The Economic History Of The Oroqen Nationality

Along with the long development history of Oroqen, the argument about its origin and colony has never stopped, and until now there is still no final conclusion. According to the description in Zuo Zhuan, the ancestors of Oroqen inhabited in Daxing’anling and Xiaoxing’anling areas since 11th century BC, then they split into two tribes,Sushen and Boshiwei, which are regarded as the origin of Oroqen. Moreover, it is well documented in Ming Yi Tong Zhi as well as History of the Yuan Dynasty about Oroqen and their ancestors. By Qing dynasty, the word Oroqen firstly appeared in Qing Sheng Zu Lu and has become the official name for this minority until now.Oroqen, with a small population, is one of the few minorities which never experiences complete private ownership. Although has gone through a 3200-year economic history, the social classes never appear. Therefore, there has no alienated labor in Oroqen’s society, neither do exploitation and domination. The developing process of primitive Oroqen social commune includes family society, matriarchal society, patriarchal society and regional society, the whole process is of great research value. Throughout the history of Oroqen economy, hunting economy has always played a leading role and kept developing in a low but steady pace. Anda trading, which derived from the tribute system in the beginning of Qing dynasty, opened the door for fast commercialization of Oroqen economy.It is indeed a rare case that transforming from tribute economy to barter economy then to commodity money economy in the history of minority economic development in China. The Oroqen economy has experienced three major changes since the establishment of PRC:firstly is from the primitive commune to socialist society, secondly is from nomadism hunting to ecesis farming, and the last one is from hunting products to a large variety of market merchandise. These major changes shape the current economy situation of OroqenDue to the special development trace of Oroqen, many researches have been done and many concrete results were achieved. However, most of researches were focused only on politics, art and social convention, the economic situation has not got enough attention, especially systematic research on primitive hunting economy and Anda trading. This article mainly studies on the economy of Oroqen by applying the contradiction analysis method, from the three historical periods which are primitive commune period, Manchukuo period and PRC period, focuses on the change of living pattern and production mode, try to clarify the economy development trace of Oroqen.