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The Daur Nationality
The Daur Nationality has a population of over
120,000, with the majority living in the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous
Region of Inner Mogolia, the Qiqihaer District in Heilongjiang Province
and the Tacheng District in Xingjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Daur
have a spoken language which belongs to the Mongolian family of the
Altatic language system. There is no written form. Agriculture is the
Daur's main occupation, supplemented by hunting and stock raising. The
Daur people believe in Shamanism. Field hockey is very popular among
them - their region is famous as China's "birthplace of field hockey."
The Daurs' original homeland lies along the banks
of the Nenjiang River near the northeastern frontier of China. It is
a fertile land covered by thick forests and luxuriant grass, with lakes
and swamps scattered throughout. Towns and villages here intermingle
with pastures and grassland. Because of its rich natural resources,
farming, forestry, animalrearing, fishing and related occupations flourish
in the Daur region.
Like many other nationalities, the Daurs like to settle by mountains
and rivers. Their large houses are shaped like the Chinese character
"介."They face the North and their courtyards are kept tidy
and clean. The houses are fenced with willow twigs woven into various
patterns. Inside each house there is a Kang(a heated brick bed) with
its three sides attached to the walls. It is an important way for the
Daurs to keep warm, as well as retaining moisture in the cold dry winters.
The Daurs live on buckwheat, oats and species of local corn for their
staple diet. They cook these in different ways, either steamed or stirfried
and mixed with yogurt, or served as porridge.
Buffalo and sheep are their main source of meat. Occasionally, they
hunt wild animals for food and preserve the meat by drying it in the
open air. Shoubarou(mutton and beef eaten with fingers) is very popular
with the Daur people.
Their non-staple food includes dairy products like dried cheese, butter
and Naipi, or "Milk Skin." This is made by pressing and drying
the lumps formed when a mixture of milk or yogurt is boiled.
Most Daur men dress in front or backbuttoned robes, mainly grey or
blue in color with slits up both sides. In winter they wear coats, trousers
and hats, all made of leather. The clothes have buttons woven from leather
threads, or brass buttons bought from the market.
Women wear robes either buttoned at the front or the side, with a waist
coat on top. The hems of the robes are embroidered with fine ornamental
designs specific to the Daur Nationality. But the most attractive part
of the Daur costumes is the roe-deer-hide hat which looks like a deer's
head. It has two alert erect ears and a pair of antlers. Both the antlers
and the rim of the hat are made from rawhide. The Daurs use it not only
for keeping out the cold but also as a disguise when they go on hunting
since it looks so life-like.
The Daurs are skillful cartbuilders. In the country areas where they
live, huge two-wheeled wooden carts called Lulu go everywhere. The body
of the cart is small but its big wheels can be as much as 2 meters in
diameter. They are ideal vehicles for fording brooks and streams, with
a loading capacity of three to four hundred kilos. One person can ride
seven or eight of these carts at the same time, which makes a spectacular
sight when they are all on the move.
The Daurs use dugout canoes and rafts as to transport goods by water,
as well as for fishing. Their canoes and rafts move freely around the
swamps and lakes in the area.
The Daurs' most important festival is "Anie Festival." People
celebrate it with a rich variety of entertainments, though the Hanbo
Dance, in which the dancers sing while dancing, is essential. It is
performed with the dancers singing along. The Daurs love it for its
alternation of lively energetic rhythms with slow and stately movements,
and also for improvisations made during the performance.
Long winter days in the Daur region have contributed to the Daur people's
fondness for sports, particularly field hockey which is unique to them.
Every year at festival times and on joyful occasions, field hockey matches
are held. The participants range from greyhaired old men to teenagers.
It is more interesting when the games take place at night. The balls
used in the matches are made from lumps of birch bark, hollowed and
filled with inflammable material like rosin. So when the players hit
the lighted ball, the spectators see a fiery ball flying across the
sky, leaving behind an arching trail of blazing light. In recent years,
many excellent athletes playing in China's national hockey teams come
from the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Region. China owes much of its growing
success in this particular sports to the Daur Nationality. The region
certainly deserves its reputation as the "birthplace of field hockey."
As the flaming sun rises above the Nenjiang Plain
as it has done through centuries, the Daurs are suddenly awakening to
the great changes that have taken place without their noticing. As a
result of a rush of economic development on the Chinese mainland, their
old pastoral life-style now has to come to terms with the pace of modern
life. The Daur people want a prosperous economy and a life embracing
both the past and the present. Keeping a banlance between their national
traditions and modern civilization, they cherish the hope for a richer
and more colorful future.
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