Cultural heritage of Heilongjiang Province

Heilongjiang Province is a multi-ethnic border province as well as an immigration province. The population of the Han nationality is more than 90% of the total number of the province. Although the number of the ethnic minorities’ population is small, there are many races, including 10 main native ethnic minorities, Manchu, Hui, Korean, Mongolian, Daur, Oroqen, Ewenki, Kirgiz, Hezhen and Sibo. Most of these native peoples are supported by the inhabited community through the historical changes and folk customs. The lengthy raps of the hero theme have been circulating for a long time among Hezhen, Oroqen, and Daur, such as the talking and singing music of “Yimakan” in Hezhen, “Mosukun” in Oroqen and “Wuqin” in Daur. These raps of the epic properties are the valuable asset of the national culture in Heilongjiang province.

As a big multi-ethnic frontier province, Heilongjiang has gradually formed the frontier and ethnic characteristics of civilization blending with western cultures since modern times. In the early Qing Dynasty, after lifting the ban of “Exiles” and “Xing of the land”, the immigrations from Shanhaiguan brought excellent Chinese traditions and folk customs merging together with the Aboriginal cultures of Heilongjiang. In the early 20th century, Heilongjiang, especially Harbin, Heihe and Suifenhe Port became international business centers. Many eastern and western countries reflect different national civilizations in architecture, religion, culture, education, health and other aspects, such as Russia, Japan, Germany, Dutch, France, etc. These civilizations impact and communicate with Heilongjiang regional culture, which became an important part of the modern civilization of Heilongjiang River Valley.

Heilongjiang province is rich in the intangible cultural heritage resources. Some of them have already entered the creation of all categories of literature and art, producing a great number of outstanding works, while some others have entered the ranks of tourism culture industry, creating social and economic benefits. The government of Heilongjiang province published 57 directories as the first batch of the provincial intangible cultural heritage on March 27, 2007, nine of which are national intangible cultural heritage with the marker★.