The Salars, with a population of 87.697, mainly live in close community in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County of Qinghai Province. A few are scattered in Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang.

Located in the east of Qinghai Province, and by the Yellow River, the Salar area enjoys mild climate and strong and long sunshine time, which is suitable for the growth of crops. The Salars grow wheat, qingke barley, buckwheat, maize, millet, fruit and vegetable. Xunhua pepper is a famous local product.

Early in the Yuan Dynasty, the Samarkand people in the Central Asia, who were believed to be the ancestors of the Salars Traveled eastward to Xunhua by way of Xinjiang. Over the years, they, calling themselves "Salar", mixed with the Tibetans, Hans and Huis living in the surrounding area and gradually came to form a new tribe. In the old days, the Hans called them the Salar, Shala, Shalacu, or Salar Hui people. After the founding of new China, they took the name Salar.

The Salar language, enriched with the Han and Tibetan vocabulary owing to the close contact, belongs to the Western Xiong branch of the Turkic group of the Altaic family. As the language has no written form, many Salars write with Chinese.

Influenced by Islam, the Salars, most of whom are Moslems, have much the same customs as the nearby Huis. Men grow beards and wear black or white flat-topped, round caps and black vests over white shirts. Women wear turbans and shining gold and silver earrings and bracelets. The Salars excel in doing business, tanning and chopping trees. Horticulture is well developed. On swift currents of the Yellow River, they are very skillful in steering rafts.