Aoluguya Ewenki Reindeer Village

The Aoluguya Ewenki are the only reindeer-herding community in China, descended from groups who moved south from Siberia and who lived in the Greater Khingan taiga hunting and herding until the government resettled them in 2003 into houses at Aoluguya near Genhe, a move that remains contested within the community, with some families returning to camps in the forest. Reindeer are kept at the settlement, where visitors can see and feed them, and a museum covers the group's history, birchbark craft, shamanic tradition and the difficult transition from forest life. The wider Genhe area is among the coldest inhabited parts of China, with recorded lows below minus fifty.

Highlights

• The reindeer - herds kept at the settlement, fed by visitors.
• The museum - Ewenki history, birchbark craft and shamanic material.
• The resettlement story - the 2003 move from the taiga and its consequences.
• The taiga setting - larch and birch forest around Genhe.

When to go

June to September for accessible travel and green forest, or December to February for deep snow, which suits the reindeer and the photographs but brings extreme cold. Spring and autumn are short.

Practical notes

The visitor settlement is a managed site rather than a working camp, and some find it staged. The community's situation involves real hardship and disagreement over resettlement, which the presentation touches on lightly. Genhe is remote and cold beyond most visitors' experience.

Nearby

Genhe lies south; the Ergun wetlands and border villages are southwest.