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Smallest Ethnic Group Celebrates Autonomy Anniversary
All of them amount to only 7,000 among a population of nearly 1. 3 billion. But that does not prevent the ethnic group of Orenqo from exercising regional autonomy in China.
Orenqo Autonomous Banner (county), home to 2,237 Orenqo people, held a big celebration on its 50th anniversary Saturday in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Orenqo people used to be isolated hunters in the virgin forest on the Greater Khingan Range in north China.
Its population was only 700 in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded. Most of them were illiterate and nearly half of them suffered from white plague.
Thanks to the support from the government, Orenqo was able to have an ethnic autonomous banner named after them in 1952, the first of its kind in China.
It means much more than just a name. The decision was like wings for Orenqo, who advanced directly from a primitive society to a modern society, a move that might have taken several millenniums yet took place within only half a century.
To be environment-friendly, Orenqos decided to hang up their hunting rifles in 1996. The government then subsidized each hunter 70 yuan monthly and distributed two hectares of land for free. Hunters were also exempted of taxes and their children receive free school education.
"Former Orenqo hunters no long live off hunting," said Meng Songlin, head of the autonomous banner. The banner's GDP reached 820 million yuan (98.8 million U.S. dollars) last year. Former hunters' annual income has increased by 90 percent and reached the average for farmers in the country.
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