China's Minority Peoples - The Ewenkis

The Ewenkis, with a population of 26,315, mainly live in Ewenki Autonomous Banner of Hulun Buir Meng, Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. Others can he found in the Chen Barag Banner, Ergun Left Banner, Morin Dawa Banner, Arun Banner, Zhalantun City, and Nehe County of Heilongjiang Province with their communities intermixing with local Mongolian, Daur, Hah and Oroqen people.

Situated in the hills of the Greater Hinggan Mountains, the Ewenki area is covered with thick virgin forests and stretches of grasslands, with a network of big and small rivers meandering through. Differing natural conditions have created differing lifestyles. In the Ewenki Autonomous County and Chen Barag Banner, people mainly breed animals. Those in Nehe County are farmers. In Morin Dawa Banner, Arun Banner, Zhalantun City, the Ewenki people till the earth as well as hunt Those in the Ergun Left Banner hunt with reindeer, hence their nickname "the Ewenkis who use reindeer".

In the past, different settlements of the migratory Ewenkis had been called by different names such as "Suolun", "Tungus" and "Yakute". But in 1957, they took the name Ewenki meaning "people living deep in the mountains and forests".

When spring comes, the Ewenkis usually organizes art performances and competitions, which attract many neighboring residents.

The Ewenkis are Shamanists and those living in the pastoral area are Lamaist Buddhists. The Ewenki language, containing the Hui-Yimin, Mergel and Alruguya dialects, belongs to the Manchu-Tungusic group of the Altaic language family. Herdsmen in the pastoral region speak the Mongolian language, and those in the farming and mountain areas use Chinese.