The people on mountains---the Oroqen nationality

The Oroqen nationality is one of the minorities in China. The population is 6965 and is mainly distributed in the northeast of Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region such as Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Zhalantun, Molidawa Banner and Arong Banner, and in the Heilongjiang province such as Tahe county, Huma county, Xunke county, Jiayin county and Heihe city.

The Great and Small Xingan Mountains where the Oroqen nationality lives are the two big mountains in the northeast China and along the drainage area of Heilongjiang River. The Great Xingan Mountains crossed Heilongjiang province and Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region from northeast to southwest. The mountains are high and the valleys are deep. There are a number of creeks and brooks in the mountains. The Small Xingan Mountains slant to southeast along the upper reaches of Heilongjiang River and the lie of the mountain is gentle. In the Xingan Mountains that stretch in an unbroken chain for a thousand miles, there are dense virgin forests everywhere in which there are many hardy species such as larch, red pine, birch, oak and poplar, and many native products and medicinal materials such as edible fungus, mushroom, hazel and persimmon. In the woods, inhabit many rare birds and animals such as tiger, bear, deer, elk, roe, boar, ermine, fox and pheasant. In the river, cruise many kinds of fish such as salmon and Huso dauricus. The Oroqen people hunted in the immense forest for roes and wild deer in all the four seasons for generations, by a gun, a horse and a gundog. It is not until the 1950s that they came out of the silver birch woods, stepped down from the Xingan Mountains and began a resident life of semi-farming and semi-hunting. In the 1990s, it was not until the complete preserve of Xingan Mountains that hunting activities gradually retreated from their lives.

"Oroqen" is the name called by the nationality itself. The meaning has two explanations: one is "the people inhabiting on mountains" and the other is "the people employing reindeer". Before the Qing Dynasty, the Oroqen was generally called "Suolun clan", "Hunting clan" or "Deer employing clan". The name of "Oroqen" first appeared in the twenty-second year of Kangxi period. It was often written in the historical records of Han Dynasty as "Erchun", "Elechun", "Eluchun", "Elunqi" and so on. After the foundation of P. R. China, the nationality was called the "Oroqen" by the joint name.

The Oroqen has its own language but doesn't have its characters. Its language belongs to the Manchu-Tungus group of the Altai phylum. There are a lot of Oroqen people who also have a good command of Chinese, Ewenki language and Daur language. Chinese is the current language.

The Oroqen people believe in Shamanism and admire nature.

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