Monografiya predstavlyaet soboy pervoe v rossiyskoy istoriografii kompleksnoe issledovanie zhivushchey na severo-vostoke Kitayskoy Narodnoy Respubliki maloizuchennoy mongoloyazychnoy narodnosti daury. Osnovu knigi sostavili polevye materialy avtora, sobrannye im vo vremya provedeniya ekspeditsiy v gorodskoy okrug Khulun-Buir Avtonomnogo rayona Vnutrennyaya Mongoliya i provintsiyu Kheyluntszyan KNR (2004-2007, 2011). Avtorom proanalizirovany takzhe rossiyskie i zarubezhnye materialy po issleduemoy teme, izuchen ryad istochnikov, napisannykh na mongol'skoy pis'mennosti. V knige rassmatrivayutsya voprosy rasseleniya, chislennosti, proiskhozhdeniya, rodovogo sostava daurov, issleduyutsya osobennosti ikh khozyaystva i traditsionnoy kul'tury (poseleniy, zhilishch, pishchi, odezhdy, shamanskoy religii, narodnykh igr i prazdnikov, semeynogo byta i t.d.). Vo mnogikh sluchayakh spetsifika material'noy i dukhovnoy kul'tury daurov issleduetsya v sopostavlenii s kul'turoy drugikh narodov. Kniga rasschitana na etnografov, istorikov, shirokiy krug chitateley.