Ethnic minorities in ChinaEthnic minorities in China are the non-Han population in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The PRC officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. As of 2010, the combined population of officially-recognized minority groups comprised 8.49% of the population of Mainland China. In addition to these officially-recognized ethnic minority groups, there are Chinese nationals who privately classify themselves as members of unrecognized ethnic groups, such as the very small Chinese Jewish, Tuvan, and Ili Turk communities, as well as the much larger Oirat and Japanese communities.
KeraitesThe Keraites (also Kerait, Kereit, Khereid; Хэрэйд; ) were one of the five dominant Mongol or Turkic tribal confederations (khanates) in the Altai-Sayan region during the 12th century. They had converted to the Church of the East (Nestorianism) in the early 11th century and are one of the possible sources of the European Prester John legend. Their original territory was expansive, corresponding to much of what is now Mongolia. Vasily Bartold (1913) located them along the upper Onon and Kherlen rivers and along the Tuul river.
Secret History of the MongolsThe Secret History of the Mongols (Middle Mongol: Mongɣol‐un niɣuca tobciyan; Traditional Mongolian: Mongɣol‐un niɣuca tobcii'a, Khalkha Mongolian: Монголын нууц товчоо, ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal family some time after the 1227 death of Genghis Khan (born Temujin). The author is anonymous and probably originally wrote in the Mongolian script, but the surviving texts all derive from transcriptions or translations into Chinese characters that date from the end of the 14th century and were compiled by the Ming dynasty under the title The Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty ().
KhoshutThe Khoshut (Mongolian: Хошууд,, qoşūd, ; literally "bannermen," from Middle Mongolian qosighu "flag, banner") are one of the four major tribes of the Oirat people. They established the Khoshut Khanate in the area of Tibet in 1642–1717. Originally, Khoshuuds were one of the Khorchin tribes in southeastern Mongolian Plateau, but in the mid-15th century they migrated to western Mongolian Plateau to become an ally of the Oirats to counter the military power in central Mongolian Plateau.
KarakorumKarakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, Kharkhorum; Mongolian Script:, Qaraqorum; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of modern-day Mongolia, near the present town of Kharkhorin and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu Monastery, which is likely the oldest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. They are in the upper part of the World Heritage Site Orkhon Valley.
MerkitThe Merkit (literally "skillful/wise ones"; Mergid; ) was one of the five major tribal confederations (khanlig) of probably Mongol or Turkic origin in the 12th century Mongolian Plateau. The Merkits lived in the basins of the Selenga and lower Orkhon River (modern south Buryatia and Selenge Province). After a struggle of over 20 years, they were defeated in 1200 by Genghis Khan and were incorporated into the Mongol Empire.
BayadsThe Bayad (Mongol: Баяд/Bayad, lit. "the Riches") is the third largest subgroup of Mongol people in modern Mongolia and they are a tribe in Four Oirats. Baya'ud were a prominent clan within the Mongol Empire. Baya'ud can be found in both Mongolic and Turkic peoples. Within Mongols, the clan is spread through Khalkha, Inner Mongolians, Buryats and Oirats. The clan name Baya'ud appears among the Mongols, while the ethnonym Bayid appears in Central Siberia. Only the latter appears to be connected to the modern Bayad people of western Mongolia.
Dzungar genocideThe Dzungar genocide () was the mass extermination of the Mongol Dzungar people by the Qing dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide due to the rebellion in 1755 by Dzungar leader Amursana against Qing rule, after the dynasty first conquered the Dzungar Khanate with Amursana's support. The genocide was perpetrated by Manchu generals of the Qing army, supported by Turkic oasis dwellers (now known as Uyghurs) who rebelled against Dzungar rule.
Deportation of the KalmyksThe Kalmyk deportations of 1943, codename Operation Ulusy (Операция «Улусы») was the Soviet deportation of more than 93,000 people of Kalmyk nationality, and non-Kalmyk women with Kalmyk husbands, on 28–31 December 1943. Families and individuals were forcibly relocated in cattle wagons to special settlements for forced labor in Siberia. Kalmyk women married to non-Kalmyk men were exempted from the deportations.
Abaqa KhanAbaqa Khan (27 February 1234 – 4 April 1282, Абаха/Абага хан (Khalkha Cyrillic), (Traditional script), "paternal uncle", also transliterated Abaġa), was the second Mongol ruler (Ilkhan) of the Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Lady Yesünčin and the grandson of Tolui, he reigned from 1265 to 1282 and was succeeded by his brother Ahmed Tekuder. Much of Abaqa's reign was consumed with civil wars in the Mongol Empire, such as those between the Ilkhanate and the northern khanate of the Golden Horde.
