Manchu
With a population of 9,821,000, the Mancha lathnorities are distributed throughout the
country. The majority of the Manchus live in Liaoning Province manily. Some are in
Heilongjiang, Jitin, Inner Mongolia, Hebel, and Xthjiang provinces and autonomous
~gions. They also live in some cities like Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guangzhou,
The ancestry of dais minority can be traced back to Sushen tribe more than 2,000 years
ago. Later on it can he traced to other tribes like Nuzhen, Mohe, Weji and Yilou. In the
middle of the 16~h century, the chief named Nurhaehi of the Nuzhen unified the various
Nuzhen tribes. Being a great political and military strategist, he also initiated the Eight
Banner System of military orgnization and founded the country Kin. He adopted the
dynastic title of " Qing" and changed his nationality's name from " Nuzhen" to
"Manchu". He marched his forces southward and overthrew the Ming Dynasty in 1644,
unifying the country under the Qthg Dynasty (]644--1911). With the founding of the
Qing Dynasty, the Manchu reached its golden age.
Originally living in the forests and alountains, the Manchus excelled in archery and
horsemanship. Teenagers were taught to r~de on horseback in full hunting gear, racing in
the forests and mountains. Women were as skilled riders as the men.
The Manchus have their own oral and written language. The written language created
at the end of the 16~h century, uses the Mongolian lettering system and belongs to the
Manchu Tungusic group of the Altaic language family. Most Manchus also learned lhe
language and written script of the Hart people because of their many economic and
cultural exchanges with the Han people during the 17'~ centutry.
Most of the Mancbus believe in Shamanism. They also worship the constellation of
Ursa Major (also known as the Great Bear, or Big Dipper) , their ancestors and nature
thinking there are many gods commanding the world. Killing and eating dog meat i~
forbidden to Manchus.
Manchu men's traditional dress is a narrow cuffed short jacket worn over a long gown
with a belt at the waist. Men let their hair on the back of their heads grow long and wear
it hanging down in a plait. Women had their hair coiled on top of their heads and wore
earrings, embroidered shoes and long gowns.
There are some famous novelists from the Manchus. For instance, the long novel "A
Dream of Red Mansions" is by the great Manchn novelist Cad Xueqin. It is a great
realistic literature reflecting Chinese society in the Qthg Dynasty. The novel has been translated into different languages and published in more than 100 counlries. It won its
place in the history of world literature.