The Ewenki Family Myth Research

The Ewenki has an extremely small population, no native written language; in their early history, they adapted other ethnic group's written, such as Manchu's Mongol's and Han's, etc. therefore, in academic circles, a kind of cognition has been widely recognized, i.e. Ewenki mythology id merely fragmentary. What is more, some scholars asserted that, 'Ewenki has no mythology at all.' The recognition resulted in neglecting of Ewenki legends in mythological circles in a long history. All these facts illustrate one thing, namely, Ewnki's mythology has never been thoroughly studies and expounded. In the late 1970s, Heilongjiang province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region conducted a wide-ranging and deep-going investigation into myth and literature of Ewenki. The fruit of investigation terminated the cognition history that certain scholars had held about myths of this ethnic group; and revealed the mysterious treasure house of Ewenki myth. It was a gratifying academic achievement. However, there are weaknesses. In other words, compared with rich and varied Ewenki myth existence, the research is far behind. Recently, some scholars have dedicated themselves into researched and studies, and produced several finding reports and treatise. But their research is basically partial. They did not view Ewenki myth as a whole, and studied it systemically. In order to put forward the research of Chinese ethnic groups' literature and to establish mythological system of Ewenki, we should carry out comprehensive theoretical study of Ewenki's mythology, basing on the former fragmentary researches of others. It is an urgent problem we are facing to resolve.Evenki is a transnational ethnic group, which lives in China and Russia. The mythology of China Evenki is the object of this thesis. With repeated migrations, varied economic means of production and totally different natural environment, three mythological circles that have different style come into being. They are as following:1. The circle in the agricultural and hunting area of northern NenJiang River and YaLu River.2. The circle in the husbandry area of the Evrnki Autonomous Qi and the ChenBaErHu Qi.3. The circle in the hunting area of AoLuGuYaMyths in these three circles remain the original pattern of Chinese ethnic myths and are of great significance for research. Through the historic material of Evenki mythology, this thesis analyzes the patterns and evolution of Evenki mythology and discusses not only the surface structure (the theme and type of the myths) but also the symbolic structure (the model) of Evenki mythology. All these efforts are aimed to gain a better understanding of the Evenki mythology.The thesis mainly discusses four questions: (1) the first part is the general introduction of the research theory, method and research procedure of the thesis. (The introduction) (2) According to the academic circles' needs for learning of the Ewenki mythology, the thesis makes an analysis of the origin and name of Ewenki, thecultural characteristic, the research of the mythology. This part is the starting point of the thesis. (The first chapter) (3) Though the analysis of the contents of Ewenki's mythology and the understanding of on-the-spot investigation, the thesis mainly divides the Ewenki mythology into five types: the mythology of origin, the mythology of nature, the mythology of totem, the mythology of Shaman, the mythology of the hero. The paper makes an analysis of the characteristic and the origin of the five types mythology and makes a comparison of the views. And then the thesis raises the point of the connotation of the Ewenki mythology. This part is the focal point of the thesis. (The second, third, fourth, fifth chapter) (4) This thesis analizes the theory and academic trend in the grouping of Ewenki mythology. Through a systematic summation of the content, style, structure and pattern of Ewenki mythology, the writer raises the own view. Ewenki mythology is the system with unique sources and special development procedures. It wa...