The Nanai

The name Nanai or Nani (meaning people of this place) has been used since the 1920's to describe the people who lived in the Amur basin. Russians called the Nanai Golds, which is a name also used by the Ulchi, Oroches and Negidals. Many separated territorial Nanai groups have called themselves by different names, such as Kile, Akani and Heden. and according to where they lived e.g. the Solonai, Bolaken, etc.

Origin

Anthropologically, the Nanai represent a pure Mongolian type belonging, together with the Oroks, Evens, the Evensk, the Yukaghirs and part of the Tuva's, to the Baikal (Paleo-Siberian) group which is historically related to the ancient Yakaghir population of Siberia.

Of all the settled minorities in the lover Amur, the Nania are supposed to represent the obviously Tungus-influenced Neolithic native population. Their direct descendants among other are the Nivkh.

At the beginning of the century, Nanai settlements were scattered for more than 600 kilometers along the Amur River and for about 100 km along its tributaries. Their dispersed habitation has had an impact on the forming of the Nanai people. The groups had no cultural nor linguistic unity. They led a fairly isolated life and their contacts with each other were underdeveloped. The Nanais on the River Girin were even considered to be a separate people. The Nanais lacked a self-designation as well as a common identity. This situation is quite characteristic of the minorities of the Amur which include the Udeches and Ulchis.

Habitat

The Nanais live in the Far East on the River Amur, downstream of the city of Khabarovsk, on both sides of Komsomolsk-on-Amur as well as on the banks of the Ussuri and the Girin rivers (the Samagirs). They also inhabit a part of northeast China on the River Sangar. During the time of the Soviet Union, there were at least ten separate groups known to have lived to the north of the Amur River. In China, similarly, Nanai settlements are scattered widely.

Language

The Nanai language belongs to the southern group of the Manchu-Tungus languages. The closest related languages are Ulchi and Oroche. Two dialects exist, the Lower and Upper Amur, who are distinctly different. A written language was created in the early 1930's on the basis of the Nathin dialect. Currently the Nanai language is being taught I the Teachers' Training School in Komasomolsk and in the Teachers' Training School in St. Petersburg.

History

The Manchu and Chinese have immensely influenced the Nanais in terms of culture (clothing, winter dwelling, place of the type of fanza, jewelry, ornamentation, etc.

There were also contacts with the Mongols. The most ancient Chine historical documents mentioned a people called the Sushi in the Amur, Sungar and Ussur regions as early as the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. Later the area belonged to the Manchu and Chinese until the 12th-13th centuries, when Chinese sources refer to the Lower Amur region as the land of Tsi-lya-mi (Gi-lyn-ma) or the Nivkhs. A stone tablet at the estuary of the River Amur dating back to 1413, declares that this land is inhabited by Tzi-lyn-mi and "other savages," The first troops of the Russian Cossacks appeared on the River Amur in the 1640's. Many other Russian explorers followed. But after the Treaty at Nerchinsk in 1689 the Russians left the Amur region and the Chinese made another effort to impose their jurisdiction and levy taxes on the local population. The Chinese had a degree of success but only in those regions where Chinese farmers settled alongside the Nanai.

In 1858 the region was returned to Russia and a large Russian colonization began. This had a direct impact on the Nanais as the Russian sought to drive the Nanais form their traditional fishing grounds. The proximity of the Russians accelerated the disintegration of the Nanais barter system and by the early 20th century, their economy had become almost commercial. Rich native merchants/entrepreneurs emerged, though on the whole the economy of the Nanais was slower to develop than those of the neighboring lower Amur people, in part, because no Russian fish processing industry was established in the area.

An extensive socialist shaping of the Nanai began in 1924, when a Native People's Department was established within the Far East. Revolutionary Committee. Between 1926 and 1928, when the formation of national territories began, a Nanai district came into being. The first kolkhozes were founded in 1930and collectivization began with the population being concentrated in compact settlements. In fact, all this served to form and integrate the Nanai as a nation, since all of the organization, like specifying boundaries and the development of education, promoted the development of a distinct identity, especially in regions with mixed Nanai-Ulchi and Nanai-Udege population.

There are many new cities and industrial settlements in the immediate vicinity of Nanai settlements and railroads now run through the region. At present a little more than five percent of the Nanais live in towns and cities. The kolkhozes have been adapted to profitable land cultivation and livestock breeding. This is a necessary direction for the Nanais to move in given that there are few fishes left in the Amur River.

Culture and traditions

The traditional Nanai economy was based on two principal branches: fishing, in the Amur valley, and hunting along its tributaries. The Nanai way of life depended on the movement of different varieties of fish in the river. The same applied to hunting. In winter, animals were hunted for fur, whereas in spring and summer, it was time to hunt for food. Dogs wee used for hauling goods, through the Nanai of the Akani group bread horses.

The historical seasonal character of fishing and hunting necessitated the emergence of winter and summer settlements with appropriate type of dwellings. The Amur Nanais had a peculiar semi-circular summerhouse made of birch bark. Various dugouts were used for winter dwellings. Also used were houses built of twigs and clay, resembling Chinese fanzus, where the smoke of two to four clay stoves passed under sleeping bunks (kan) and escaped through a tall chimney beside the house. The Russians taught the Nanai to build log houses. Typically clothing and footwear was made of fish skin. There were noticeable Chinese and Manchu influences, for example, in the women' hair dresses and the men's custom of shaving their foreheads, and pulling back the rest of the hair in a pigtail. Unsurprisingly, various fish dishes dominated the Nanai diet. The Nanais of the Upper Amur used more cereals, vegetables and pork than the others. They had learned how to cultivate grain from the Chinese. They also learned from them the skills of metalworking. Nanai's decorative art was extremely well developed, especially ornamentation. Colored drawings, often of religious significance adorn shamanistic utensils, textiles, and paper and were very original.

In the last couple of years, the Nanai have undergone many changes, not all for the better with a distinct movement away from their culture. Number of leaders among the Nanai; s has decreased and this is evidenced by a movement towards lesser individuality and pursuance of cultural language and traditions.

Photo credits:

Valeri Spidlin

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