(self-designation, Salar or Salyr), a Turkic-speaking people in China, living in the Salar Autonomous District and other areas in Tsinghai Province, and also in Kansu and Sin-kiang provinces. The Salar number 31,000, according to the 1953 census. The Salar language has been considerably influenced by Chinese and Tibetan; Salar has no writing system. Anthropologically the Salar are heterogeneous: both Cau-casoid and Mongoloid types are found. The Salar are Sunni Muslims. Their chief occupation is farming.