Daur
The Daur people (traditional Chinese: 達斡爾族; simplified Chinese: 达斡尔族; pinyin: Dáwò’ěr zú; the former name “Dahur” is considered derogatory) are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized in the People’s Republic of China. They numbered 132,394 according to the latest census (2000), and most of them live in the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner (Mòlì Dáwǎ Dáwò’ěrzú Zìzhìqí 莫力達瓦達斡爾族自治旗/莫力达瓦达斡尔族自治旗) in Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China. There are also some near Tacheng in Xinjiang, where their ancestors were moved during the Qing Dynasty.
Daur is a Mongolic language. There is no written standard, although a Pinyin-based orthography has been devised by the native Daur scholar Merden Enhebatu. The Daur language retains some Khitan substratal features, including a number of lexemes not found in other Mongolic languages. It is made up of three dialects: Bataxan, Hailar, Qiqihar.
Genetically, the Daurs are descendants of the Khitan, as recent DNA analyses have proven.1
In the 1600s, some or all of the Daurs lived north of the Amur around the Zeya River. They thus gave their name to the region of Dauria, also called Transbaikal, now the area of Russia east of Lake Baikal. Facing the Russian expansion in the Amur region, between 1654 and 1656, during the reign of Shunzhi Emperor, the Daurs were forced to move southward and settle on the banks of the Nonni River, from where they were constantly conscripted to serve in the banner system of the Qing emperors. The Daurs were engaged in border skirmishes with the Cossacks (including Yerofey Khabarov) in 1643 and 1651. When the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, the Daurs carried out an intense resistance against them.
There is a very noticeable hierarchic structure. People sharing the same surname are in groups called hala, they live together with the same group, formed by two or three towns. Each hala is divided in diverse clans (mokon) that live in the same town. If a marriage between different clans is made, the husband continues to live with the clan of his wife but he does not hold any property rights.
In the weddings, the fiancé goes out to look for the fiancée when the sun when coming out. It is custom that wine, meat and paste are offered to all the attending neighbors. The wedding celebration usually concludes with a festival of flat racing.
During the winter, the Daur women wear long dresses, generally blue in color and boots of skin which they change for long trousers in summer. The men dress in orejeros caps in fox or red deer skin made for winter. In summer, they cover the animal’s head with white colored fabrics or straw hats.
A customary sport of the Daur is Beikou, a game similar to field hockey or street hockey, which has been played by the Daur for about 1,000 years.2
Many Daurs are shamanists. Each clan has its own shaman in charge of all the important ceremonies in the lives of the Daur. However there are a significant number of Daurs who have taken up Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism).
Notes
1. Li Jinhui, DNA Match Solves Ancient Mystery, china.org.cn 08/02/2001.
2. McGrath, Charles (August 22, 2008). “A Chinese Hinterland, Fertile With Field Hockey”. New York Times Retrieved on 2008-08-23.
