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Oroqens Bid Farewell to Primitive Hunting Economy
Oroqens, one of China's smallest ethnic groups, put down their hunting rifles in the early 1990s and opened up the new economic growth sectors of farming, crop raising and mining in China's northernmost forests.
The name "Oroqen", meaning "people on the mountain range", originated from when many of the people lived in the greater and lesser Xing'an mountains in China's Heilongjiang Province.
Over the past half century, Oroqens lived on abundant resources in the vast forests. With horses, rifles and hunting dogs, they were able to hunt deer all year round.
Most Oroqens now live now in a compact community in Oroqen Autonomous County in northeast Inner Mongolia.
Since the 1990s, the county-owned forest enterprises, which supplied the county with 80 percent of its annual revenue, reported a sluggish economic growth due to a weak timbering market and the declining forest resources.
To cope with the financial difficulty, the county government mobilized the former hunters to develop agriculture and small-scale industries.
The county invested a total of 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million) in reclaiming 130,000 ha. of land into farmland. The farmland now harvests 160,000 tons of crops a year. The agricultural sector increased its revenue from the previous below two million yuan (US$241,000) to 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) at present.
The county developed agaric-cultivating for its favorable weather conditions for growth of vegetable, which sees an annual yield of 1,000 tons valued at 100 million yuan (US$12 million).
In addition, the county restructured local enterprises by changing ownership, optimizing assets and technical innovations.
The county's coal mine, distillery and dairy mill regained their
economic vibrancy through the restructuring process.
Former Oroqen hunters in the county's villages, as a whole, have moved out of poverty, with a per capita net income reaching 2,500 yuan (US$300) a year. The county's annual revenue also exceeded 100 million yuan (US$12 million) for three years running.
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