The Yugur people are one of China's 56 officially recognized nationalities, consisting of 13,719 people according to a census taken in 2000. In Chinese, "Yugur" means "wealth and stability".

Distribution:

Nearly 90 percent of the Yugur people live in the Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, and the rest in Huangnibao area near the city of Jiuquan in western Gansu Province.

Language:

Due to historical reasons, this ethnic minority uses three languages: a Turkic branch of the Altaic language family (Raohul) used by the Yugur people in the western part of the autonomous county; a Mongolian branch of the same language family (Engle) by those in the eastern part of the county; and the Chinese language by those in Huangnibao. Chinese is also a common medium of communication among all Yugur people.