Population: 16, 900 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: Non Known

The Baima people live in fourteen villages along the Baima (White Horse) Valley, on both sides of the Sichuan-Gansu provincial border.  The Baima have been counted as part of the Tibetan nationality, but they are clearly a distinct ethnic group.  They speak their own language, wear their own distinct dress, proudly maintain their own traditions and culture; and perhaps most importantly, have never been followers of Tibetan Buddhism. 

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Population: 78,000 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: None Known

The Bendi people live off the southern coast of China on the tropical island of Hainan, the smallest of China’s provinces.  The 2010 census numbered them at about 78,000.  They live in the central mountain highlands among the island’s abundant forests, many rivers and streams, and deep valleys. Their homes are boat-shaped houses made of bamboo and thatch.  Until recently they relied on hunting and fishing for food. Their language is a Li dialect quite distinct and virtually unintelligible to other subgroups of the Li people.

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Population: 153,000 Religion: Buddhism, Animism Born Again Believers: 0.90%

The Buriat (or Buryat) are closely related to the Mongols, and the two groups share similar histories, cultures, religious beliefs and lifestyles.  Most Buriat live in Siberian Russia in the region surrounding Lake Baikal. However, almost 153,000 Buriat can also be found in the vast region of northern China known as Inner Mongolia.  This remote area is located where the nations of China, Russia and Mongolia meet. The Buriat in each country speak different languages and are regarded as three different people groups.

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Population: 193,000 Religion: Shamanism Born Again Believers: 0.50%

The Daur are concentrated on both sides of the Nenjiang River in Inner Mongolia, as well as in several counties in the western part of Heilongjiang Province.  A significant number of Daur also live in Russia.  In the past they were a larger and more influential group than today.  Their numbers have dwindled this century as a result of war, disease, and assimilation to Mongolian or Chinese culture and language.

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Population: 27,000,000 Religion: Non-Religious Buddhism, Taoist Born Again Believers: Unknown

While there are no reliable statistics regarding the number of deaf people in China, estimates range from 30 to 60 million. Since some think even these numbers are quite low, it’s clear there are an abnormally large number of deaf among the Chinese. One contributing factor was the prior overuse of antibiotics, especially in rural regions.

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Population: 3,692,000 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: 0.10%

The Dong were not known by that name until the 20th century. In the past they were part of the ancient Yue race that once dominated southern China. Many rural Dong are moving into urban areas and assimilating into mainstream Chinese society, resulting in intermarriage with the Han Chinese. Traditionally, however, the Dong live in two-story, spacious homes. The ground level serves as a barn, and the top floor includes an open-fire kitchen and living quarters.

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Population: 622,100 Religion: Islam Born Again Believers: None Known

The majority of the Dongxiang live in one long, spread-out valley in the southwestern part of Gansu Province. The Dongxiang region is a desolate, arid place with a moon-like landscape, even though it is bordered by the Tao River to the east, the Daxia River to the west, and the Yellow River to the north. The Donxiang are related to the Mongols and speak a dialect of Mongolian. Though they refer to themselves as “Santa” — an Islamic term — until 1949 they were known as Mongolian Huihui. Their modern name, Dongxiang, means “People of the Eastern District.”

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Population: 40,600 Religion: Shamanism Born Again Believers: None Known

Originally living in the hills of Siberia, groups of the Ewenki began to migrate into China during the early 1600s.  The name Ewenki—meaning “mountain forest people”—was coined by Russians early in the 20th century to describe nomadic peoples in eastern Siberia.  In addition to populations in Russia and Mongolia, the Ewenki in China live almost entirely in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.  Of the three groups of Ewenki in China, the vast majority of the population belongs to the Solon.

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Population: 692,800 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: 0.01%

Living on the tropical climate island of Hainan Island off the southern tip of China, the Ha people make up the largest of the groups gathered under the Li minority banner adopted by the Chinese Government.  Until recently Hainan was seen as a wild frontier and a hunter’s paradise, and this is still true for much of the mountainous areas where the Ha still reside.  The Ha language has become the common dialect for all the Li groups living on Hainan.

