Dungans - Sociopolitical Organization

The Dungan collective farms are run by Dungans. The selo chairmen, kolkhoz chairmen, and school principals, for example, are usually Dungans. Most of the teachers and nurses and some of the doctors are Dungans. Seventy-five to 90 percent of the people living and working on the Dungan collective farms are Dungans. The rest of the population, composed of from fourteen to twenty-four nationalities, are Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Uighurs, Tartars, Belarussians, Germans, Chinese, Karachays, Koreans, and Ukrainians. On the surface, at least, the relationship between the Dungans and non-Dungans is fairly harmonious; one sees very few Russians on the Dungan collective farms. The Dungans regard themselves as superior to the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs, who are nomads and, therefore, according to the Dungans, less strict and less devout in religious matters.