Utsuls

Not to be confused with Hutsuls.

ملايو ثات

Tsat/ Hainan Champa Utsul
Total population
At least 8,500
Regions with significant populations
Sanya, Hainan
Languages
Tsat, Standard Chinese, Hainanese
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Chams (Laotian Chams) and other Austronesian peoples, Hlai

The Utsuls ([hu˩ t͡saːn˧˨]; traditional Chinese: 回輝人; simplified Chinese: 回辉人; pinyin: Huíhuīrén) are a Chamic-speaking ethnic group which lives on the island of Hainan and are considered one of the People's Republic of China's unrecognized ethnic groups. They are found on the southernmost tip of Hainan, in the two villages of Huihui (回辉) and Huixin (回新) of Tianya district in the city of Sanya.

History

The Utsuls are thought to be descendants of Cham refugees who fled their homeland of Champa in what is now modern Central Vietnam to escape the Vietnamese invasion. After the Vietnamese completed the conquest of Cham in 1471, sacking Vijaya, the last capital of the Cham kingdom, a Cham prince and about 1,000 followers moved to Hainan, where the Ming dynasty allowed them to stay. Several Chinese accounts record Cham arriving on Hainan even earlier, from 986, shortly after the Vietnamese captured the earlier Cham capital of Indrapura in 982, while other Cham refugees settled in Guangzhou.

While most of the Chams fled Champa to Cambodia, a small business class fled northwards. How they came to acquire the name Utsul is unknown.

Their population was greatly reduced during the Second Sino-Japanese War by the Japanese that more than 4,000 Utsuls were killed in Sanya as Chinese armies were hiding among them from the invading Japanese. Hundreds of Utsul Muslim houses and mosques in Sanya were destroyed by the Japanese in order to build an airport.

Discrimination

See also: Islamophobia in China

In 2020, it was reported that Beijing had started a religious crackdown aimed at the Utsul community as part of their political efforts. Restrictions included limiting the size of mosques, requiring a Chinese Communist Party member on mosque management committees, forbidding the use of Arabic words on food stalls (such as "halal"), and forbidding the wearing of hijab.

Identity

Although the Utsuls are culturally, ethnically and linguistically distinct from the mainland Hui, the Chinese government nevertheless classifies them as Hui due to their Islamic faith. From reports by Hans Stübel, the German ethnographer who made contact with them in the 1930s, however, their language is completely unrelated to any other language spoken in mainland China.

Genetics

A genetic study by Li et al. (2013) suggested that the surviving Utsat were genetically much closer to the indigenous Hlai people than to the Cham and other mainland southeast Asian populations. The study suggests that there was high assimilation of the indigenous Hlai in the formation of the Utsat.

Family names

Some common Utsul family names include Chen, Ha, Hai, Jiang, Li, Liu and Pu.

Famous people

• Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia. His maternal grandfather is of Utsul descent.

See also

• Unrecognized ethnic groups in China