Kalmyk deportations of 1943 originally nomadic shepherds of Dzungaria. They speak a West Mongolian language, an Altaic language. They practice Lamaism, a form of Buddhism practiced also in Tibet. In the 1630s, several Oirat tribes migrated westwards and settled along the Volga river. They were consolidated into a new ethnic group, the Kalmyks. While a part of their group went back to Dzungaria, others stayed and recognized the authority of the Russian Empire by the 18th century. During the Russian Civil War, a majority of Kalmyks actively participated in anti-communist Russian armies. When the Bolsheviks ultimately took power, numerous anti-communist people emigrated from Russia
History of the Eastern Orthodox Church of "religia-illicitata". Several Orthodox congregations continue to meet in Beijing and northeast China (in Heilongjiang and elsewhere), with, apparently, the tacit consent of the government. There are also Orthodox parishes in Shanghai, Province of Guangdong, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the church operates relatively freely. Although many of them have adopted Lamaism – which is the mainstream form of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism – the Evenks of both the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China are a nominally Orthodox Christian people. Along with their Evenks cousins and a few other tribes in Siberia or in