The KyrgyzThere are some 160,000 Kyrgyz in China, mostly in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The rest live in Heilongjiang Province.
The ancestors of Kyrgyz people lived on the upper reaches of the Yenisey River in central Siberia. They have lived in Central Asia for thousands of years. They came into contact with Islam through traders moving along the Silk Road.
The Kyrgyz language belongs to the Turkic branch of the Altaic language family. It’s sometimes written using a Latin based alphabet, and sometimes using an Arabic based alphabet.
The Kyrgyz practice Islam.
Animal husbandry is the main occupation of the Kyrgyz people.
