The Hezhen: China's Fish-Skin People and the Last Guardians of the Amur

Along the misty banks of the Heilongjiang, Songhua, and Ussuri rivers — where the vast Sanjiang Plain stretches across China's far northeast — lives one of the country's smallest yet most culturally distinctive ethnic groups. The Hezhen people, numbering just over 5,300 according to the 2021 China Statistical Yearbook, are the northern minority group that once built an entire civilization around fishing. Known historically as the "Fish-Skin Tribe" and the "Dog-Using Tribe," the Hezhen are the only ethnic group in China who traditionally crafted clothing from fish skin — earning them the poetic title "the people who wear the river."

Despite their small population, the Hezhen carry a cultural legacy that spans over two millennia. Their language belongs to the Manchu-Tungusic branch of the Altaic language family, sharing roots with the Manchu people who once ruled China. Without a written script of their own, the Hezhen preserved their history, mythology, and survival knowledge entirely through oral tradition — most famously through the Yimakan epic storytelling art, which in 2025 was elevated from UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A 2,000-Year Journey: From Sushen to Hezhen

The Hezhen trace their lineage to the Sushen people — an ancient ethnic group recorded in Chinese historical texts as early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600–256 BCE). Through successive historical periods, their ancestors appeared under different names: Yilou during the Han dynasty, Wuji during the Northern and Southern dynasties, and Mohe during the Tang dynasty. By the time of the Liao and Jin dynasties (10th–13th centuries), they were known as part of the "Raw Jurchen" — the northern branch of the Jurchen people who resisted assimilation into the agrarian Chinese world.

The critical turning point came during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the Jurchen people split into three major branches: the Jianzhou Jurchen, the Haixi Jurchen, and the "Wild Jurchen" (Yeren Nüzhen). The Hezhen are the direct descendants of the Wild Jurchen — those who remained in the forests and rivers of the far northeast while their southern cousins migrated, unified under Nurhaci, and eventually became the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty. During the early Qing period, the Hezhen were administered through a dual system of household registration and banner organization, and many were forcibly assimilated into the Manchu Eight Banners, dramatically reducing their population.

The Hezhen people's history is also one of resistance. In 1651, when Russian Cossack forces under Yerofey Khabarov invaded the Amur region, Hezhen warriors joined with Qing troops to defend their homeland. During the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–1945), dozens of Hezhen youth joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, fighting in the forests and marshes of their ancestral territory. The price was devastating: by 1945, when Japan surrendered, the Hezhen population within China had collapsed to barely 300 individuals — a people on the very edge of extinction. From that nadir, they have slowly recovered to over 5,300 today, a testament to extraordinary cultural resilience.

Where the Rivers Meet: Hezhen Distribution and Settlement

The Hezhen are concentrated in the Sanjiang Plain — the vast alluvial lowland where the Heilongjiang (Amur), Songhua, and Ussuri rivers converge in Heilongjiang Province. Their settlement pattern follows what locals call the "Three Townships and Two Villages" (San Xiang Liang Cun): the Jiejinkou Hezhen Township and Bacha Hezhen Township in Tongjiang City; the Sipai Hezhen Township in Raohe County under Shuangyashan City; and the Aoqi Hezhen Village in Jiamusi City's suburbs, plus the Zhuaji Hezhen Village in Fuyuan City.

Of the roughly 5,373 Hezhen in China, approximately 70.8 percent — about 3,800 individuals — live in Heilongjiang Province. A small number are also distributed across other parts of Northeast China. Across the border in Russia, their ethnic kin are known as the Nanai (or Nani) people, numbering approximately 12,000, who live along the middle and lower reaches of the Amur River and on Sakhalin Island. The division dates to the unequal treaties of Aigun (1858) and Beijing (1860), when the Qing dynasty was forced to cede vast territories north of the Amur and east of the Ussuri to Tsarist Russia, splitting the Hezhen homeland in two.

The natural environment of the Sanjiang Plain has fundamentally shaped Hezhen life. The region's rivers teem with sturgeon, salmon, and the prized kaluga sturgeon — whose roe, cartilage, and swim bladder were once tribute items sent to the Qing imperial court alongside ginseng and freshwater pearls as the "Three Treasures of the Northeast." The surrounding wetlands and forests provided game, wild vegetables, and medicinal plants. For centuries, this ecosystem sustained a way of life entirely adapted to the rhythms of the water.

Wearing the River: The World's Only Fish-Skin Clothing Tradition

The Hezhen are the only ethnic group in China — and one of the very few in the world — to have developed a complete clothing tradition based on fish skin. This is not a curiosity or a tourist novelty; it was a sophisticated adaptation to an environment where large mammal hides were scarce but fish were abundant. The technique requires processing the skins of large freshwater fish — primarily carp, grass carp, and chum salmon — through an elaborate multi-stage process: peeling the skin, scraping away flesh and fat, drying, and then repeatedly beating the dried skin with a wooden mallet until it becomes soft and pliable enough to sew.

