The Dongxiang of China

The Dongxiang of China, numbering approximately 818,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of China They are an Indigenous people, with Dongxiang as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Chinese-Hui people cluster of the East Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Dongxiang.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Dongxiang

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: China
People Cluster: Chinese-Hui
Primary Language(s): Dongxiang (sce)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 818,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006729
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Dongxiang of China

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dongxiang
Language Family: Mongolic-Khitan

70%
%
Dongxiang Speakers

Media Resources in Dongxiang:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Dongxiang:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Dongxiang bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Dongxiang are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Dongxiang:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Dongxiang of China

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
readLuke 13:3

Pray that the lost will repent and believe the gospel, for without it, they will perish.

And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him and have assurance that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
read1 Corinthians 9:22

Ask God to raise up believers from around the world to go and share the hope of Jesus with the lost so that they might trust in Him and have the hope of eternal life.

Dongxiang Across Countries (ROP3 - 114044) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

*Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

Scroll to Top