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The Nanai people are a Tungusic people of
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
who have traditionally lived along
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () Postal romanization, formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a Provinces of China, province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is th ...
(Amur), Songhuajiang (Sunggari) and Wusuli River on the Middle Amur Basin. The ancestors of the Nanai were the
Jurchens Jurchen (Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manch ...
of northernmost
Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
(
Outer Manchuria Outer Manchuria (russian: Приаму́рье, translit=Priamurye; zh, s=外满洲, t=外滿洲, p=Wài Mǎnzhōu), or Outer Northeast China ( zh, s=外东北, t=外東北, p=Wài Dōngběi), refers to a territory in Northeast Asia that is no ...
). The Nanai/Hezhe language belongs to the Manchu-Tungusic languages. According to the 2010
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
there were 12,003 Nanai in Russia.


Name

Common names for these people include нанай/Nanai (meaning 'natives, locals, people of the land/earth'); self-designation Hezhen (means 'people of the Orient'); russian: нанайцы ; ; . There are also terms formerly in use: Goldi, Golds, Goldes, Heje, and Samagir. Own names are ( and ) and (). means 'land, earth, ground, country' or, in this context, 'native, local' and , , means 'people' in different dialects. The Russian linguist L. I. Sem gives the self-name in the Cyrillic form, ''хэǯэ най'' (''Hezhe nai'') or ''хэǯэны'' (''Hezheni''), and explains it as the self-name of the Nanai of the lower Amur, meaning, "people who live along the lower course of the river". It is the source of the Chinese name for the Nanai, formerly "" (''Heijin''), "" (''Hezhehala''), and modern Chinese name "" (''Hezhe'').


Traditional lifestyle and culture

Some of the earliest first-hand accounts of the Nanai people in the European languages belong to the French
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
geographers travelling on the
Ussuri The Ussuri or Wusuli (russian: Уссури; ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and forming part of the ...
and the
Amur The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...
in 1709. According to them, the native people living on the Ussuri and on the Amur above the mouth of the Dondon River (which falls into the Amur between today's
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of ...
and
Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐɐˈmurʲə) is a city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur River in the Russian Far East. It is located ...
) were known as ''Yupi Tartars'' (fish-skin tartars), while the name of the people living on the Dondon and on the Amur below Dondon was transcribed by the Jesuits into French as ''Ketching''. Numerous later editions are available as well, including on
on Google Books
/ref> The latter name may be the French transcription of the reported self-name of the Nanai of the lower Amur, , which was also applied to the closely related Ulch people, According to the Jesuits, the language of the "Yupi" people seemed to occupy an intermediate position between the
Manchu language Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qi ...
and that of the "Ketching"(, ''gàiqīng'') people; some level of communication between the Yupi and the Ketching was possible. Some Han Chinese are said to have founded clan subdivisions among the Nanai and the Nanai have absorbed Manchu and Jurchens. Nanai culture is influenced by Han Chinese and Manchu culture and the Nanai share a myth in common with southern Chinese. The Nanais at first fought against the Nurhaci and the Manchus, led by their own Nanai Hurka chief Sosoku before surrendering to Hongtaiji in 1631. Mandatory shaving of the front of all male heads was imposed on Amur peoples conquered by the Qing like the Nanai people. The Amur peoples already wore the queue on the back of their heads but did not shave the front until the Qing subjected them and ordered them to shave. The term "shaved-head people" was used to describe the Nanai by Ulch people.