The resulting material is remarkably practical: naturally waterproof, wind-resistant, and surprisingly durable in the harsh winters of northeast China where temperatures can drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius. Hezhen women would stitch the softened skins into full-length robes, trousers, boots, and even tents. The seams were reinforced with fish-glue adhesive made from boiled fish bladders. Clothing was decorated with embroidered cloud patterns, geometric designs, and floral motifs — often dyed with natural plant pigments — that transformed functional garments into works of art.

In 2006, Hezhen fish-skin crafting was inscribed on China's first National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Today, the tradition is experiencing a remarkable revival. In Bacha Hezhen Township, the Haizhu Fish-Skin Handicraft Cooperative, founded by national-level inheritor Wang Haizhu, has trained 74 apprentices and generates annual revenues exceeding 100,000 RMB from fish-skin paintings, accessories, and decorative items. Young artisans are now combining traditional fish-skin techniques with contemporary design — creating earrings, handbags, and even fish-skin wall art that appeals to a new generation. At the 2026 National People's Congress, Hezhen representative Liu Lei showcased fish-skin items incorporating cloisonné-style wire inlay, demonstrating how this ancient craft continues to evolve.

Voices on the Water: Yimakan and the Oral Soul of the Hezhen

Without a written language, the Hezhen preserved their entire cultural memory through the human voice. The supreme achievement of this oral tradition is Yimakan — a form of epic storytelling that combines spoken narration with sung verse, performed without musical accompaniment by a single storyteller. A single Yimakan performance can last for hours or even days, weaving together tales of hero-warriors called "Mergen," shamanic battles, hunting expeditions, wedding feasts, and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

Yimakan is divided into two forms: "Big Singing" (Dachang), which focuses on long heroic epics with spoken narration as the primary mode and singing as accompaniment; and "Small Singing" (Xiaochang), which reverses the emphasis — singing takes the lead, telling shorter lyrical stories about fishing life, romance, and the natural world. The most famous characters in Yimakan are the Mergen hero — a warrior of superhuman strength who gathers multiple wives through bride-contests and conquest — and the "Kuoli," a divine eagle-spirit who is often the hero's wife or sister, capable of transforming into a mighty bird to rescue him in battle.

By the early 2000s, Yimakan was on the brink of extinction — fewer than five elders could still perform complete cycles. In 2011, UNESCO placed it on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. What happened next is one of China's most successful cultural preservation stories. The central government invested over 18 million RMB, seven transmission centers (Chuanxi Suo) were established across the Hezhen settlements, and more than 1,300 training sessions were conducted. The number of recognized inheritors grew from 5 in 2011 to 121 by 2025. In December 2025, UNESCO elevated Yimakan from the Urgent Safeguarding list to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — a historic "double success" that also saw the Yimakan protection plan selected for UNESCO's Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.

Today, Yimakan is taught in primary schools in Tongjiang City, where students as young as eight learn to sing classic passages like "Shitel Mergen." The Tongjiang Digital Intangible Heritage Museum, opened in August 2025, uses holographic projection and VR technology to let visitors "learn" Yimakan from virtual inheritors. A new generation of young inheritors — including the post-90s artist Hu Yi, who has fused Yimakan melodies with modern music and posted them on short-video platforms, earning hundreds of thousands of views — is ensuring the ancient songs find new ears.

Life by the Water: Festivals, Food, and the Hezhen Calendar

The Hezhen year revolves around the fishing seasons. Spring fishing runs from Guyu (late April) to Xiaoman (late May), when the ice breaks and nets can be cast for a variety of fish. Early summer, around the Dragon Boat Festival, is the peak season for sturgeon and kaluga — a 20-day window when these massive fish migrate upstream. Autumn, beginning around Bailu (early September), brings the prized chum salmon run. Winter fishing, conducted through holes cut in the ice, uses specialized techniques like net-dragging under the frozen surface and hook-lines set through ice holes.

The most important festival in the contemporary Hezhen calendar is the Wurigong Festival — meaning "joyful gathering" in the Hezhen language. Held every four years and rotating among the Hezhen settlements, the Wurigong Congress is a multi-day celebration combining traditional sports competitions (archery, grass-ball spearing, wrestling, dog-sled racing, and the unique "neck-strength" contest), dance performances, and Yimakan storytelling. The 12th Wurigong Congress was held in Jiamusi City in June 2025, drawing thousands of participants and visitors. The festival has become a powerful engine for cultural tourism, with local authorities developing a "Four-Season Hezhen" tourism brand: Spring River-Opening Festival, Summer Wurigong, Autumn fishing experiences, and Winter ice-and-snow folklore.

Hezhen cuisine is among the most distinctive in China. The signature dish is "Talha" — fresh fish sliced thin and roasted briefly over an open flame until the outside chars while the inside remains nearly raw, then dipped in vinegar and salt. "Sulike" is frozen raw fish shaved into paper-thin curls like wood shavings, served with chili oil and vinegar — a winter delicacy. "Labeteka" is fresh raw fish sliced and eaten with wild river-onion and wild pepper. Fish floss (yu song), made by slow-cooking and shredding fish meat until it becomes a dry, fluffy condiment, appears at every Hezhen meal. The traditional diet is supplemented with wild vegetables, berries, and millet as a secondary staple.

