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This group, with a population of 41,028 (2000), is located mainly in China's western Xinjiang region with 60% living in Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County. They are a collection of over a dozen small East Iranianethnic groups. The Ethnologue claims that they are actually Shugni and Wakhi, distinct from the West IranianPersian-speakingTajiks of Tajikistan. Aurel Stein and other writers from his time referred to them simply as Sarikoli. Some have referred to them simply as "Mountain Tajiks." Robert Shaw considered them Sarikolis and Wakhis, referring to them collectively as Ghalchah.
In China, the languages of Pamiris have no official written form. The great majority of Chinese Pamiris speakers speak the Sarikoli language and use Uyghur, Kyrgyz or Chinese to communicate with people of other nationalities in the area. A small proportion of Chinese Pamiri speakers speak Wakhi.
A Journey of Geographical and Archarological Exploration in Chinese Turkestan
A Stein - 1904 -
... 15,800 feet above the sea), into Chinese territory on the Taghdumbash Pamir, using
the yaks of the Sarikoli herdsmen...
The Heart of a Continent - Younghusband - ...an encampment belonging to a Sarikoli, who very kindly asked me to have some refreshment... (pg 242)
Through the Unknown Pamirs; the Second Danish Pamir Expedition 1898-99 By Ole Olufsen
