The Oroqen: China’s former nomadic hunters with fading memories of life before forced resettlement

The Oroqen ethnic group in northeastern China lived for centuries as nomadic herders who practised shamanism. But in the early 1950s, the Communist government started to settle the group into towns. Many Oroqen today are no longer able to speak their native language, and can only communicate in China's official national dialect, Mandarin. But there are still some older-generation Oroquen who remember nomadic life.   Among those able to share such memories is one of the last Oroquen shamans,…