------Program code: DO-080824-00850 (what's this?)
Source: CCTV.com
08-24-2008 08:07
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They are the masters of the Greater Khingan Mountains. They used to live like savages, battling the wild animals for survival. They are the heroes of the forest. They are leading a new life now. But their memories of the past cannot be erased.
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The Greater Khingan Mountains in autumn are tinged with a variety of colours. All that disturbs the quiet of the mountain forest is the autumn breeze. Occasionally, birds can be heard singing. This remote and thriving mountain forest is the source of a legend.
These days, the Olunchun people no longer go hunting. But the old hunters have their own way of reliving the past.
An old song describes the life of the Olunchun in the past: In the vast forests of Greater Khingan live the brave Olunchun. They ride their horses and carry their rifles. Wild wolves and deer roam the mountains and fields.
In 1996, hunting was banned in the Inner Mongolia Olunchun Autonomous Banner. Since then, the old hunter, Bayinbatu, has been living with his memories of stalking wild animals in the forest, aiming and firing his rifle, and struggling fiercely with the wounded beasts.
The Olunchun people, as Bayinbatu describes them, lived like savages in the past, roaming the deep forests of the Greater Khingan Mountains. They had no permanent homes and had little communication with the outside world. Even after the founding of New China in 1949, they continued to live as simple hunters. Their life was described in a television documentary, made in 1963.
The Olunchun people hunted mainly roe deer. The meat was their staple food, and they used the skins to make their clothes. Every hunter was skilled at skinning a deer. The prey would always be divided fairly among the community. Every family would get its share, including the widows and the elderly who didn’t go out hunting,
The Olunchun used to be a nomadic hunting people. Boys would be taught at a young age how to shoot. As soon as they could hold a rifle, they would go out hunting small animals.
Although the children of the Olunchun became accomplished riders and hunters at a young age, they were not allowed to go out hunting alone until they were adults. Hunting was a very dangerous business. Even veteran hunters would encounter danger sometimes. Bayinbatu still remembers the first time he went out hunting by himself. It was in the winter of his twentieth year.
Other than hunting, the Olunchun people of the past had virtually no other skills or knowledge. When Bayinbatu was at junior high school, he tried his hand at farming. But born into a hunting family and growing up in the forest, he only succeeded in making a fool of himself.
In 1958, the Olunchun hunters began settling down. In 1996, residents of the Inner Mongolia Olunchun Autonomous Banner voluntarily gave up hunting. They took up agriculture and other productive activities, and their living standards quickly improved. In 2000, several old hunting villages such as Guli and Xiao’ergou built new residential districts. Bayinbatu, a hunter for most of his life, even bought himself a car.
It’s been ten years since the Olunchun hunters hung up their rifles for the last time. Their hunting horses and dogs have gradually disappeared. Bayinbatu’s family instead own bicycles and a car now. They have to borrow a horse, if they need one. Yet the Olunchun people have been riders for hundreds of years. Bayinbatu has spent most of his life on horseback.
