|
 People
of the Oroqen ethnic minority group dwell in the forests of the
Greater and Lesser Hinggan Mountains in Northeast China which
abound in deer and other wild beasts the Oroqens hunt with shot-guns
and dogs. The Oroqens, who lived in a primitive communal society
four and a half decades ago, have leap-frogged several historical
stages to a socialist society in the years following the founding
of the People's Republic in 1949.
With no written
script of their own, the Oroqens have a spoken language belonging
to the Tungus branch of the Manchu-Tungusic group of the Altaic
language family. Most of them have learned to read and write
the language of the Hans, the biggest ethnic group in China.
The Oroqen population,
which stood at 4,000 in 1917, dropped to 3,700 in 1943. A census
taken in 1953 showed that their number had plummeted to 2,250.
The population has started to grow slowly but steadily since,
and the census in 1982 showed that their number has reached
4,100. The 1990 national census showed 7,000.
Most of the
Oroqens live in the 55,000-square-kilometer Oroqen Autonomous
Banner in the Greater Hinggan Mountains. Others have their home
in several localities in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang Province.
Situated in Inner Mongolia's Hulunbuir League, the Oroqen Autonomous
Banner is 97 per cent forested land. The seat of the autonomous
government is Alihe, a rising town with highways, railways,
cinemas, hotels, department stores, restaurants, electric lighting
and other modern amenities.
History
For generations the Oroqens had lived a life
of hunting and fishing in the forests. They went on hunting
expeditions in groups, and the game bagged was distributed equally
not only to those taking part in the hunt, but also to the aged
and infirm. The heads, entrails and bones of the animals killed
were not distributed but were cooked and eaten by all. Later,
deer antlers, which fetched a good price, were not distributed
but went to the hunters who killed the animals.
On the eve of the founding of the PRC in
1949, polarization was quite marked in some localities where
horses, on which Oroqens rode on hunting trips, belonged to
individuals. The rich owned a large number of horses and the
poor owned a few. Horses were hired out to those hunters who
needed them, and payment took the form of game sent to horse
owners. Such a practice gradually developed into rent and exploitation
of man by man.
The Oroqens are an honest and friendly people
who always treat their guests well. People who lodge in an Oroqen
home would often hear the housewife say to the husband early
in the morning: "I'm going to hunt some breakfast for our
guests and you go to fetch water." When the guests have
washed, the woman with gun slung over her shoulders would return
with a roe back. The Oroqens are expert hunters. Both the males
and females are sharp shooters on horseback. Boys usually start
to go out on hunting trips with their parents or brothers at
the age of seven or eight. And they would be stalking wild beasts
in the deep forest all on their own at 17. A good hunter is
respected by all and young maidens like to marry him.
Horses are indispensable
to the Oroqens on their hunting expeditions. Hunters ride on
horses, which also carry their family belongings and provisions
as well as the game they killed over mountains and across marshes
and rivers. The Oroqen horse is a very sturdy breed with extra-large
hooves that prevent the animal from sinking into marshland.
Oroqen women,
who also hunt, show marvelous skill in embroidering patterns
of deer, bears and horses on pelts and cloth that go into the
making of head gears, gloves, boots and garments. Oroqen women
also make basins, bowls, boxes and other objects from birch
barks. Engraved with various designs and dyed in color, these
objects are artistic works that convey the idea of simplicity
and beauty. Taught by their mothers while still very young to
rub fur, dry meat and gather fruit in the forest, Oroqen girls
start to do household work at 13 or 14. Pelts prepared by Oroqen
women are soft, fluffy and light, and they are used in making
garments, hats, gloves, socks and blankets as well as tents.
The Oroqens,
who led a primitive life, used to have many taboos. One prohibited
a woman from giving birth in the home. She had to do that in
a little hut built outside the house in which she would be confined
for a month before she could return home with her newborn.
Customs
The Oroqens are a race of dancers and singers.
Men, women and children often gather to sing and dance when
the hunters return with their game or at festival times.
With a rich and varied repertory of folk
songs, the Oroqens sing praises of nature and love, hunting
and struggles in life in a lively rhythm. Among the most popular
Oroqen dances are the "Black Bears Fight" and "Wood
Cock Dance," at which the dancers execute movements like
those of animals and birds. Also popular is a ritual in which
members of a clan gather to perform dances depicting events
in clan history.
"Pengnuhua" (a kind of harmonica)
and "Wentuwen" (hand drum) are among the traditional
instruments used. Played by Oroqen musicians, these instruments
produce tunes that sound like the twittering of birds or the
braying of deer. These instruments are sometimes used to lure
wild beasts to within shooting range.
The Oroqens have many tales, fables, legends,
proverbs and riddles that have been handed down from generation
to generation.
Being Shamanists
or animists, the Oroqens worship nature and their ancestors,
and believe in the omnipresence of spirits. Their objects of
worship are carefully kept in birch-bark boxes hung high on
trees behind their tents.
The Oroqens
have a long list of don'ts. For instance, they never call the
tiger by its actual name but just "long tail," and
the bear "granddad." Bears killed are generally honored
with a series of ceremonies; their bones are wrapped in straw
placed high on trees and offerings are made for the ouls of
dead bears. Oroqens do not work out their hunting plans in advance,
because they believe that the shoulder blades of wild beasts
have the power to see through a plan when one is made.
Wind burials
are practiced by the Oroqens. When a person dies his corpse
is put into a hollowed-out tree trunk and placed with head pointing
south on two-meter high supports in the forest. Sometimes the
horse of the deceased is killed to accompany the departing soul
to netherworld. Only the bodies of young people who die of contagious
diseases are cremated.
Monogamy is
practiced by the Oroqens who are only permitted to marry with
people outside their own clans. Proposals for marriage as a
rule are made by go-betweens, sent to girls' families by boys'
families.
The Oroqens
originally peopled the region north of the Heilong River and
south of the Outer Hinggan Mountains. But aggression and pillaging
conducted by Tsarist Russia after the mid-17th century forced
the Oroqens to migrate to the Greater and Lesser Hinggan Mountains.
There were then seven tribes living in a clan commune society.
Each clan commune called "Wulileng" consisted of five
to a dozen families descended from a male ancestor. The commune
head was elected. In the commune, which was then the basic economic
unit of the Oroqens, all production tools were communally owned.
The commune members hunted together, and the game bagged was
equally distributed to all families.
The introduction
of iron articles and guns and the use of horses during the Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911) raised the productive forces of the Oroqens
to a higher level. This gave rise to bartering on a bigger scale
and the emergence of private ownership. That brought about profound
social, economic changes. Individual families quit the clan
commune and became basic economic units. The clan commune had
disintegrated, though members of the same clan did live or hunt
together in the same area. Organized under the Qing Dynasty's
"eight banner system," the Oroqens were compelled
to enlist in the armed forces and send fur to the Qing court
as tributes. Most soldiers sent to fight in Xinjiang, Yunnan,
Taiwan and other places lost their lives.
After the fall
of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 came the rule of warlords who effected
some changes in the administrative setup of the "eight
banner system." Oroqen youths were dragged into "forest
guerrilla units," and Oroqen hunters were forced to settle
down to farm. Most of them later fled back to hunt in the forests.
A few whom the warlords had made officers became landlords who
hired Oroqen, Han, Manchu and Daur laborers to open up large
tracts of land for crops.
|
|
