Xunhua Salar Autonomous County (simplified Chinese: 循化撒拉族自治县; pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Xúnhuà Sǎlázú Zìzhìxiàn; Salar

Salar language

Salar is a Turkic language spoken by the Salar people, who mainly live in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu in China; some also live in Ghulja, Xinjiang...

:Göxdeñiz Velayat Yisır Salır Özbaşdak Yurt) is an autonomous

Autonomous areas of China

In a similar fashion to the former Soviet Union's titular nations, a number of areas associated with one or more ethnic minorities are designated as autonomous within the People's Republic of China . These areas are recognized in the PRC's constitution and are nominally given a number of rights not...

 Salar county in the southeast of Haidong Prefecture

Haidong Prefecture

Haidong Prefecture is a prefecture of Qinghai province in Western China. Its name literally means "east of the Lake."-Geography:...

 of Qinghai

Qinghai

Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...

 province, People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. The county has an area of around 2100 square kilometres (810.8 sq mi) and approximately 110,000 inhabitants (2002). In the east it borders on the province of Gansu

Gansu

' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...

, in the south and the west to the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture of Qinghai province in China. The prefecture has area of 17,921 km² and its capital is Tongren county.- Demographics :...

, its postal code is 811100, and its capital is the town of Jishi.

The Salar language

Salar language

Salar is a Turkic language spoken by the Salar people, who mainly live in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu in China; some also live in Ghulja, Xinjiang...

 is the official language in Xunhua, as in all Salar autonomous areas.

As of April 2009 Xunhua is also the site of a mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 containing the oldest hand-written copy of the Quran in China, believed to have been written sometime between the 8th and 13th centuries.

Ethnic groups in Xunhua, 2000 census

Nationality	Population	Percentage
Salar	63,859	61.14%
Tibetan Tibetan people The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...	25,783	24.68%
Hui Hui people The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...	8,155	7.81%
Han Han Chinese Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...	6,217	5.95%
Tu Tu people The Monguor or Tu people , White Mongol/Chagan Mongol are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China. The "Tu" ethnic category was created in the 1950s....	134	0.13%
Dongxiang Dongxiang people The Dongxiang people are one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...	116	0.11%
Mongol Mongols Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...	39	0.04%
Qiang	35	0.03%
Bonan Bonan The Bonan people are an ethnic group living in Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwestern China...	22	0.02%
Blang Blang The Blang people are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.-Language:...	18	0.02%
Buyei Buyei The Buyei are an ethnic group living in southern mainland China. Numbering 2.5 million, they are the 11th largest of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...	12	0.01%
Others	62	0.06%

RESOURCES
Kha Bum: Xunhua Tibetan Folk Culture Video Collection
http://www.oralliterature.org/collections/kbum001.html