The oroqen story
Keywords:
Oroqen, Chinese ethnic, Minorities, Tungusic languages, Manchuria, Shamanism, Birch barkAbstract
This paper endeavours to depict the Oroqen story by shedding new light on their culture and modern situation by discussing the author’s experience of visiting them for a period of time. The paper also covers a variety of literature on the Oroqen in a short and succinct manner, so that much of what is known about them can be summarised in one manuscript. The paper conveys a wide variety of topics which include the following: the physical appearances of the Oroqen and what their traditional clothes were and how they were made, traditional dwellings, hunting, birch bark, religion, Oroqen shamanism, language, music, dance, folk tales, genetic studies and discusses the relationship the Oroqen have had with the Chinese government. This paper concludes that the Oroqen losing their way of life is attributable to numerous causes, the key one regarding more recent times is the dramatic local forest exploitation that has taken place on a grand scale. The Oroqen story is similar to that of many other native and aboriginal peoples from around the world, where a more powerful foreign country came in and made the original native majority become a minority, while also removing any chance of self-government and forcing modernity upon them by specifically taking away their shamans and religion. While modernity brought many negatives to the Oroqen, there does appear to be just as many positives in regard to access to health care, heating and education.
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