This act demonstrated the respect shown by the government towards minorities, since at the time of the banner's establishment, the minority was quite small. As of 1979 the head of the banner was an Ewenki who was rigorously pro-party and who took great pride, for the sake of the Ewenki, in his appointment. Today, the Ewenki have a say in the management of their own affairs. Under the new government, literacy and production has improved. While the Ewenki have no written language, they speak three dialects.
Ewenki life is one of isolation.
Their homes are tents and the sky is their roof. They are a nomadic people who build storerooms in trees where they keep grain, clothes, and household items not being used. The region they inhabit is rich in coal, iron, and petroleum and is also home to the reindeer that the Ewenki both hunt and herd. At the age of six or seven, Ewenki children learn to pasture the animals. A special kind of unusually large deer, the David's deer, is used for transport when they are out on a hunt.