The Role of V. K. Arseniev in Preserving the Life and Culture of the Taz People in Primorsky Krai
The article examines the professional activity of V. K. Arseniev, known as a writer and researcher of Kamchatka, the Amur Region and Primorye. If in foreign countries V. K. Arseniev is known only as a writer, in Russia he is also known as a researcher in the field of ethnography, archeology, geography, toponymy and other sciences. One of the main directions of his professional activity was the study of the ethnic history and culture of the Taz, Udege and other ethnic groups of the Amur Region and Primorsky Krai. Having studied the history and culture of the Udege people and the Ussuri Taz people in 1916, Arsenyev initially noted that there were no kinship relations between the Udege people and the Taz, but ten years later he officially announced that the Taz were a southern group of Udege people who had been assimilated by Chinese outsiders. This statement of Arseniev saved the Taz from repression by the Soviet government. Nowadays it is proved that the Taz and Udege people belong to different peoples. The Taz have their own history and culture, their own language, enriched with words from the Tungus-Manchu languages, and related to the Beijing dialect of the Chinese language. The life path of a patriot of his country, an ascetic of Russian science, a tireless practitioner and a talented writer deserves special attention. The scientific research and literary work of V. K. Arseniev were highly appreciated by the Norwegian traveler Fridtjof Nansen, the Soviet writer Maxim Gorky and the Russian ethnographer L. Ya. Sternberg.