Hulunbuirhavemany differentethnicminoritygroups, amongthemareMongols, Daur, Evenksand theOroqen. The Mongols is the largestminoritygroup in the area.

Mongolshave a total population of 5. 81 million people in China. It the largestethnicminoritygroup.Theyaremainlydistributed over Inner Mongolia, the northeasternprovinces, Xinjiang, Hebei and Qinghai. The Mongols arealsocalled ”the HorsebackPeople”.Theoriginal religion of the MongolswasShamanismbutnowmanypractice buddhism.

Daurmainly live in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang Province. A fewDauralsolives in the Tachengprefecture in Xinjiang. Daurhas a total population ofabout 132 000 people in China.Most of the Daurs live in Hulunbuirwhich has a Daur population ofmorethan70 000.ManyDaursareshamanists. Eachclan has itsown shaman in charge of all the importantceremonies in the livesof the Daur. However,thereare a significantnumberofDaurswhohave taken upLamaism (Tibetan Buddhism).

Evenks(Ewenkis)can be found in Heilongjiang Province (northeast China) and Inner Mongolia. "Evenks"means ”peopleliving in the bigmountains”. There is about 30 000 evenks in China and about88%ofthemlive inHulunbuir. The Evenkscan be dividedinto 2 major groups: hunting, reindeer-breeding and horse, cattle pastoral. The Evenksareknown for theirdeeprespect for animals and all elements ofnature.

The Oroqenminorityis distributed over thenortheastern part of Inner Mongolia.The total population ofthisethnicminority is only 8000 and about4 000 ofthemareliving in the Hulunbuir area. The name "Oroqen”means "peopleusingreindeer”.TheOroqensaremainly hunters, and it is customaryofthemtouse animal fur and skins for clothing. At thistimemanyof the Oroqens has given uphunting. They live in so calledXierenzhudwellings.In the summer theyarecoveredwithbirch bark and in the winterwithdeer furs. Thesedwellingshaveconical forms and aremadeoutof 20 to 30 pine sticks and aboutsix meters of diameter and five meters ofheight.