The Hezhes are one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in China. The 2021 official survey of the population of the Hezhes was 5,373. To understand the Hezhe people, one has to know the importance of fish in their life and culture. Fish is their main food source, so all the Hezhe people settle by the river plains of Heilongjiang’s three major rivers.
In history, Hezhe people would fish in spring, autumn and winter, and hunt in the mountain forests now and then. A Hezhe family has different boats for different purposes, for example, for casting fishing nets, for spearfishing, etc. When they were not fishing or hunting, they spent time repairing broken fishing nets and boats.
The Hezhes know how to make the best use of their catch. They eat some fish raw and dry or freeze and store the rest. The fish skin is turned to beautiful clothes that have become the symbol of their ethnicity (种族特点). A coat may require dozens of pieces of fish skin and a month to make. In modern times, the traditional fishing-and-hunting lifestyle has been replaced by a combination of farming, livestock rearing (禽畜饲养) and fishing. But fish remains a major part of their life.
The Hezhes have no written language, but their oral legacies in the form of the Hezhe Yimakan story-telling have been put on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. The oral art includes both singing and speaking and has been passed down from generation to generation by the Hezhe people.
The Hezhe people believe in Shamanism(萨满教). They believe that the world is created by the gods and that a shaman is the bridge that connects humans with gods. When a person is ill, they look to the shaman to ask the gods for the cure. On important occasions, for example, when the fishing season opens, the shamans gather to perform their symbolic blessing ceremony, which features traditional songs, rituals, costumes and dancing.
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