我是第一次到赫哲族居住的地方来，感到很亲切。《乌苏里船歌》唱的“船儿满江鱼满舱”的美好画面早就给我留下深刻印象。赫哲族虽然人口较少，但看到你们生活欣欣向荣，后代健康成长，文化代代传承，为你们感到高兴。

This is the first time that I visit the place where the Hezhe ethnic group live, and it gives me a specially good feeling. The beautiful scene in the song Chanty of Wusuli of "the holds of boats are filled with fish that abound in the river" impressed me deeply when I was young. Though the Hezhe has a small population, you live a prosperous life, with offsprings growing healthily and culture carried forward. I am very happy for you.

——习近平总书记2016年5月24日在黑龙江省同江市八岔赫哲族乡八岔村看望赫哲族群众时说

——An excerpt from President Xi Jinping's speech made on a visit to Hezhe people of Bacha Village in Bacha Hezhe Autonomous Town, Tongjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, May 24, 2016

“乌苏里江来长又长，蓝蓝的江水起波浪，赫哲人撒开千张网，船儿满江鱼满舱……”一曲《乌苏里船歌》传唱半个多世纪，让很多人知道了在我国东北边陲，世代居住着一个以渔猎为生的民族——赫哲族。

"Wusuli River is long, its blue water raising waves. Hezhe people spread a thousand fishing nets, and the holds of boats are filled with fish that abound in the river..." The song Chanty of Wusuli has been popular for over half a century, making the fishing and hunting lifestyle of the Hezhe people at the northeast frontier of China known.

赫哲族是中国人口较少民族之一，主要居住在黑龙江、乌苏里江、松花江流域。因食鱼肉、穿鱼皮、用犬拉雪橇，赫哲族曾被称作“鱼皮部”“使犬部”。

The Hezhe ethnic group is one with a small population(less than 300,000) in China, living mainly in the Heilong, Wusuli and Songhua River valleys. They were once called the "yupi bu" (fish-skin subgroup) and "shiquan bu" (dog-using subgroup) because they ate fish, wore clothing made out of fish skins, and used dog sleds.

勤劳勇敢的赫哲族人民自古就有保家卫国的传统。清代，面对沙俄入侵，赫哲人进行了顽强的抗争。抗日战争时期，赫哲族军民在白山黑水之间英勇杀敌，为抗战胜利作出了贡献。然而，由于战争、自然灾害等原因，新中国成立初期，中国境内的赫哲族人口仅剩300余人。在党和国家的关怀下，赫哲族翻身做了主人，开始了新生活，人口逐步恢复。

The hardworking and brave Hezhe people carried forward the fine tradition of defending against invasions since the ancient time. They valiantly resisted Russian invasions in the Qing dynasty. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Hezhe militias and civilians bravely fought the Japanese troops at the Changbai Mountain and the Heilong River, contributing to the victory of the war. Due to wars, natural disasters and other factors, however, its population in China remained only about 300 in the early days of the People's Republic. With the support of the Party and the government, the Hezhe people became masters of the country with a new life and the population gradually grew.

真正让赫哲族家喻户晓的，当属民歌经典《乌苏里船歌》。上世纪60年代初，年轻的词作者胡小石带着挖掘民族音乐宝藏的想法，到赫哲族聚居地采风。“从一个人口很少的民族成了国家的主人翁之一，这个民族的新旧社会对比很强烈。”胡小石说，“这种幸福感是很明显的，所以来了以后我就舍不得走，这正是我要寻找的题材。”胡小石把赫哲人的心声和幸福感集中在这画面里，完成了《乌苏里船歌》歌词部分的创作。这首歌的旋律，是根据赫哲族民间曲调改编而成的。

It was the classic folk song Chanty of Wusuli that made the Hezhe people a household name. In the early 1960s, young lyricist Hu Xiaoshi went to the Hezhe settlements in the hope of exploring ethnic music treasures. "From an ethnic minority with a very small population to one of the masters of the country, there was a strong contrast between the old and the new society for the Hezhe people," said Hu Xiaoshi. "This sense of happiness is very conspicuous. So I was unwilling to leave as soon as I was there. That's the very thing I had been searching for." Hu Xiaoshi completed the lyrics of the song Chanty of Wusuli in a way that reflected the innermost feelings and happiness of the Hezhe people in the scene described. The song's tune was composed based on folk melodies of the ethnic group.

“赫哲人撒开千张网，船儿满江鱼满舱。”捕鱼，是赫哲人世代沿袭的谋生方式。然而，在上世纪90年代，因为江水受到工业污染，加上过度捕捞，传统渔业受到冲击。在党和国家的扶持下，赫哲人逐渐“弃船上岸”，发展网箱养鱼、种植养殖等产业。进入新世纪，在兴边富民行动等政策支持下，赫哲人走出一条多业并举的转产转型路子，积极投身绿色订单农业、特色渔牧产业、文化旅游产业，立足特色优势开展多种经营，生活一年上一个台阶。

"Hezhe people cast a thousand fishing nets, and the holds of boats are filled with fish that abound in the river." Fishing had been a means of livelihood that the Hezhe people followed one generation after another. But traditional fishing was severely impacted in the 1990s as a result of industrial pollution and overfishing. With the support of the Party and the government, the Hezhe people gradually went on shore and developed cage culture, farming, livestock breeding and other industries. In the new century, with such supporting policies as the Action for Vitalizing Boarder Areas and Enriching the People, the Hezhe people created a pathway of transitioning to a combination of industries including green contract farming, featured fishery and livestock farming, and cultural tourism, with their life improved year by year.

