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The Oroqens are an ethnic group of people living around the city of Hulunbeier (呼倫貝爾市) in Inner Mongolia and Xing'anling (興安嶺) of China's Heilongjiang Province. Because they reside at the border areas of China and Russia, Russians refer to them as the "Evenki." There are now less than 10,000 of these Tungusic people and their culture is on the brink of extinction.

A Collaboration with Oroqen Scholars

Three Chinese scholars and four Korean scholars collaborated to author this publication. The Chinese scholars are all originally Oroqen, so based on their personal experience in the Oroqen life of hunting, Han Youfeng wrote of their hunting and fishing culture, while Wu Yazhi described their history and social structure, and Guan Xiaoyun covered their shamanism and folk beliefs. The Korean scholars took charge of descriptions about the material culture of the Oroqen. Kim Cheon-ho portrayed their food culture, Cho Wu-hyeon depicted their dress code, and Kim In-hee outlined their dwellings and rites of passage. The Oroqen worship of bears was covered by Seo Young-dae to draw a comparison with the Korean myth of Dangun that involves a bear.

A Vivid Report About the Life of Hunters

Due to a relocation policy in the early 1950s, the Oroqens had to come down from the mountains they had been living on and have now settled down to an agricultural lifestyle. Their hunting culture has consequently been on its way to becoming lost in the mists of time. The book “Choehueui suryeopmin Oerunchunjok” [Oroqen, the Last Hunters] gives a general overview of the Oroqens to assist those who wish to be introduced to them. The publication aims at providing a bird’s-eye view of the Oroqens’ past and present by covering various aspects of their lives including their dispersion, language, history, social structure, economic activities, clothing, food, housing, rites of passage, shamanism, folk beliefs, myths, and how such aspects have changed over time.

The Oroqens are Tungusic people that originated from an ancient tribe called Shiwei. They are part of a sub-clan called Mukun (穆昆) that convenes once each year. Hunting used to be their main means of living, which was supplemented by fishing as well as collection. The Oroqens possess a marvelous degree of knowledge about hunting that is both comprehensive and in-depth. They make clothes out of the hide from hunted deer, grill wild animals for food, and live in mobile homes called “sierranju” (斜仁柱) that look like Korean dugout huts. The act of giving birth is considered unclean, which is why pregnant women must give birth in a separate space called “yatazhu” (斜仁柱) and raise their children in cribs. When couples get married, the husband usually moves in with the wife’s family to provide labor. Levirate marriage is allowed and extramarital relations are strictly punished. Funerals involve a tree burial in which a corpse is hung on a tree for it to naturally decompose. Due to a movement in the 1950s to eradicate superstition, shamans had to perform ceremonies to part with all the gods they worshiped. This barely left any traces of shamanic practices, but the book relays experiences told by the last surviving shaman named Guan Kouni (關扣尼). The Oroqens believe in various myths describing which their ancestor as a bear, which is why when they are eating bear meat together, they sometimes squawk like crows to confuse bears.

The Oroqens are the last people in China to have led a hunting-oriented life. That is why studying their society and culture carries the potential to become a major key to unraveling the mystery of ancient northeast Asian hunting traditions.

Relevance to Studying Ancient Korean Cultures

Learning about the Oroqens is more than simply gaining a grasp of an ancient hunting culture. The ancestors of the Oroqens were neighbors to the people of the Korean kingdoms Gojoseon, Buyeo, and Koguryo, which implies that understanding the Oroqens could be helpful to better understanding the ancient cultures of Korea.

For instance, it is necessary to conduct comparative research between the Mukun annual meeting and ancient Korean rituals to worship the heavens such the Buyeo ritual called Yeonggo or the Koguryo ritual called Dongmaeng. Studies on Oroqen clothing have already confirmed that Koguryo clothes with dot patterns bear similarities with Oroqen clothes made from sika deer hide and that the two cultures’ method of producing moccasin boots share common features.

The Oroqen equivalent of the Korean word "maru," which refers to a raised wooden porch in Korean houses, means "noble" or "sacred" and refers to the opposite side of the Oroqen house sierranju. Because the Korean space called maru was where various gods were worshiped at home and did not allow access to females, a Japanese scholar once remarked on the need to compare Korea's maru-based beliefs with those of the Oroqens. It will also be necessary to perform a comparison between Buyeo or Koguryo's marriage customs and the Oroqen customs of having son-in-laws live with their wife's family, allowing levirate marriage, and strictly prohibiting extramarital relations. And more than anything else, it will definitely be necessary to conduct further studies that compare the Oroqen worship of bears and the Korean myth of Dangun.