HeilongjiangNational Series, 2015(02)

Abstract: Daur is one ofChina's ethnic minorities with less population, Meilisi Daur District inQiqihar City, Hei Longjiang Province is one of the important gathering place ofDaur. Although the population of Daur ethnic group is small, it has a longhistory. Among all its historic and cultural resources, “Uqun” is one of themost important oral culture. However, the protection and inheritance of Dauroral culture are facing many challenges. Based on the need to protect andinherit, various effective measures must be taken to make a combination inbetween the protection, utilization, inheritance and innovation of Daur oralculture.

Key Words: Daur ethnicgroup; oral culture; minorities with less population

Outline:

There are 28 ethnic groups with a population of less than 300,000 inChina, among them 7 are in Hei Longjiang Province and Daur is one of the ethnicgroups mentioned above. Discussions on Daur oral culture protection andinheritance issues are of practical needs.

There are three parts in this paper, including: Connotation andFunction of Oral Culture; Current Situation of Daur Oral Culture Protection andInheritance; Actions on Daur Oral Culture Protection and Inheritance.

In the first part, it introduces the relevant concepts and backgroundsof Chinese oral culture and it also introduces “Uqun” and its evolution. Theoral culture, especially “Uqun”, have functions of documenting culturaltraditions, standardizing the group’s social life and regulating ethnicrelations.

In the second part, it points out the current situation of Daur oralculture protection and inheritance, the difficulties and challenges are alsoexisted, such as: ethnic culture weakening, indifference to the inheritance,the ignorance of the ethnic culture education and deficiency of governmentmanagement.

In the third part, it givessome suggestions for protecting and inheriting Daur oral culture, including: 1)Enhancing the awareness of protection and inheritance. Firstly, widelypublicizing the importance and urgency of Daur oral culture protection;secondly, focus on protecting the original Eco-culture of “Uqun”; thirdly,cultivating ethnic cultural inheritors. 2) Making greater efforts on protectionand inheritance. Firstly, expanding the external influence of Daur oralculture; secondly, establishing formal cultural research institutions for Uqunculture; thirdly, raising money towards Daur oral culture studies. 3) Makingfull use of modern technical means. Firstly, establishing acoustic database ofsound language; secondly, setting up related websites for sharing resources. 4)Improving the protection and inheritance mechanism. Firstly, establishing Daurethnic culture data archives, museums and libraries; secondly, establishingoutdoors research base for working in the open. 5) The schools should give fullplay to the functions of Daur oral culture protection and inheritance.