Oroqen people 鄂伦春族
Oroqen people 鄂伦春族, numbered about 9,000, are an official recognized ethnic group of China. Half of the Oroqen people live in Oroqin Autonomous Banner 鄂伦春自治旗 in Hulunbuir Prefecture of Inner Mongolia while the other half live along the Helongjiang River (Amur) of Helongjiang Provence. Xinsheng Oroqen Township of Heihe 黑河新生鄂伦春族乡 is the only autonomous town in Helongjiang. The Oroqens are mainly hunters and many of them have given up hunting and adhered to laws that aimed to protect wildlife in China. The government provides them with modern dwellings to compensate their lost of livelihood of that particular segment. Today they are mostly in farming and other industries.
The Oroqen ethnic group is one of the oldest ethnic groups in northeast China. Their name Oroqen, means "people using reindeer", it is a name they gave themselves because their lives and livelihoods are closely related to the said animals. The ancestor of the Oroqens originally lived in the vast area south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains and north of Heilongjiang. They once formed part of the ancient people known as the Shiwei. In the 17th century, following the invasions by Russia, some Oroqens moved to the area near the Greater and Lesser Xing'an Mountains.
The Oroqen speak a Northern Tunusic language similar to the Evenki and some from both groups can speak the Daur language. The use the Chinese writing. The Oroqen are exogamous, only marriages among members of different clans being permitted. Most of the nomadic Oreqen are Shamanists and Animists.
Official portrait of an Oroqen family
Distribution of Oroqen people in NE China
A 1994 photo of Chuonnasuan 1927-2000, the last Shaman of the Oroqen
Shamanism is a big part of the Oroqen culture
The Oroqen are primarily hunters although some are in the field of farming and very small number of them are reindeer herders
Men go when the animals go
Sometimes the animals take them to far distances.....
.....but they always find the way back to their families and people
