The Nanai people () are a
Tungusic people of
East Asia
East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
who have traditionally lived along
Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
(Amur),
Songhuajiang (Sunggari) and
Wusuli River
The Ussuri ( ; ) or Wusuli ( ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk Krai, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China in the province of Heilongjiang. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowin ...
(Ussuri)
on the Middle Amur
Basin. The ancestors of the Nanai were the
Wild Jurchens
The Wild Jurchens () or Haidong Jurchens () were a group of the Jurchens as identified by the Ming dynasty. They were the northernmost group of the Jurchen people (the other being the Jianzhou Jurchens and Haixi Jurchens). In the 14th century, the ...
of northernmost
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, which is now the region of
Outer Manchuria
Outer Manchuria, sometimes called Russian Manchuria, refers to a region in Northeast Asia that is now part of the Russian Far East but historically formed part of Manchuria (until the mid-19th century). While Manchuria now more normatively refer ...
in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
's
Far Eastern Federal District
The Far Eastern Federal District ( rus, Дальневосточный федеральный округ, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstot͡ɕnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is the largest and the least populated federal districts of Russia, federa ...
.
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 ...
belongs to the
Manchu-Tungusic family. According to the 2010
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
there were 12,003 Nanai in Russia.
Name
Common names for these people include Nanai (
Nanai: , , , ) and Hezhen (, ; ). There are also terms formerly in use: Goldi, Golds,
[ Goldes, and Samagir.
Other self names are Qilang (, ; ), and . means 'land, earth, ground, country' or, in this context, 'native, local'; , , or means 'people' in different dialects.
The Russian linguist L. I. Sem gives the name ''Hezhe nai'' () or ''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, ( zh, 赫哲), formerly ( zh, 黑斤) and ( zh, 赫哲哈喇).
]
Traditional lifestyle and culture
Some of the earliest first-hand accounts of the Nanai people in the European languages belong to the French Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
geographers travelling on the Ussuri
The Ussuri ( ; ) or Wusuli ( ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China in the province of Heilongjiang. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and formi ...
and the Amur
The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...
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 ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
and Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐ‿ɐˈmurʲə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur R ...
) were known as Yupi 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 ( ) is a critically endangered language, endangered Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China.
As the traditional native language of the Manchu people, Manchus, it was one of the official language ...
and that of the "Ketching" people ( zh, c=盖青, p=Gàiqīng); 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
Hong Taiji (28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643), also rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing, was the second khan of the Later Jin d ...
in 1631. Mandatory shaving of the front of all male heads was imposed on Amur peoples conquered by the Qing including 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
The Udege (; or , or Udihe, Udekhe, and Udeghe correspondingly) are a native people of the Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai regions in Russia. They live along the tributaries of the Ussuri, Amur, Khungari, and Anyuy Rivers. The Udege spea ...
, today) was based on fishing.[ The people lived in villages along the banks of the Ussuri, and spent their entire summers fishing, eating fresh fish in the summer (particularly appreciating the ]sturgeon
Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...
), and drying more fish for eating in winter. Fish was 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 clothing was made out of fish skins. These skins were left to dry, struck repeatedly with a mallet to leave them completely smooth, and 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
Tartary (Latin: ''Tartaria''; ; ; ) or Tatary () was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea, the Ural Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the northern borders of China ...
" (). 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.[
]
Religion
The Nanai are mainly Shamanist
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
, 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.
Funerary beliefs and practices
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 is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...
.
Modern population
Russia
In Russia the Nanai live on the Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) 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 southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...
, on the Amur River
The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...
, downstream from Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
, on both sides of Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐ‿ɐˈmurʲə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur R ...
, as well as on the banks of the Ussuri
The Ussuri ( ; ) or Wusuli ( ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China in the province of Heilongjiang. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and formi ...
and the Girin rivers (the Samagirs). The Russians formerly called them Goldi, after a Nanai clan name. According to the 2002 census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, there were 12,160 Nanai in Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
In the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, 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 ( ) 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 countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
) 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 outstanding in the sphere of Tungusic languages, and ...
and others. It is still taught today in 13 schools in Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
.
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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
where they are known as "Hezhe" ( zh, labels=no, c=赫哲族 , p=Hèzhé Zú). According to the last census of 2004, they numbered 4,640 in China (mostly in Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
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 calcul ...
recorded 4640 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
* Dersu Uzala, a Nanai guide and friend of Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev
Vladimir Klavdiyevich Arsenyev, (; 10 September 1872 – 4 September 1930) was a Russian explorer of the Far East who recounted his travels in a series of books— (, "Along the Ussuri land," 1921) and (, "Dersu Uzala," 1923)—telling of h ...
, who wrote about Dersu in two books, later adapted by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
in the 1975 film '' Dersu Uzala''
*Nanai female shaman
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
Tchotghtguerele Chalchin performed an incantation
An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or 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 ceremonial ri ...
recorded in Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
for the song "The Lighthouse" (an adaptation of the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet Wilfred Wilson Gibson) 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'' (''Songs from the Cold Seas''). Lead vocals were performed by Siouxsie Sioux
Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), better known by her stage name Siouxsie Sioux (, ), is an English singer and songwriter. She came to prominence as the leader and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, who w ...
and background music included performances by the Sakharine Percussion Group and the Sissimut Dance Drummers.
*Kola Beldy
Nikolay Ivanovich 'Kola' Beldy (, 2 May 1929 – 21 December 1993) was a Soviet-Russian pop singer of Nanai ethnicity.
Early years
Kola Beldy was born in the Khabarovsk Territory in the family of a hunter. He was orphaned early.
During the Gr ...
() (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 (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, which debuted in 2005. He later became ...
, 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. The group is composed of Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun. Han Geng, Kibum, and ...
and former leader of subgroup Super Junior-M
Super Junior-M (an initialism for Super Junior-Mandarin, also known as SJ-M), is the third sub-unit of the South Korean boy band Super Junior focusing on Chinese market, currently composed of six Super Junior members Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, ...
.
* 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 Soviet 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 t ...
, A sniper serving in the Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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 ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
, 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 (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...
leaning against the home and atop its thatched roof.
References
;General
Ethnolog on Nanai
The 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, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
, a film by Akira Kurosawa about a Goldi (Nanai) and a Russian Army Officer.
{{Authority control
Indigenous peoples of Siberia
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