Northeast Fishing And Hunting Ancestors Of The Original Icons Of Ornamentation In The Hezhe Heritage And Applications

Recently, the cultural relics of ethnic Sushen (肃慎) fishing-hunting ancestors, unearthed in the valley of the Amur, Ussuri and Songhua Rivers, witnessed the evolvement of the ancient fishing-hunting civilization during different periods. Among them, the graphs, symbols and patterns in the relics are of particular meanings, which provide evidence of that it is the valley of the three rivers that nurtured the unique fishing-hunting civilization. Before the Han (汉)and Wei(魏)andJin (晋)dynasties, the valley of the three rivers was the regional political, military and cultural center during the period from the emergence of Sushen to the time of Yilou. The evolvement from the ancient fishing-hunting civilization to the mixed agricultural and fishing-hunting way of life marked the advanced social, economic and cultural development at that time.The fishing-hunting civilization inherited from Sushen is also the ancestral culture of today's Manchu, Hezhen and other ethnic groups (belonging to the Man-Tungsian). In the ancient time, the development of ethnic populations and cultures in the Northeast was lagged behind by the one in the Central Plains (中原).Due to the absence of written words, the cultures of most ethnic groups living in the Northeast were transmitted by words of mouth, which inevitably led to the loss or fabrication of historical facts through generations.Neither were much of the Sushen and Lilou cultures written into the Chinese literature, nor were the ancestors mentioned by the Manchu nationality who later reigned in the Central Plains. In the official history of the Qing dynasty, the Manchu people tended to avoid its own culture and histories of other nationalities in the Northeast. However, there were more recordings in Chinese than in Manchu language. Other nationalities, like Hezhen, Oroqen and Ewenki, are in the same line with Manchu in terms of language, customs and even lineage. Today, the scarcely-populated aboriginal Hezhen people still maintain their fishing-hunting way of life by incorporating the ancestral ideas, languages and symbols into the making of fish-skin artifacts and colorful application of national patterns.Bearing this in mind, the author made several fieldwork trips into the valley of the three rivers from the December of 2008, focusing on the investigations of graphs, symbols and patterns in the relics and folk cultures of the Hezhen people. By reviewing Chinese literatures and other studies on images, this book makes an in-depth analysis on fishing-hunting periods, distribution of cultural relics, elements of formation, artistic characteristics, correlations and cultural meanings.The discovery of "the Amur Vortex Pattern" in the unearthed ceramics proved that the mural patterns found in the lower valley of the Amur River belonged to the same relics of the Hezhen ancestors. Since the early times, symbols and beliefs played an important role in the life of the Hezhen people. Both religious activities and cultural sites have been well preserved and maintained. The totems, symbols and patterns found in the fieldwork will, in turn, provide more graphical informations to the study of fishing-hunting civilization and its aesthetic concepts.This book consists of four chapters with pictures and illustrates. Based on previous studies on the Hezhen culture, it tries to construct its own image-text interpretation system with the combination of fieldwork and literature, that is, the combination of graphs, symbols, patterns in cultural relics with religious beliefs, nationality, history and geography, thus constructing a panoramic and intertwining cultural landscape. Unlike relying on cultural interpretations by previous studies, the book makes a comparative study between the graphs, symbols, patterns in cultural relics and contemporary folk cultures and artistic languages. By weighing the physical protection, maintenance application and tourist development concerning to the cultural relics in its original site, the book presents abundant and targeted cultural heritage protection concepts and constructive suggestions.The book concludes that the graphs, patterns and totems of Sushen have great charms which are embodied in the following aspects:the evolvement of regional culture and environment, aboriginal Hezhen people's understanding of real life, the fight against nature and longing for a better life while worshiping and admiring it. It's of great reference to the exploitation of regional cultural resource, promotion of national spirit and construction of a harmonious society.By finding out the meeting point of the Sushen cultural relics and art application of aboriginal Hezhen people, the book provides unique national elements in the development of contemporary arts, which is not only of practical significance to the examination and perfection of national history, but also of profound meanings to the promotion of national spirit and construction of a harmonious society. Key Words:the valley of the Amur, Ussuri and Songhua Rivers, graphs, symbols and patterns of Sushen, the Amur Vortex pattern, Shamanist, the fish-skin costume of the Hezhen Nationality...