Hezhen

族About this people

The Hezhen — sometimes known by the alternative name Nanai — are a small Tungusic-speaking people concentrated at the confluence of the Heilong (Amur), Songhua, and Ussuri rivers in Heilongjiang province. Their population is one of the smallest among China's recognised ethnic groups, numbering fewer than 6,000 individuals. Related Nanai communities live across the river in Russia's Far East.

The Hezhen traditional economy centred on river fishing, supplemented by hunting and limited gathering. They developed a sophisticated material culture adapted to life on the river: boats of birch bark or dugout log, fish traps and nets, and a unique tradition of making garments, shoes, and bags from the processed skins of salmon, carp, pike, and other large river fish. Fish-skin garments are remarkably durable, waterproof, and soft after proper processing, and this tradition is now recognised as intangible cultural heritage.

Traditional Hezhen society was organised around clan lineages, and shamanic practice (mediated by a shaman called a sama) addressed illness, hunts, and the spirit world of the river. Oral epics called yimakan, which narrate the exploits of ancestral heroes against demons and monsters, are performed in a distinctive chanted style that UNESCO has recognised as intangible cultural heritage. The Hezhen new year festival, held around the fishing season opener, is the main communal celebration. The village of Jiejinkou on the Heilong River near Tongjiang is the most accessible community for visitors.