Golden years

Author: He Qinghua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: The Ewenki people are one of China's ethnic minorities with a small population. According to the fifth national census in 2000, there were 8,196 Ewenki people in total, primarily distributed in the Daxing'anling Mountains and Xiaoxing'anling Mountains regions of northeastern China, including the Ewenki Autonomous Banner in Inner Mongolia, Nanmu Township in Zhalantun City, Xinsheng Township, Xinegong Township, and Xinxing Township in Heihe City, as well as Baiyinnah Township in Huma County, Sanyueshan Township in Taha County, and Wulaga Town and Shengli Town in Jiayin County. The Ewenki are renowned for their hunting skills, and the Daxing'anling Mountains are famously known as the "Sea of Forests." The abundant forest resources provided hunters with ample food and materials, so the Ewenki did not, like other ethnic groups, rush to leave the forest—the mother of humankind—to pursue a different way of survival. Instead, they chose hunting as their means of subsistence, and for generations, their primitive nomadic hunting lifestyle endured for millennia. It wasn't until 1958 that the entire ethnic group settled down permanently.