Publication des collections de l'EFEO
N° d'inventaire : 
EFEO_ELUM00005

Titre : 

Critère 16, "la « dernière photo »" : Dersu

Prise de vue : 

Miguel Eluosa
Asie orientale, Chine, Mongolie-Intérieure (région autonome), Genhe
Août, 2015

Description de la représentation : 
This photo was taken in city of Genhe, Inner Mongolia, near the Russian border. Gariba is an evenk (鄂温克族 – ewenke zu), an ethnic group that constitutes the smallest minority in China, with an estimated number of 30,000. The number of them living according to their ancestral lifestyle might be much lower since the majority of them have already sinizised (beihanhua). Although originally from Siberia, some nomadic groups have inhabited the Chinese taiga for centuries. There was a time when ewenks would live from hunting and herding reindeers. However, a transformation of their lifestyle started when the Chinese government banned the possession of guns. Likewise, urbanisation forced Gariba and his family to move from his hometown to another region a few hundred kilometres away. Finally, the arrival of hordes of tourists has completed this transformation, as Gariba has become a target of the cameras. His family has already moved to the nearest town but he still remains here with his brother selling tickets to tourists interested in having a look at his shelter and reindeers. The population of bears and wolfs in the forest has greatly increased and sometimes reindeers suffer attacks from them. When asked how he deals with this problem, he answers laconically “wo you banfa” (I have a way to deal with it).