Economy

As described by early visitors (e.g., Jesuit cartographers on the Ussuri River in 1709), the economy of the people living there (who would be classified as Nanai, or possible Udege people, today) was based on fishing. The people would live in villages along the banks of the Ussuri, and would spend their entire summers fishing, eating fresh fish in the summer (particularly appreciating the
sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...
), and drying more fish for eating in winter. Fish would be used as fodder for those few domestic animals they had (which made the flesh of a locally raised pig almost inedible by visitors with European tastes).Du Halde (1735), pp. 10-12 The
traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
clothing was made out of fish skins. These skins were left to dry. Once dry, they were struck repeatedly with a mallet to leave them completely smooth. Finally they were sewn together. The fish chosen to be used were those weighing more than 50 kilograms. In the past centuries, this distinct practice earned the Nanai the name "Fish-skin Tartars" (, ''Yupi Dazi''). This name has also been applied, more generically, to other aboriginal groups of the lower Sungari and lower Amur basins. Agriculture entered the Nanai lands only slowly. Practically the only crop grown by the ''Yupi'' villagers on the Ussuri River shores in 1709 was some
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
.


Religion

The Nanai are mainly
Shamanist Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
, with a great reverence for the bear (''Doonta'') and the tiger (''Amba''). They consider that the shamans have the power to expel bad spirits by means of prayers to the gods. During the centuries they have been worshippers of the spirits of the sun, the moon, the mountains, the water and the trees. According to their beliefs, the land was once flat until great serpents gouged out the river valleys. They consider that all the things of the universe possess their own spirit and that these spirits wander independently throughout the world. In the Nanai religion, inanimate objects were often personified. Fire, for example, was personified as an elderly woman whom the Nanai referred to as Fadzya Mama. Young children were not allowed to run up to the fire, since they might startle Fadzya Mama, and men always were courteous in the presence of a fire. Nanai shamans, like other Tungusic peoples of the region, had characteristic clothing, consisting of a skirt and jacket; a leather belt with conical metal pendants; mittens with figures of serpents, lizards or frogs; and hats with branching horns or bear, wolf, or fox fur attached to it. Bits of Chinese mirrors were also sometimes incorporated into the costume. When a person dies their soul lives on, as the body is merely an outer shell for the soul. This concept of a continuing soul was not introduced to the Nanai by Christianity, but is original to them. The Nanai believe that each person has both a soul and a spirit. On death the soul and spirit will go different ways. A person’s spirit becomes malevolent and begins to harm their living relatives. With time, these ''amban'' may be tamed and can later be worshipped, otherwise a special ritual must be performed to chase the evil spirit away. After death a person's soul is put into a temporary shelter made of cloth, called a ''lachako.'' The souls of the deceased will remain in the ''lachako'' for seven days before being moved to a wooden sort of doll called a ''panyo'', where it will remain until the final funerary ritual.Gaer, Evdokiya. “The Way of The Soul to The Otherworld and the Nanai Shaman.” ''Shamanism: Past and Present''. edited by Hoppál Mihály and Otto J. von Sadovszky, International Society for Trans-Oceanic Research, 1989, pp. 233-239. The ''panyo'' is taken care of as if it is a living person; for example, it is given a bed to sleep in each night, with a pillow and blanket to match its miniature size. The closest family member is in charge of taking care of the deceased’s ''panyo''. Each night this family member puts the ''panyo'' to bed and then wakes it in the morning. The ''panyo'' has a small hole carved where the mouth of a person would be, so that a pipe may occasionally be placed there and allow the deceased to smoke. If the family member travels they will bring the ''panyo'' with them. The dead’s final funerary ritual is called ''kasa tavori'' and lasts three days, during which there is much feasting and the souls of the deceased are prepared for their journey to the underworld. The most important part of the ''kasa tavori'' is held on the third day. On this day the dead’s souls are moved from the ''panyo'' into large human looking wooden figures made to be about the size of the deceased, called ''mugdeh.'' These ''mugdeh'' are moved into a dog sled that will be used to transport them to the underworld, ''Buni''. Before leaving for ''Buni'' the shaman communicates any last wills of the deceased to the gathered family. For example in the anthropologist Gaer’s account of this ritual, one soul asked his family to repay a debt to a neighbor that the deceased was never able to repay. After this ceremony the shaman leads the dog sleds on the dangerous journey to ''Buni,'' from where she must leave before sunset or else she will die. After ''kasa tavori'' it has previously been practiced that the living relatives could no longer visit the graves of the deceased, or even talk about them. The souls of Nanai infants do not behave in the same manner as an adult’s. For the Nanai, children under a year old are not yet people, but are birds. When an infant dies, its soul will turn into a bird and fly off. When an infant dies they are not buried. Instead they are wrapped in a paper made of birch bark and placed in a large tree somewhere in the forest. The soul of the child, or the bird, is then free to enter back into a woman. It is common practice in preparing a funeral rite of an infant to mark it with coal, such as drawing a bracelet around the wrist. If a child is later born to a woman that has similar markings to those drawn on a deceased child then it is believed to be the same soul reborn. The deceased were normally buried in the ground with the exception of children who died prior to the first birthday; these are buried in tree branches as a "wind burial". Many Nanai are also
Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
.


