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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Kok Nur Oirat of China

The Kok Nur Oirat of China, numbering approximately 105,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an indigenous community of China; a dialect subgroup of Kalmyk-Oirat (xal) They are an Indigenous people, with Kalmyk / Oirot as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Mongolian people cluster of the East Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Mahayana Buddhism. They primarily speak Kalmyk-Oirat.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Anonymous Used with permission

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: China
People Cluster: Mongolian
Primary Language(s): Kalmyk-Oirat (xal)
Primary Religion(s): Mahayana Buddhism
Population: 105,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046926
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Pray for the Kok Nur Oirat of China

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Mahayana Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

99%
%
Mahayana Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kalmyk-Oirat
Language Family: Mongolic-Khitan

100%
%
Kalmyk-Oirat Speakers

Media Resources in Kalmyk-Oirat:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Kalmyk-Oirat:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Kalmyk-Oirat bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Kok Nur Oirat 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 Kok Nur Oirat:
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 Kok Nur Oirat of China

Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
readJerremiah 32:17

Pray that the God who made the heavens and the earth by the power of His outstretched arm, the One who is able to save those who are lost, will show His great love and mercy to those who are walking in darkness.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
readPsalm 75:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will give thanks to the Lord for His wondrous works and declare His goodness to all people.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Oirat, Western Mongul Across Countries (ROP3 - 107607) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Kalmyk-OiratsPG007495Kalmyk-OiratsMongolia190,000Unengaged and UnreachedKalmyk-OiratChinese Folk Religion
Kalmyk-OiratsPG000914Kalmyk-OiratsRussian Federation183,000Engaged yet UnreachedKalmyk-OiratTibetan Buddhism
Kok Nur OiratPG046926Kok Nur OiratChina105,000Engaged yet UnreachedKalmyk-OiratMahayana Buddhism
Kalmyk-OiratsPG024352Kalmyk-OiratsKyrgyzstan8,200Unengaged and UnreachedKalmyk-OiratTibetan Buddhism
OiratPG043577OiratUnited States1,900Engaged yet UnreachedKalmyk-OiratTibetan Buddhism
Kalmyk-OiratsPG024678Kalmyk-OiratsUzbekistan1,000Unengaged and UnreachedKalmyk-OiratMahayana Buddhism

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.

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