 82: 883-894
- Update of the guidelines for the publication of genetic population data.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2014; 10: A1-A2
- New guidelines for the publication of genetic population data.Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 2013; 7: 217-220
Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 01, 2018
Accepted:
December 30,
2017
Received in revised form:
December 26,
2017
Received:
August 30,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
