Ethnic Diversity in the Former Eastern Bloc, Part 2:
Selection of Women Representing Native Ethnic Groups from the Southern Caucasian Region, Central Asia, and Asian Russia
From left to right:
Row 1: a) Kyrgyz b) Uzbek c) Abkhaz - Georgia
Row 2: a) Turkmen b) South Ossetian - Georgia 3) Shughni Pamiri - Tajikistan
Row 3: a) Shughni Pamiri - Tajikistan b) Kazakh c) Armenian
Row 4: a) Kazakh b) Uyghur - Kazakhstan c) Georgian
Row 5: a) Kyrgyz b) Sakha (Yakut) - Russia c) Tuvan - Russia
Row 6: a) Telengit - Russia b) Buryat - Russia c) Buryat - Russia
Row 7: a) Altai - Russia b) Nivkh - Russia c) Khakas - Russia
Row 8: a) Altai - Russia b) Russian Cossack c) Chelkan - Russia
Source: "Les Origines de la Beauté" project by Natalia Ivanova
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Regions with significant populations: Sakhalin Oblast, the Nikolayevsky District
Languages and dialects: Russian, Nivkh, Amur, West Sakhalin, North Sakhalin, East Sakhalin, South Sakhalin
Religion: Nivkh shamanism, the Russian Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups: Ainu, Uilta (Orok), Nanai, Oroch, Ewenki, indigenous peoples of the Amur–Sakhalin region
The Nivkh are an Indigenous people of the Russian Far East whose historic homeland centers on northern Sakhalin Island and the lower Amur River basin; scholars describe them as likely among the oldest inhabitants of that region, and their own ethnonym, Nivkh, simply means “person.” They are especially notable for their language, which is generally treated as an isolate and is often grouped only for convenience with the broader “Paleosiberian” label; the language is internally diverse, with distinct varieties on the Amur and across Sakhalin, reflecting long geographic separation within a relatively small population. Traditionally, the Nivkh economy was built around fishing and, to a lesser extent, hunting, especially salmon and sea-mammal hunting, and their way of life was semi-sedentary, with regular movement between winter and summer camps and between different house types, including wooden summer dwellings and semi-underground winter houses. Their social world was never isolated in a literal sense: they maintained trade and marriage ties with neighboring Nanais and other Tungusic-speaking peoples of the Amur, as well as with the Ainu of southern Sakhalin, while also exchanging furs and other goods with Chinese merchants and officials centuries before Russian expansion. Russian imperial colonization, and later Soviet policies, profoundly altered Nivkh life by concentrating settlements, disrupting subsistence patterns, and accelerating language shift; today, most Nivkh speak Russian in daily life, while Nivkh is endangered and used only in limited community, ceremonial, and educational settings. Their ritual life has long included shamanic traditions and the bear festival, which scholars describe as a major ceremonial complex tied to clan identity, reciprocity with the spirit world, and the seasonal hunting cycle.
Fishskin Robes of the Ethnic Tungusic People of China and Russia
Oroch woman’s festive robe made of fish skin, leather, and decorative fur trimmings [image source].
Nivkh woman’s fish-skin festival coats (hukht), late 19th century. Cloth: fish skin, sinew (reindeer), cotton thread; appliqué and embroidery. Promised gift of Thomas Murray L2019.66.2, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, United States [image source].
Back view of a Nivkh woman’s robe [image source].
Front view of a Nivkh woman’s robe [image source].
Women’s clothing, collected from a Nivkh community in 1871, now in the National Museum of Denmark. Photo by Roberto Fortuna, courtesy Wikimedia Commons [image source].
The Hezhe people 赫哲族 (also known as Nanai 那乃) are one of the smallest recognized minority groups in China composed of around five thousand members. Most live in the Amur Basin, more specifically, around the Heilong 黑龙, Songhua 松花, and Wusuli 乌苏里 rivers. Their wet environment and diet, composed of almost exclusively fish, led them to develop impermeable clothing made out of fish skin. Since they are part of the Tungusic family, their clothing bears resemblance to that of other Tungusic people, including the Jurchen and Manchu.
They were nearly wiped out during the Imperial Japanese invasion of China but, slowly, their numbers have begun to recover. Due to mixing with other ethnic groups who introduced the Hezhen to cloth, the tradition of fish skin clothing is endangered but there are attempts of preserving this heritage.
Hezhen woman stitching together fish skins [image source].
Top to bottom left: You Wenfeng, 68, an ethnic Hezhen woman, poses with her fishskin clothes at her studio in Tongjiang, Heilongjiang province, China December 31, 2019. Picture taken December 31, 2019 by Aly Song for Reuters [image source].
Hezhen woman showcasing her fishskin outfit [image source].
Hezhen fish skin jacket and pants, Hielongiang, China, mid 20th century. In the latter part of the 20th century only one or two families could still produce clothing like this made of joined pieces of fish skin, which makes even the later pieces extremely rare [image source].
Detail view of the stitching and material of a Hezhen fishskin jacket in the shape of a 大襟衣 dajinyi or dajin, contemporary. Ethnic Costume Museum of Beijing, China [image source].
Hezhen fishskin boots, contemporary. Ethnic Costume Museum of Beijing, China [image source].
Although Hezhen clothing is characterized by its practicality and ease of movement, it does not mean it’s devoid of complexity. Below are two examples of ornate female Hezhen fishskin robes. Although they may look like leather or cloth at first sight, they’re fully made of different fish skins stitched together. It shows an impressive technical command of the medium.
Image containing a set of Hezhen clothes including a woman’s fishskin robe [image source].
The Nivkh people of China and Russia also make clothing out of fish skin. Like the Hezhen, they also live in the Amur Basin but they are more concentrated on and nearby to Sakhalin Island in East Siberia.
Top to bottom left: Woman’s fish-skin festival coat (hukht) with detail views. Unknown Nivkh makers, late 19th century. Cloth: fish skin, sinew (reindeer), cotton thread; appliqué and embroidery. The John R. Van Derlip Fund and the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund; purchase from the Thomas Murray Collection 2019.20.31 [image source].
Top to bottom right: detail view of the lower hem of the robe to the left after cleaning [image source].
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