Hezhen Wurigongdahui
01 · Historical Records
Hezhe cultural activities launched in the form of the modern Wurigun Assembly began in the 1980s. In 1991, the period around the 15th day of the fifth lunar month was designated as the Hezhe "Wurigun Festival." Since 1997, the Hezhe Wurigun Assembly has been held once every four years, and ten consecutive assemblies have been held to date.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
"Wurigun" means joy and festivity in the Hezhe language; the Wurigun Assembly is a grand folk cultural activity that integrates traditional culture with modern literature and art, sports, and arts evolved from that traditional culture. Because its initial main contents were traditional literary, artistic, and sports activities, it was called the ethnic culture-and-sports assembly. The Wurigun Assembly is hosted in rotation by the townships, villages, towns, counties, and cities where the Hezhe live, with ethnic culture and art and ethnic traditional sports as its main contents. The ethnic literary and artistic performances include Yimakan, Jialingkuo, Shuohuli, and the kouxianqin (mouth-string instrument); the traditional sports competitions include wrestling, archery, top-bar, the fish-king strength contest, grass-ball forking, Dulieqi, and hare-beating. When the assembly opens, Hezhe people from all quarters organize their teams to gather at the host venue; dressed in festive costume, eating the delicious "Taerka," they exchange sincere feelings and share skills and experience in building their homeland, singing and dancing and fully enjoying the joy of the festival and the happiness of life. The contents of the Wurigun Assembly derive mostly from the entertainment and cultural activities with which the Hezhe ancestors worshipped the spirits of mountains and waters before going down to the rivers to fish and up the mountains to hunt, and from their celebrations of the harvest, and thus carry vivid elements of traditional ecological culture. Historically, after a good fishing and hunting harvest, Hezhe ancestors would dance the deer-god dance, sing "Yimakan," and sing "Jialingkuo," expressing their joy through song and dance. Of these, "Yimakan" is the most beloved by the people. It is an oral narrative epic of the Hezhe people, hailed as a living fossil of the primitive language art of northern Asia and as the heroic epic of the Hezhe. It sings of heroic stories of tribal wars, the rise and fall of the people, and the defense of national dignity, praises pure love, and depicts folk customs. Sometimes it can be sung continuously for several days. The Hezhe Wurigun Assembly is one of the grandest cultural activities of the fishing-and-hunting peoples of northern China; it carries rich information about their traditional culture and is a bridge by which Hezhe fishing-and-hunting culture enters the modern age and moves toward the future. The ethnic culture and art evolved from the fishing-and-hunting tradition of production and life are the cultural symbols of the Hezhe people. Wurigun is a fusion of Hezhe tradition and modern civilization, providing broad space for the continuation and development of fishing-and-hunting culture. Hezhe fishing-and-hunting culture was nurtured in the Hezhe people's direct interaction with nature; it is an ecological culture that maintains balance with the natural world. The Wurigun Assembly preserves fishing-and-hunting culture in a living form and has contributed to the joint construction of a modern civilized society.
A four-year rotation
Since 1997 the congress has been held every four years, with the venue rotating among the Hcheno settlements so that each host waits sixteen years for its turn.
Reciting Imakan
Imakan, the great narrative chant, carries wars, the rise and fall of the people and tales of love and custom, recited across several days without break.
Jialingkuo and the mouth-string instrument
Jialingkuo is a short quick lyrical tune and the mouth-string needs neither bow nor accompaniment; both travel easily with people who live on the river.
Wrestling and the Fish King contest
Wrestling, archery, pole pushing, the Fish King contest and grass-ball play all derive from hunting and fishing labour, turning the riverbank into the arena.
Festival dress and tarka
Delegations arrive in festival finery and eat fresh tarka before competing, showing that the congress is a feast of daily life rather than a staged show.
The congress as training ground
The congress lets scattered river communities compare skills and pass on hunting and fishing experience, turning the festival into an unspoken training school.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Wurigun Assembly has no fixed venue; instead, the townships, villages, towns, counties, and cities where the Hezhe live in compact communities take turns acting as host. Once the host venue is decided, teams from all quarters prepare in advance, transporting the performance troupes, Taerka, and archery equipment to the site together. The rotation links the settlements along the Heilongjiang, Songhua, and Ussuri rivers into one network: Tongjiang is the long-term center on which the assembly relies, while surrounding villages mostly take part by sending teams, and some must wait two assemblies before it is their own county's turn to host. Precisely because the hosting right rotates, the skilled singers and dancers of every village and the masters of archery and wrestling all have the opportunity to appear on their home ground, and the scale of the assembly can grow steadily from one session to the next.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At the same time, fishing-and-hunting culture is an important link in the history of human civilization and has gathered rich humanistic materials for the study of human cultural history.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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