News and events

On September 9 and 10, the Amur State University welcomed the Eleventh International Olympiad on Languages and Cultures of the Evenks, Evens of Russia and Orochons of China "TUREN-2024". It brought together more than 200 people aged 4 to 80, who represented six ethnic groups of our country – Evenks, Evens, Nanais, Udege, Uilta and Russians.

 The opening ceremony was attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Amur region Government Andrey Dyumin, the President of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East Grigory Ledkov, the Head of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Interethnic Relations of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs of the Russian Federation Timur Tsybikov, the Chairman of the Public Chamber of the Amur Region Viktor Martsenko and the Rector of the Amur State University Andrey Plutenko.

 "This important project is included in the Federal Action Plan for the cross-cultural Years of Russia and China 2024-2025. The geography of the Olympiad from the Russian side is quite wide – from the Urals to the Sakhalin. Now the endangered languages of the Amur region have a new function – the Tungus languages became a means of international communication, communication between related Tungus peoples living in Russia and China, and we should keep it," said Andrey Dolievich.

This year the topic of the Olympiad was taiga and nomadic families, their past, present and future. The Olympiad program is divided into two blocks, which take place in Russia and China. Participants and guests of the event saw traditional dances, listened to songs and were able to take part in shamanic rituals. Participants also took part in a photo tour, visited the autumn season of the "Northern conference", joined practical classes on Evenki language for teachers of national schools of the country, recorded a Tungus fairy tale and attended a gala concert of national dance groups.

The second block will start on September 11 in China. There will be an international children’s competition "I can speak in my native language" and a sightseeing tour of Heihe.

International Olympiad "TUREN" annually proves its status as a popular, relevant, significant cultural and educational event of northeast Asia.

The co-organizing partners of the event were the Office of the Governor of the Amur region and the Government of the Amur region, the Ministry of Culture and National Policy of the Amur region, the Ministry of Education of the Amur region, the Amur Regional House of Folk Art, the Public Chamber of the Amur region, and the Association of Peoples of Russia in the Amur region.

Photo: Natalia Pospelova.