Modern population


Russia

In Russia the Nanai live on the
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...
, on the
Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...
, downstream from
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of ...
, on both sides of
Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐɐˈmurʲə) is a city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur River in the Russian Far East. It is located ...
, as well as on the banks of the
Ussuri The Ussuri or Wusuli (russian: Уссури; ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and forming part of the ...
and the Girin rivers (the Samagirs). The Russians formerly called them Goldi, after a Nanai clan name. According to the 2002
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
, there were 12,160 Nanai in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
. In the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, a written standard of the
Nanai language The Nanai language (also called Gold, Goldi, or Hezhen) is spoken by the Nanai people in Siberia, and to a much smaller extent in China's Heilongjiang province, where it is known as Hezhe. The language has about 1,400 speakers out of 17,000 ethn ...
(based on
Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...
) was created by
Valentin Avrorin Valentin Aleksandrovich Avrorin (December 23 1907, Tambov - February 26 1977, Leningrad) was a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and an expert in languages. He was born in Tambov, Russian Empire to a family of teachers. He ...
and others. It is still taught today in 13 schools in
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of ...
.


China

The Nanai are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
where they are known as "Hezhe" (). According to the last census of 2004, they numbered 4,640 in China (mostly in
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () Postal romanization, formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a Provinces of China, province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is th ...
province). Chinese Nanai speak the Hezhen dialect of Nanai. They also have a rich oral literature known as the Yimakan. The dialect does not have a written system in China and Nanai usually write in Chinese. (Second language literacy is 84%.) However, as of 2005 teachers have recently finished compiling what is probably the first Hezhe language textbook.


Distribution


By province

The
2000 Chinese census The 2000 Chinese census, officially the Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), was conducted by the government of the People's Republic of China with 1 November 2000 as its zero hour. The total population was calcula ...
recorded 4.640 Nanai in China. ;Provincial Distribution of the Nanai:


By county

;County-level distribution of the Nanai (Only includes counties or county-equivalents containing >0.45% of China's Nanai population.)


