Nanai people

Nanai / Hezhen
нанай, нани, хэдзэни
Nanai children. Girls are in traditional costume "pokto".
Total population
c. 18,000 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
Russia, China
 Russia 11,623[1]
China (Heilongjiang)5,354[2]
Languages
Nanai, Russian (in Russia), Mandarin Chinese (in China)
Religion
Majority:
Shamanism
Minority:
Tibetan Buddhism
Russian Orthodoxy
Related ethnic groups
Evenks, Oroqen, Manchus, Udege, other Tungusic peoples

The Nanai people (Russian: нанайцы, romanizednanaitsy) are a Tungusic people of East Asia who have traditionally lived along Heilongjiang (Amur), Songhuajiang (Sunggari) and Wusuli River (Ussuri)[3] on the Middle Amur Basin. The ancestors of the Nanai were the Wild Jurchens of northernmost Manchuria (outside China- Russian Manchuria).

The Nanai language belongs to the Manchu-Tungusic family. According to the 2010 census there were 12,003 Nanai in Russia.

  1. ^ "Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  2. ^ Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China [1] (2010)
  3. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Golds" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 213.

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