The Salar had their own unique kinship clanships.
Matchmakers and parents arrange marriages among the Salar.
The Salar are an entrepreneurial people, going into multiple businesses and industries.
They practice agriculture and horticulture.
They cultivate chili and pepper in their gardens.
Buckwheat, millet, wheat, and barley are among the crops they grow.
Other important crops include melons, grapes, apples, apricots, and walnuts.
A few Salar raise livestock and the local timber industry is also another source of income for some villages.

Culturally they have strictly conformed to the Naqshbandi ways of their Hui coreligionists.
Therefore, many nomadic Turkmen traditions have been lost, and Turkmen music was forbidden.
More secular minded Salars have resorted to appropriating Tibetan or Moghol (a Qinghai Mongolic Muslim group) music as their own.
The ethnic Salars of Qinghai celebrated on March 21, 2010 their first "Nawruz" in modern times, as a revived Turkic holiday.

Hui general Ma Fuxiang recruited Salars into his army, and said they moved to China since the Tang dynasty.
His classification of them is in two groups, five inner clans, eight outer clans.
Ma said the outer group speaks Tibetan, no longer knowing their native language.
Salars only married other Salars.
Uighurs have said that they were unable to understand the Salar language.

Ma and Han are the two most widespread names among the Salar.
Ma is a Salar surname for the same reason it is a common Hui surname, Ma substitutes for Muhammad.
The upper four clans of the Salar assumed the surname Han and lived west of Xunhua.
One of these Salar surnamed Han was Han Yimu, a Salar officer who served under General Ma Bufang.
He fought in the Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950–1958), leading Salars in a revolt in 1952 and 1958.
Ma Bufang, enlisted Salars as officers in his army by exclusively targeting Xunhua and Hualong as areas to draw officers from.
The Salar had their own unique kinship clanships. Matchmakers and parents arrange marriages among the Salar. The Salar are an entrepreneurial people, going into multiple businesses and industries. They practice agriculture and horticulture. They cultivate chili and pepper in their gardens. Buckwheat, millet, wheat, and barley are among the crops they grow. Other important crops include melons, grapes, apples, apricots, and walnuts. A few Salar raise livestock and the local timber industry is also another source of income for some villages.
Culturally they have strictly conformed to the Naqshbandi ways of their Hui coreligionists. Therefore, many nomadic Turkmen traditions have been lost, and Turkmen music was forbidden. More secular minded Salars have resorted to appropriating Tibetan or Moghol (a Qinghai Mongolic Muslim group) music as their own. The ethnic Salars of Qinghai celebrated on March 21, 2010 their first "Nawruz" in modern times, as a revived Turkic holiday.
Hui general Ma Fuxiang recruited Salars into his army, and said they moved to China since the Tang dynasty. His classification of them is in two groups, five inner clans, eight outer clans. Ma said the outer group speaks Tibetan, no longer knowing their native language. Salars only married other Salars. Uighurs have said that they were unable to understand the Salar language.
Ma and Han are the two most widespread names among the Salar. Ma is a Salar surname for the same reason it is a common Hui surname, Ma substitutes for Muhammad. The upper four clans of the Salar assumed the surname Han and lived west of Xunhua. One of these Salar surnamed Han was Han Yimu, a Salar officer who served under General Ma Bufang. He fought in the Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950–1958), leading Salars in a revolt in 1952 and 1958. Ma Bufang, enlisted Salars as officers in his army by exclusively targeting Xunhua and Hualong as areas to draw officers from.
Salar people