Notable Nanai

*Japanese director
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
's 1975 film '' Dersu Uzala'', based on a book by Russian explorer
Vladimir Arsenyev Vladimir Klavdiyevich Arsenyev, (russian: Влади́мир Кла́вдиевич Арсе́ньев; 10 September 1872 – 4 September 1930) was a Russian explorer of the Far East who recounted his travels in a series of books — "По ...
, describes the friendship of a Russian explorer and his Nanai guide named Dersu Uzala (who self-identified, and was referred to in Arsenyev's biography, as "Goldi"). *Nanai female
shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
Tchotghtguerele Chalchin performed an
incantation An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...
recorded in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
for the song "The Lighthouse" (an adaptation of the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet
Wilfred Wilson Gibson Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (2 October 1878 – 26 May 1962) was a British Georgian poet, associated with World War I but also the author of much later work. Early work Gibson was born in Hexham, Northumberland, and left the north for London in 1914 ...
) on French producer
Hector Zazou Hector Zazou (11 July 1948 – 8 September 2008) was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, inclu ...
's 1994 album ''
Chansons des mers froides ''Chansons des mers froides'' ( French: Songs from the Cold Seas) is a 1994 album by French musician Hector Zazou. Zazou approached Sony Records with merely the title and the concept of songs from the Arctic. He was accompanied by cameraman Phi ...
'' (''Songs from the Cold Seas''). Lead vocals were performed by Siouxsie Sioux and background music included performances by the
Sakharine King Zakarine ( lo, ສັກຣິນທຣ໌; also known as Sakkarin, Sakharine, Sackarine, Zackarine and Zacharine; originally Kham Souk, lo, ຄຳສຸກ; full name: ''Samdach Brhat Chao Maha Sri Vitha Lan Xang Hom Khao Luang Prabang Pa ...
Percussion Group and the Sissimut Dance Drummers. *
Kola Beldy Nikolay Ivanovich "Kola" Beldy (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович "Кола́" Бельды́, 2 May 1929 – 21 December 1993) was a Soviet-Russian pop singer of Nanai ethnicity. Early years Kola Beldy was born in the Khabarovsk Te ...
(russian: Кола́ Бельды́) (1929–1993) was a popular singer in the Soviet Union and Russia, particularly known for his rendition of "Увезу тебя я в тундру" (''I will take you to the tundra''). *
Han Geng Han Geng (Chinese: 韩庚; Pinyin: Hán Gēng; ) (born February 9, 1984) is a Chinese Mandopop singer and actor. He started his career in 2001, when he was chosen by S.M. Entertainment to become a member of South Korean boy band Super Junior ...
, a Chinese pop singer, actor, former member of Korean boy band
Super Junior Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band formed by Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment in 2005. They are also dubbed by the media as the "King of Hallyu Wave" due to their promine ...
and former leader of subgroup
Super Junior-M Super Junior-M (stylized as SJ-M), an initialism for Super Junior-Mandarin, is a Chinese sub-unit of the South Korean boy band Super Junior. The sub-unit is the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of bot ...
. * Kiliii Yuyan, an American photographer whose award-winning work spotlights the Arctic, indigenous communities and conservation through photography, filmmaking and public speaking. Kiliii is a feature contributor to National Geographic Magazine and other major publications. *
Maksim Passar Maksim Aleksandrovich Passar (; 30 August 1923 22 January 1943) was a sniper in the Red Army during World War II credited with killing 237 enemy soldiers. Decades after he was killed in action during the war he was posthumously awarded the title ...
, A sniper serving in the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, credited with killing 237 enemy soldiers.


Autonomous areas


Gallery

File:Goldi family group, north of Khabarovsk LCCN2004707513.jpg, Goldi family group, north of Khabarovsk 1895 File:Goldi chiefs in best clothes north of Khabarovsk LCCN2004707510.jpg, Goldi chiefs north of
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of ...
, 1895 File:Goldes shaman priest in his regalia LCCN2004707515.jpg, Goldes shaman priest in his regalia, 1895 File:Goldi village chieftan LCCN2004708035.jpg, Goldi village chieftain 1895 File:Goldi village on the Amur, north of Khabarovsk LCCN2004707512.jpg, Goldi village on the Amur, north of Khabarovsk 1895 File:Goldi village along the Amur River, north of Khabarovsk LCCN2004708126.jpg, Goldi village along the Amur River, north of Khabarovsk 1895. Note the dried
sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...
leaning against the home and atop its thatched roof.


References

;General
Ethnolog on NanaiThe Nanais
*Dominic Ziegler, ''Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River Between Russia and China''. NY: Penguin Books, 2015.


External links


The Nanai National Mentality and World Model
by Tatyana Sem
''Dersu Uzala''
on
IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
, a film by Akira Kurosawa about a Goldi (Nanai) and a Russian Army Officer. {{Authority control Indigenous peoples of North Asia Ethnic groups in Siberia Manchuria Tungusic peoples Khabarovsk Krai Ethnic groups officially recognized by China Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East