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Population: 35,379,000 Religion: Non-Religious, Animism, Shamanism Born Again Believers: 0.40%

The Hakka are a unique offshoot of the Han, China’s majority ethnic group. They migrated to the south from ancient central China between the 4th and 13th centuries, fleeing their worn-torn homelands. They finally settled along the southern coast of China, mainly in Guangdong Province, far from the Mongol invaders and northern cultural influences from which they had fled. They are a resilient and hardy group and have retained their own language, culture and customs through the centuries.

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Population: 1,661,000 Religion: Animism / Polytheism Born Again Believers: 4%

Descendant of the ancient Qiang tribe from the Tibetan plateau, the Hani people established themselves in central Yunan province in the 3rd century.  Most of the Hani live between the Mekong and Honghe Rivers, where they rely on terrace farming to harvest rice and corn. Many are concentrated in the Pu’er region where some of China’s finest teas are grown.

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Population: 7,100 Religion: Non-Religious Born Again Believers: 1.4%

The Hezhe live in the extreme northeast of China. More than 12,000 are also located across the border in Siberia, where they are known as Nanai. The Hezhe in China live at the juncture of the Heilong, Wusali, and Songhua rivers in Heilongjiang Province.  Hezhe history dates to the Sushen, a tribe who occupied the region as far back as 700 BC.  They are the third smallest of China’s 55 official minority groups.

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Population: 13,217,500 Religion: Islam Born Again Believers: Very Few

The Hui are a Muslim people group now considered to be indigenous to China. Their history dates back to the seventh century when, during the Tang Dynasty, Arab and Persian traders traveled the Silk Road routes and established a presence in China.

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Population: 92,300 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: 0.05%

The Jiamao, a branch of the Li people group, derive their name from the area they inhabit. Other Li groups call them Kamau while they refer to themselves as Tai, which simply means “people.” They live on the southeastern part of Hainan Island, just off China’s southern coast, near Wuzhi (Five Finger) Mountain — the highest peak on the island. The various Li groups, including the Jiamao, are proud of the fact that they are the original inhabitants of Hainan Island. They are the descendants of an ancient people of China called the Yue, who moved to Hainan from the mainland over 3,000 years ago.

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Population: 443,500 Religion: Polytheism, Animism Born Again Believers: 0.04%

Residing primarily in Chuxiong Prefecture in north-central Yunnan, a province in southwest China, the Luoluopo believe they are descended from tigers.  In their own language, a dialect of the Yi tongue, the name Luoluopo means “tiger-dragon people.”  Each year in the middle of the first lunar month they celebrate the Tiger Festival, which culminates in a ceremony where a costumed tiger figure travels atop a float to each home to deliver a blessing.  They celebrate numerous additional festivals throughout the year, offering sacrifices to the dragons of the water and other spiritual beings for blessings and protection.

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Population: 9,600,000 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: 3%

The Miao—known as Hmong outside of China—are a  diverse people group scattered throughout China’s southern provinces.  Descendant from the San Miao kingdom and possibly from the ancient Daxi rulers of China (circa 3000 BC), the Miao settled through the southern mountains of China.

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Population: ,496,000 Religion: Buddhism, Animism, Islam Born Again Believers: 0.40%

In the 13th and 14th centuries the Mongols brutally established the largest empire the world has seen, stretching from Southeast Asia to Europe. Led first by the infamous Genghis Khan and followed by Kublai Khan, they instituted the Yuan Dynasty and ruled China from 1271 to 1368.

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Population: 316,600 Religion: Animism, Non-Religious Born Again Believers: 0.70%

The Naxi ethnic group inhabits the foothills of the Himalayas in the shadow of the sacred and majestic Jade Dragon Mountain.  The Naxi have a strong sense of ethnic identity and are very proud of their beautiful land and culture.

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Population: 11,600 Religion: Shamanism Born Again Believers: 0.03%

The name Oroqen (oro-chen), means “people of the mountain range.” It’s believed they were originally part of the Bei Shiwei people who, around the 5th century, broke away and formed their new identity, the Oroqen. Hundreds of years ago invaders from Russia and Japan drove the Oroqen deep into the forests and mountains. Today they reside in an area around the size of West Virginia, in the provinces of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, in the far northeast corner of China. The Oroqen Autonomous Banner—the official designation for the area—is deeply forested.

