(Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales)
Rethinking dongxiang literacy:
the tuhua orou writing system and its sociolinguistic practices
68th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Bangkok 2026
Dongxiang (also Santa) is a Mongolic language spoken by approximately 400,000 members of the Dongxiang ethnic group (东乡族) in Gansu Province, China. Prevailing scholarship has often characterized the Dongxiang community as historically lacking a native writing system and exhibiting low levels of literacy prior to the introduction of a Latin-based pinyin orthography in the early 2000s. However, this assumption overlooks the existence of an earlier writing tradition known in Dongxiang as tuhua orou, a system based on the Hui xiao’erjing (Sino-Arabic script), which can be traced back at least to the 17th century.
The corpus of xiao’erjing literature primarily comprises religious texts, including translations of the Quran, as well as instructional materials on rituals and prayers. Although such literature has been widely disseminated among Hui and Muslim communities across the Gansu-Qinghai region, the Dongxiang tuhua orou extends beyond religious contexts, employed not only by imams and religious scholars (malas) in mosques but also by some members of the Dongxiang community in daily life.
This paper examines the historical development of tuhua orou, its linguistic features, and its sociolinguistic significance within the Dongxiang community. The study begins with an overview of the diffusion of Islam among the Dongxiang, followed by a classification of extant documents. It then analyzes the phonological characteristics of the script. The study further presents glossed examples drawn from previously unexamined documents, highlighting variation in transcription practices. Through this analysis, the paper demonstrates the importance of tuhua orou not only for understanding Dongxiang literacy practices but also for broader inquiries in Mongolic linguistics and script adaptation.
A Ibrahim Chen Yuanlong ‘Dōngxiāng zú de shūmiàn yǔyán———“xiǎo jīng” wénzì’ [The written language of the Dongxiang people: “Xiaojing” characters]. Xīběi mínzú yánjiū (4)87, 2015 :61-68.
Julie Lefort, Heng Wang. ‘A Transcription of a Letter in Dongxiang tuhuanini orou’. 2025. ⟨hal-05097047⟩
Qin Yongzhang, A Study of the Formation of the Multi-ethnic Pattern in the Gansu-Qinghai-Ningxia Region, Minzu Publishing House, 2005.
Ma Zhiyon, Gānsù dōngxiāng zú shǐhuà [A history of the Dongxiang People of Gansu], gānsù wénhuà chūbǎn shè, 2009.
Zhong Jinwen, Gānqīng dìqū tèyǒu mínzú yǔyán wénhuà de qūyù tèzhēng [Regional characteristics of the unique ethnic languages and cultures in Gansu and Qinghai] Zhongyang minzu daxue, 2007.
Zavyalova, Olga. (2015). Sino-Islamic Linguistics. In R. Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics Online. Brill.