The Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom (894-1036)

After the Uyghur Khaganate fell, one branch of the Uyghurs moved south into what is now Gansu in China. In 894 they founded their own state around Ganzhou, today's Zhangye. The rulers came from the Yaglakar clan, the line of the old khagans.

The state lay in the Hexi Corridor, the narrowest passage of the Silk Road. The Uyghurs drew income from the caravans passing through and from the horse trade with China, and over time most of the people became Buddhist.

In the early 11th century the Tangut state of Western Xia rose to the north. The Tanguts took Ganzhou in 1028 and the whole corridor by 1036. Some of the Ganzhou Uyghurs moved west, while others became ancestors of today's Yellow Uyghurs.