Reportedly there are villages along the Silk Road in remote western China, where some people are blond haired, blue eyed, descendants of lost (or decided-to-settle) traders or soldiers from centuries ago.
Further west along the silk road from Gansu, the earliest documented inhabitants of Xinjiang were the Tocharians. They had brown, red, or blond hair, spoke two different Indo-European languages (Tocharian A and B), and were Buddhist. They're a more likely source of blond hair in western China.
Why not? As far as I am aware it is a legitimate and decent journalistic news source. It might have a political leaning, but for this sort of reporting I don't think it would give their preferred political party and leverage.
Taking you very literally I don't know what the most reliable source is, nevermind claim it to be the Telegraph, but I'm not really sure what the implication is, or perhaps rather its reasoning? It's a perfectly respectable paper; (along with The Times) a paper of record.
There's even a village of Jews that was intergrated into society. East Asia likes Jews for whatever reason, even Japan an axis power didn't give them up.
The Tarim mummies. Many centuries ago about 3,800 years ago. I remember seeing one that had a large pointed felt hat like a stereotypical witch would wear.
Being blond haired and blue eyed doesn't mean much though since there are some non-European cultures where it exists. Solomon Islands people, and I've known blond Lebanese people, supposedly there are some blond north African people too.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/815449...