Economic Development Hoche Diverse From Hunting And Fishing To

The Hezhen ethnic group, as the only fishing-hunting ethnic group in Northern China, has distinctive cultural traits. Since ancient times, The Hezhen people have been inhabiting the area of Amur River, Sunggari River and Ussuri River. Hunting and fishing have been a main source of income for Hezhen people, as a proverb goes,"Catching fish for food in summer, hunting martens for trade in winter." Natural economy of fishing and hunting continued through stages of development in ancient Hezhen society. In Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), productivity grew as trade of goods developed. In modern era, Hezhen economy transformed twice, forming an economic structure in which agriculture plays leading role in combination with other means. This dissertation systemically recounts how Hezhen economy transformed from fishing and hunting to a more diversified economic model, and analyzes how the change of natural resources relates to the development of fishing and hunting economy, focusing on the causes and problems of such transformation.This dissertation consists of seven parts. The preface explains the reason and significance of exploring this topic. Related researches on this topic, including those done by Chinese, Russian and Japanese scholars, are summarized in preface. The preface also outlined the conditions of the target of field research, covering its natural environment, population, genealogy of local families, and the history background of Sipai village.Chapter1outlines other basic conditions of Hezhen ethnic group, by explaining the history of Hezhen and describing the self name and alternative names of Hezhen.Chapters2to6address the process of evolution of traditional Hezhen economy with regard to scarcity and abundance of natural resources. Chapter2describes the form of traditional Hezhen economy, including hunting, fishing, artisanry and crafts, and collecting. Hezhen people divide seasons by the purpose of hunting. The hunting weapons evolved from bludgeons and stones, to bow and arrows, to iron tools and finally black powder guns and steel guns. Hezhen people fish according to seasons and the behavioral patterns of fish schools. Usual fishing tools include nets, hooks, spears and boats. Chapter3explores the historical process of the transformation of Hezhen economy to commodity economy. Analysis in this chapter focuses on three aspects, that barter helped Hezhen economy turn to commerce, that exchange of goods further pushed Hezhen economy’s turn to commodity economy, and that circulation of currency accelerated the turn to commodity economy. Chapter4describes how fishing and hunting economy declined and tries to find out its causes. Chapter5explores the development of Hezhen agricultural economy, from military farming(tunken) in Qing dynasty, to seasonal mutual help groups, to cooperatives, which is the first transformation of Hezhen economy. With the depletion of natural resources, Hezhen people changed their traditional way of production by leaving mountains and rivers and beginning agricultural production in the farm. Chapter6addresses how Hezhen people formed a more diversified economic structure in which agriculture plays leading role in combination with other means. To conclude this dissertation, some issues that arose during economic development are analyzed, and relationship between economy and culture is discussed.