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Population: 48,500 Religion: Polytheism, Ancestor Worship Born Again Believers: 0.06% 

The Pumi are a people ethnically, linguistically and religiously related to Tibetan peoples but with a distinct identity and history. Currently living in the mountains of Yunnan, a province in the southwest corner of China with many remote and difficult to reach areas, they trace their lineage to distant regions of China.

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Population: 316,200 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: 0.1%

The Qi Li are the second largest Li group on Hainan Island. This people group is located in the central sections of the island, especially concentrated in two counties.  They are one of five distinct tribes of the official Li nationality.  Almost all Qi are bilingual in the Hainan dialect of Chinese. Their language has six tones.

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Population: 145,900 Religion: Islam Born Again Believers: 0.01%

The Salar, an overwhelmingly Muslim people group, live primarily in southeastern Qinghai province, with additional communities in neighboring Gansu province as well as Xinjiang province in northwest China. The ancestors of the Salar people were the Samarkand people of Uzbekistan, who migrated from central Asia to China around the 13th century. The Salar language belongs to the Turkic family and is very closely related to Uyghur and Uzbek. The Salar language has no written script.

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Population: 2,043,000 Religion: Tibetan Buddism Born Again Believers: 0.01%

Written records of Tibetan history have survived from the seventh century, but it is known that nomadic tribes roamed Tibet as early as the second century B.C. The cradle of Tibetan civilization is the Yarlung Valley area, about fifty miles southeast of Lhasa. According to tradition, the union of a monkey and a she-devil created the Tibetan race.

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Population: 30,000,000 Religion: Non-religious, Secularist Born Again Believers: Unknown

While not an ethno-linguistic group, university students are a clearly identifiable socio-cultural group who constitute an unreached people group in that they have limited access to an effective communication of the Gospel from national believers. The university student population is comprised of many different people groups, among which are many ethno-linguistic unreached groups such at Uyghur, Yi, Naxi, Tibetans, Hui, Baima, and scores of others. However the vast majority of the 30 million university students in China are from the Han people group.

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Population: 8,100 Religion: Islam Born Again Believers: None Known

The Utsat people are a small group of Muslims located on the southernmost tip of tropical Hainan Island, a province in the South China Sea. Other Chinese call them Huihui, a generic term for Muslims in China. Based solely on their adherence to Islam, the Utsat have been officially included as part of the Hui ethnic group in China. Yet the Utsat share no ethnic, historical, or linguistic relationship with the Hui.

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Population: 10,779,000 Religion: Islam Born Again Believers: 0.01%

n the mid-ninth century, the Uyghur inhabited part of present-day Mongolia. Around A.D. 840 they were attacked from the north by the Kirgiz and fled southwest to their current homeland.

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Population: 200,000 Religion: Non-religious, Folk Religion Born Again Believers: 0.05% 

Members of the Xibe nationality inhabit more than twenty-five counties within Liaoning Province in northeast China. Xibe history dates back to at least 400 AD. They trace their origins to the ancient Xianbei tribe, who were a hunting, fishing, and foraging group in areas which today border North Korea and Inner Mongolia. Historical accounts often mention features of blond hair and blue-green eyes among the Xibe. However today their appearance mirrors the greater Chinese population. A related group, now living in far northwest China, also goes by the name Xibe, but has developed its own language, culture, and customs.

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Population: 2,640,000 Religion: Folk Religion/ Taoism Born Again Believers: 0.01%

China’s Yao people dwell predominately in Guangxi Province, though many are scattered through other surrounding provinces.  Most of the Yao live in lush mountain valleys teaming with beautiful forests and exotic wildlife. These lands are also rich in natural resources.  The Yao are expert hunters and rice farmers, having a deep connection to the earth.

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Population: 8,000,000 Religion: Animism Born Again Believers: Few Known

he Yi people group is comprised of at least six separate linguistic subgroups spread primarily across enclaves of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces in southwest China. The Yi is the seventh largest of the fifty-five ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People’s Republic of China.

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