Speak Real Chinese

赫哲(hézhé), literally meaning ‘the east’, is the minority with fewest population (4640) in China. They have a long history (6000 years) of living in the northeast (Provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) of China, mainly distributed in the vicinity of three rivers (Heilongjiang, Songhuajiang and Wusulijiang). They speak their own language 赫哲语, share a common religon Shaman (萨满) with many other ethnics, and have all kinds of seafood as their traditional food sources . At the first time a 赫哲人 drinks wine, he/she has to spoil the wine towards earth and sky to show his/her sacrifice to Gods. Most time of a year they drink cool water and seldom drink tea (quite different from 汉). A Hezhe mother with new born baby usually eats all kinds of porridges and fish soups. She would not have any green vegetables in case of diarrhea but have hot rice to keep warm until her maternity leave. The photo on the upper right is the famous 赫哲 singer, 韩庚 (Hán Gēng, also named Hankyung in Korean). His professoinal career is primarily in South Korea and he is a leading member of the band ‘Super Junior-M’. For sure, he is still a proud Chinese. The following is one of his famous songs (in Chinese), ‘Say No’. Enjoy!

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