The Dungans come from Gansu and Shanxi provinces in north-western China, but today the Gansu natives live in the mountains and valleys of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. They arrived in Central Asia virtually destitute after being defeated by the Chinese emperor in the Dungan Rebellion (1862-1877). The Dungans are culturally similar to the Han Chinese, but their language is heavily influenced by Arabic, Persian and Turkish.
They are a proud, hospitable, nationalistic and conservative people who call themselves "Chinese Muslims" despite severing ties with China. The Dungans are renowned for their hospitality.
They are mostly farmers. They like to cultivate flower gardens and greenhouses and are proud of it. Their settlements are concentrated in river valleys. A Dungan village may have several thousand people. Each village has a council that runs the farm. The farms, which are essentially small towns, have electricity, running water and cooking gas. Each village has one or two schools, kindergartens, shops, a hospital and a post office. Some villages also have tobacco factories, evening schools, dairy farms, bathhouses and machinery repair shops. Dungans tend to be endogamous, meaning they marry within a particular group, which they are also proud of.