I was interested in the Hui people, and the uyghur, while in China, simply because of the food at first, then I read and studied/more. I was under the impression the hui have some arab/persian ancestry in the mix as well, from traders along the old silk road.

I thought dungan was a term in the former soviet republics for the Hui people, who were commonly in Central Asia. A russian word?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungan_people