2016年5月24日，习近平总书记冒雨来到黑龙江省同江市八岔赫哲族乡八岔村看望广大群众。在村民尤桂兰家中，习近平总书记语重心长地说，在祖国大家庭里，56个民族是亲兄弟。全面建成小康社会，一个民族都不能少。尤桂兰感动得热泪盈眶。

President Xi Jinping, in a heavy rain, visited the Hezhe people of Bacha Village in Bacha Hezhe Autonomous Town, Tongjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, on May 24, 2016. In villager You Guilan's home, President Xi Jinping said earnestly, "In the big family of the nation, the 56 ethnic groups are full brothers. No ethnic groups shall be left behind in comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society." You Guilan was moved to tears at the words.

尤桂兰特别能吃苦，20岁时就被评选为八岔村劳动模范，担任村妇联主任。1956年，她作为少数民族劳动模范代表进京，受到毛泽东主席的接见。毛主席说，他对每个少数民族关怀都不能缺少，对每个少数民族都很牵挂。

An extraordinarily hardy woman, at the age of 20 You Guilan was selected as a model worker of Bacha Village and worked as the director of the Women's Federation of the village. In 1956, she visited Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing as a representative of ethnic minority model workers. The Chairman said that he was very concerned about every ethnic minority.

两次接见，时隔60载，但党和国家领导人对少数民族的深切牵挂是始终如一的。“赫哲族人虽少，但党和国家始终没有忘记我们。”尤桂兰说，赫哲人倍感振奋，要建设好美好家园。

Though two meetings were 60 years apart, the concerns about the ethnic minorities by leaders of the Party and the country were consistent "Small in number as the Hezhe people are, the Party and the country never forgot us," said You Guilan, adding that the Hezhe people were much encouraged to build their hometown into a better place.

从最初的地窨子、马架子，上世纪五六十年代的泥草房、七八十年代的砖瓦房、九十年代的两层楼，再到如今的花园式住宅……蓝蓝的乌苏里江波涛依旧，赫哲人的生产生活却发生了翻天覆地的变化。以八岔村为例，几乎家家有新房、有汽车。除了种田、打鱼，近年来民俗旅游也搞得风生水起，不少人家将住宅改建成家庭旅馆，发展旅游业带动增收。

From initially the diyinzi and majiazi (both a simple dwelling, the former underground and the latter above-ground), the mud-grass houses in the 1950s-60s, the brick-tile houses in the 1970s-80s, the two-story buildings in the 1990s, to the park-like residences today... the blue Wusuli River remains unchanged, but dramatic changes have taken place to the life of the Hezhe people. Take Bacha Village as an example. Almost every family has a new house and a car. Apart from farming and fishing, folk tourism there flourished, with many families turning their houses into family inns as a practice of tourism to increase income.

赫哲村寨的发展日新月异，但巨变中也有坚守，那就是对中华优秀传统文化的守护。习近平总书记在看望赫哲族群众时就饶有兴趣地参观了赫哲族民俗展，观看了赫哲族传统说唱艺术伊玛堪，并为优秀文化代代传承感到高兴。

Hezhe villages developed rapidly. Despite drastic changes, one thing remains unchanged - their preservation of their fine traditional Chinese culture. While meeting the Hezhe people, President Xi Jinping, with great interest, also visited a folk custom exhibition of Hezhe, watched their traditional Yimakan storytelling, and commended them for carrying forward the fine culture.

伊玛堪是世界级非物质文化遗产，古老而独特，《乌苏里船歌》就借鉴了伊玛堪的曲调。赫哲族只有语言、没有文字，伊玛堪一度面临传承危机。在各级政府的扶持下，如今赫哲族聚居地建成了伊玛堪传习所，学员们传承优秀传统文化的热情高涨。根植于赫哲族渔猎文化的鱼皮画、鱼皮衣制作技艺等，也得到了传承弘扬。

The Yimakan is a world intangible cultural heritage, an ancient and unique tradition, from which the tune of the song Chanty of Wusuli borrowed. As the Hezhe have no writing system but a dialect, the Yimakan was once in an inheriting crisis. Supported by various levels of government, the Hezhe people established a Yimakan training center, where the trainees, old and young, were passionate about communicating the fine traditional culture.The crafts of fish-skin painting and fish-skin clothing rooted in the fishing and hunting culture of the Hezhe people were also revived.

从70多年前仅存300余人到如今有5000多人，从渔猎到农耕，再到发展文化旅游等多业并举，赫哲族在“全面建成小康社会，一个民族都不能少”的征程中，唱响了新时代“乌苏里船歌”。

From a population of only more than 300 people 70 years ago to over 5,000 today, from fishing and hunting to farming to cultural tourism with multiple other industries, the Hezhe people is singing Chanty of Wusuli in the new era of "no ethnic group shall be left behind in comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society".