Udege People

Udege (Удэгейцы in Russian; ethnonym: удээ and удэхе, or udee and udehe correspondingly) are a people who live in the Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai regions in Russia, the native population of this region. They live along the tributaries of the Ussuri, Amur, Kungari and Anyuy Rivers. The Udege speak the Udege language, which belongs to the Tungusic language family. Their religious beliefs include animism, animal worship and shamanism. The Udege are mainly engaged in hunting, fishing and ginseng picking. According to the 2002 census, there were 1,657 Udege in Russia, a slight increase from 1,500 in 1970).

Udege biggest settlements are in :
- Khabarovsk krai : Gvasiugi (Imeni Lazo District) and Arsenievo (Nanaysky District)
- Primorsky krai : Agzu (Terneysky District), Krasny Yar and Olon (Pozharsky District)

Since the advent of Perestroika, the Udege, led by Pavel Sulyandziga, have been actively involved in the struggle for control over their traditional territories along the Bikin River. A central objective has been the establishment of a Territory of Traditional Natural Resource Use of federal status, which was proposed in cooperation with the national umbrella organisation RAIPON and the Russian Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography but failed to by approved by the authorities.

Out of 40 Udeges living in Ukraine, only 8 declared Udege as their native language. The most of Udeges in Ukraine indicated Russian (19) or Ukrainian (6) as their native languages. For 7 it is some other tongue.