Social organization among the Hezhen historically revolved around the "Hala Mokun" — a clan-based system combining the Hala (surname/clan) and Mokun (family lineage), each led by an elder called the Hala Da or Mokun Da. These leaders managed fishing territories, resolved disputes, and organized collective hunts. Fishing grounds were traditionally communal; hunters respected a first-come, first-served rule for hunting territories. Disputes were settled through a compensation system called "Naweile" — payments of livestock or goods determined by clan elders, whose decision, once finalized by striking the ground with a staff, was binding.

Between River and Sky: Shamanism and the Hezhen Cosmos

The Hezhen traditional belief system is animist and shamanic. The natural world is populated by spirits — of rivers, mountains, animals, and ancestors — that must be respected, appeased, or negotiated with. The shaman (Saman) served as the intermediary between the human and spirit worlds, capable of entering trance states to heal the sick, divine the location of fish and game, escort souls of the dead to the afterlife, and combat malevolent spirits. Shamanic rituals involved drumming on single-sided frame drums, wearing belts of iron bells, and entering ecstatic states through dance and chanting.

The most important shamanic ceremony was the "Deer God Dance" (Tiao Lushen), performed collectively in spring after the ice broke and in autumn before the rivers froze. The shaman would lead the entire community in a procession, visiting every household to drive away evil and bless the coming season. Shamanic costumes were elaborate works of art: headdresses adorned with antlers or metal prongs, aprons hung with copper mirrors and bells, and robes decorated with symbols representing the shaman's spirit helpers — fish, birds, snakes, and the all-important Kuoli eagle.

The Hezhen also maintained a complex system of taboos and customary law governing daily life. Fishermen sharing a fishing ground followed a pre-agreed rotation system. Hunters respected boundary markers between hunting territories. Women were forbidden from stepping over hunting weapons, which was believed to rob them of their power. The bear held special ritual significance — its killing required apology ceremonies, and its bones were carefully buried rather than discarded, reflecting a belief in the animal's spiritual power and the need for its regeneration. While these beliefs have largely faded from daily practice, they survive in Yimakan narratives and are increasingly studied by anthropologists as a window into the indigenous cosmologies of Northeast Asia.

Singing into the Future: The Hezhen in Modern China

The Hezhen today stand at a crossroads between tradition and modernity — and the signs are remarkably hopeful. Cultural tourism has become an economic lifeline for Hezhen communities. In 2024 alone, Aoqi Town near Jiamusi received over 300,000 visitors. The Tongjiang Digital Intangible Heritage Museum draws tourists who can wear VR headsets to "paddle" a birch-bark canoe or stand before holographic projections of master Yimakan singers. In Bacha village, visitors can spend a day learning to sew fish-skin crafts, taste Talha roasted over an open fire, and listen to Yimakan under the stars — an immersive model that transforms culture from something preserved in glass cases into something lived and shared.

Economic diversification has been crucial. While fishing remains an important livelihood, Hezhen communities now run guesthouses, handicraft cooperatives, and cultural experience programs. The fish-skin craft industry has moved beyond subsistence — fish-skin paintings now sell to collectors across China, and fish-skin fashion accessories are marketed through e-commerce platforms. Some Hezhen youth who left for cities are returning, drawn by the viability of cultural entrepreneurship and government support for ethnic minority development.

Challenges remain. The Hezhen language, with no written form, remains vulnerable despite revival efforts. While over 300 people now have some Hezhen language proficiency — up from near-zero two decades ago — intergenerational transmission is still fragile. Intermarriage with Han Chinese is common, and most Hezhen children grow up speaking Mandarin as their first language. Climate change and environmental degradation in the Sanjiang Plain have affected fish stocks. Yet the trajectory is unmistakably positive: from 300 survivors in 1945 to over 5,300 today, from a dying oral tradition to a UNESCO-recognized world heritage, from subsistence fishing to cultural tourism entrepreneurship. The Hezhen story is not one of a vanishing people, but of a people who have repeatedly reinvented survival into flourishing.

Why the Hezhen Matter

In an age when travel is increasingly about authentic cultural encounters rather than checklist sightseeing, the Hezhen offer something genuinely rare: a living civilization shaped by water, preserved through voice, and dressed in the skin of fish. Their fish-skin clothing is not merely a handicraft — it is a philosophy of using what the environment provides without waste. Their Yimakan epics are not just entertainment — they are an entire library of history, ethics, and ecological knowledge encoded in melody and memory. Their Wurigong Festival is not just a tourist attraction — it is the heartbeat of a people who have refused to let their culture die.

For travelers to China's northeast, the Hezhen settlements along the Songhua and Ussuri rivers offer a window into a world that exists nowhere else. For scholars, the Hezhen provide a living link to the ancient Tungusic cultures that once spanned from Siberia to the Sea of Japan. For anyone interested in what cultural resilience actually looks like, the Hezhen demonstrate that survival is not about numbers it is about the will to keep singing.