Ewenki

ETHNONYMS: Sulun, Tungus, Yakut

Orientation

Identification. The Ewenki are one of the fifty-five officially recognized minority nationalities of the People's Republic of China. Also known as "Tungus," "Yakut," and "Sulun," they are mainly found in the Ewenki Autonomous Banner, Chen Barag Banner, Butha Banner, Arun Banner, Ergun Left Banner, Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner, etc. of the Hulun Buir League in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, and in Nahe County of Heilongjiang Province. The description below focuses on the traditional way of life, as changes since 1949 have been major.

Location. Most of their territory is in the forest and on the grassland on the western slope of the Greater Hinggan Mountains, an area also inhabited by Mongols, Daur, Han, and Oroqen. Under the influence of the Siberian winds, the climate is severe, with a long snowy winter and virtually no summer.

Demography. The Ewenki population, according to the 1990 census, is 26,315.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Ewenki language, comprising three dialects, belongs to the Tungus Branch of the Manchu-Tungus Family of Altaic languages. It has no script. Nomadic Ewenki also speak and write in the Mongolian language, while farming Ewenki and those living near the mountains also speak and write in Han Chinese.

History and Cultural Relations

The Ewenki trace their origin to a people known in Chinese history as "Shiweis" who lived by fishing, hunting, and reindeer breeding in the forests east of Lake Baikal and along the Shailka River, the upper reaches of the Heilong (Amur) River. Their name in Tungus means "forest people." Historically they were often grouped together with Oroqens and Daurs, who share much of their cultural tradition, and referred to as the "Sulun Tribes." They were under the rule of the Manchu even before the Russians invaded the Heilong River valley. After the Manchu took over all of China, the Ewenki were organized by the Manchu into zuos, administrative units based on clan organization. The Manchu extracted marten from them as tributes. After the middle of the seventeenth century, because of Russian invasion, the Qing court moved them to the valley areas of the N en River, integrating them into the banner system and recruiting soldiers among them to serve along the northern borders for defense. At the end of the nineteenth century they were part of the Boxer Rebellion, and later they played an important role in the anti-Japanese war. Wars, diseases, etc., drastically reduced their population. After the founding of the People's Republic, the government of China carried out a policy of social reform and economic development; the Ewenki were gradually integrated into the national efforts for modernization.

Settlements and Economy

Most of the Ewenki in the Ewenki Autonomous Banner and Chen Barag Banner are engaged in animal husbandry; the Ewenki in Nahe are agriculturists; in Ergun some are hunters and the rest supplement their agriculture with hunting. Pastoral Ewenki live in felt tents, a shelter that suits their nomadic way of life as they move seasonally from place to place looking for good pastures for their horses, oxen, and goats. They organized themselves into nomadic units called nimal, usually comprised of several nuclear households belonging to the same clan. Nimal became feudalistic economic units characterized by owner-tenant relations. Although pasture belonged to the whole nimal, herds were owned privately.

The hunting Ewenki, before they settled down in the 1950s, roamed the primitive forests, driving their reindeer and following the tracks of game, mainly elk, deer, roe deer, and squirrels. They lived in xianrenzhu, a tent with long wooden poles forming a conical hut covered with animal hides or birch bark. They organized themselves into wulileng, comprised of blood-related households, as basic economic units in which they hunted and shared the game equally on the basis of households. The hunter who fired the fatal shot customarily took the least-desirable share, but care was always taken to provide for the aged, sick, and the disabled. They stored their food and other belongings in a casual manner. Anybody in need could take what they wanted and return later, with no consent from the owner necessary. Normally a wulileng would contain five to six households—at most a dozen—under the leadership of an elected xinmamaleng, who was responsible for organizing collective hunting assignments. Usually hunting was carried out in groups of four to five hunters, called angnaga. Reindeer served as the main transport for their belongings, especially their xianrenzhus. They also rode reindeer when they hunted—except in winter, when they used ski boards. Hunting dogs were indispensable, and they used shotguns extensively. They maintained regular barter with outsiders, exchanging their game, fur, and forest produce for food grain, clothes, and implements. Today, embroidery, carving, and painting are still popular, and Ewenki like to make bird and animal toys with birch bark.

In recent years their economic life has undergone tremendous change, having diversified into substantial small- and medium-scale industries. They organized hunting in collectives and then production brigades. Tasks in animal husbandry such as grass cutting, transportation, water supply, herd bathing, wool processing, etc., are mechanized.

Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Monogamy is practiced among the Ewenki and clan exogamy has been the norm. Boys and girls enjoy considerable freedom in choosing their spouses, although there have been cases of arranged marriages in which a girl of 17-18 may marry a boy of 7-8. In Chen Barag, elopement still occurs. The couple in love may set up a felt tent with a xianrenzhu beside it. During the night, the girl sneaks out and gallops away with her lover, and in the newly built xianrenzhu an elderly woman marries them simply by rearranging the girl's eight pigtails into two. Normally after the nuptial night spent with the bride's family, the newlyweds set up their own household within the husband's clan. Divorce is rare. Both levirate (excluding the elder brothers of the husband) and sororate (excluding the elder sisters of the wife) were common. Cross-cousin marriage, as the preferential marriage form, is no longer practiced.

Descent and inheritance traditionally followed the male line. The family head was the eldest male, but pieces of family property, such as shotguns and reindeers, were passed on to the youngest son.

Ewenki kinship terminology is partially classificatory and partially descriptive. While terms for father, mother, husband, and wife are definite and clear, other terms are not, making very little distinction between relatives from the father's side and those from the mother's side. Sex distinctions are clear in some instances but not so clear in others. The Ewenki seem to be more conscious of relative age than of generation differences, and sometimes they use the same term for people of different generations.

Socialization is informal and begins early. Hunting and tending herds are the principal themes. Competitions are frequently held to encourage learning of these necessary skills, and both boys and girls participate in horse racing and lassoing horses.

Sociopolitical Organization

The last tribal chief of the Ewenki died in 1761, and with him the tribal organization. Various clans then scattered and moved on their own. Every clan elected its head and his assistant. Their tenure depended on their abilities and behavior; they enjoyed no privilege whatsoever and worked like anybody else. The responsibility of a clan head included settling disputes and calling clan meetings attended by family heads to discuss important issues. The Ewenki used to adopt members of other clans to increase the population of their clans; they even adopted captives for the same reason. Blood feuds were common between clans. Below the clan was the wulileng, a type of family commune; the typical ones were formed by blood relatives, while some others may have included members from different clans. The xinmamaleng, leader of the wulileng, was elected from its members and was usually the best hunter, brave, and candid. Important issues were settled at wulileng meetings attended by either the oldest male or female member of each family. The man with the longest beard enjoyed the most respect.

Social control was mainly effected through persuasion and public opinion; to lose face was a grave matter.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Although some pastoral Ewenki are Lamaist Buddhists, the Ewenki as a whole are animists, worshiping many natural elements including the wind god, mountain god, fire god, etc., and various protective gods who ensure their success in hunting and herding and general good health. Totems were prevalent, especially of bears and birds. Although they ate bear meat, they referred to bears with the same terms they would use for their most respected ancestors. The Ewenki conducted a formal ceremony while eating bear meat, following it with the same ritual observed for their own dead—a wind burial in which they placed the bones in a hollow tree trunk suspended on tree stumps. Ancestor worship was another feature of traditional Ewenki religious practice. They believed in an eternal soul that would separate from the body after death. Because of the influence of the Russian Orthodox church, they have changed from wind burial to earth burial. Maru is the term they used to refer to all gods, including their clan god, shewoke. They offered animal blood, meat, and fat to the gods. It was strictly forbidden for women to go near the shrines.

The Ewenki accepted only some basic ceremonies from the Russian Orthodox church; shamanism remained the prevalent form of religious belief. Shamans were highly respected and expected nothing in return for their services. They could be either men or women who had had the experience of long illness and, especially, mental problems. In many cases, as among the Ewenki in Ergun Banner, the clan chief might be the shaman. The Ewenki relied on shamans to cure the sick and, at the same time, they discovered the curing effects of certain herbs and internal organs of animals. Veterinary medicine was developed for their reindeer.

Bibliography

Jiang Chunfang, Shi Lei, Li Shijie, et al., eds. (1986). Zhongguo da baike quanshu (Encyclopedia Sinica). Vol. 20, Minzu (Nationalities). Beijing: Encyclopedia Sinica Press.

National Minorities Commission, ed. (1981). Zhongguo shaoshu minzu (China's national minorities). Beijing: Peoples Press.

Qiu Pu (1962). Ewenki ren de yuanshi shehui xingtai (Primitive social formations of the Ewenki). Beijing: Zhonghua Press.

LIU XINGWU