MONGOLIA in TRANSITION

NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES

Studies in Asian Topics

12. IsLAM: STATE AND Scx:rETY

Klaus Ferdinand and Mehdi Mozaffari (Editors)

13. AsiAN TRADE RoUTES

Karl Reinhold Hrellquist (Editor)

14. HUNTING AND FISHING IN A I<AMMU VILLAGE

Darnrong Tayanin and Kristina Lindell

15. RENEGOTIATING LocAL VALVES

Merete Lie and Ragnhild Lund

16. LEADERSHIP ON }AVA

Hans Antlov and Sven Cederroth (Editors)

17. VIETNAM IN A CHANGING WORLD

Irene Nerlund, Vu Cao Dam and Carolyn Gates (Editors)

18. AsiAN PERCEPTIONS OF NATURE

Ole Bruun and Arne Kalland (Editors)

19. IMPERIAL POLICY AND SoUTHEAST AsiAN NATIONALISM, 1930-1957

Hans Antlov and Stein Tennesson (Editors)

20. THE VILLAGE CoNCEPT IN THE TRANSFORMATION oF RURAL SoUTHEAST AsiA

Mason C. Hoadley and Christer Gunnarsson (Editors)

21. IDENTITY IN AsiAN LITERATURE

Lisbeth Littrup (Editor)

22. MONGOLIA IN TRANSffiON

Ole Bruun and Ole Odgaard (Editors)

23. AsiAN FoRMS OF THE NATION

Stein Tennesson and Hans Antlov (Editors)
MONGOLIA
•
zn
TRANSITION

edited by
Ole Bruun
and Ole Odgaard

LONDON AND NEW YORK

 Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Studies in Asian Topics, No. 22

First published in 1996 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon,
Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2006

ISBN 0-7007-0418-3 [Hardback]

ISBN 0-7007-0441-8 [Paperback]

ISSN 0142-6208

©Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 1996

While copyright as a whole

is vested in the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies,
copyright in the individual papers
belongs to the authors. All rights reserved.
No paper may be reproduced in whole or part
without the express permission of
author, publisher or editors.

British Library Catalogue in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure
the quality of this reprint but points out that some
imperfections in the original may be apparent
Contents
List of Figures vi
List of Tables vii
Acknowledgements viii
Note on Spelling and Illustrations viii
Introduction: Climbing out of the Black Hole 1
The Mongols, Their Land and History 5
Rolf Gilberg and fan-Olof Svantesson
A Society and Economy in Transition 23
Ole Bruun and Ole Odgaard
Sustainable Livestock Use of Pastoral Resources 42
Dennis P. Sheehy
The Herding Household: Economy and Organization 65
Ole Bruun
Nomadic Cultural Values and Their Influence on Modernization 90
Alicia f. Campi
Living Standards and Poverty 103
Ole Odgaard
Women and Poverty during the Transition 135
Barbara Skapa and Ann Fenger Benwell
Constitutional Reform and Human Rights 147
Tom Ginsburg and Gombosuren Ganzorig
Decentralization and Local Governance 165
Badarchyn Enkhbat and Ole Odgaard
Science and Technology Policy 190
Erik Baark
Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy 217
Alan J. K. Sanders
Afterword: Consolidating Independence 253
Ole Bruun and Ole Odgaard
Select Bibliography 255
Erik R. Skaaning
List of Contributors 261
Index 263

List of Figures
1 Mongolia today 4
2 Mongolia and its environs 6
3 The Mongol expansion and subsequent khanates 10
4 Distribution of the Mongols today (by language) 16
5 Local government structure -levels of governorships 169
6 Local government share of the total national budget 174
7 Health and education budgets as a percentage of GDP 175
8 Local government share of combined central and local 176
government budget for education and health
9 Local government internal structure- aimag level 182
10 Local government internal structure- sum level 183
11 The aimags of Mongolia 184
List of Tables
1 Area and forage yield produced in Mongolia's natural regions 45
2 Livestock population of Mongolia, 1930-94 46
3 Survival rate of young stock 47
4 Feed requirement in sheep forage units (thousands) for 50
livestock population, 1930-94
5 Annual household budget for a family of five 75
6 Annual production expenditure 76
7 Annual household income 78
8 Economic decline in Mongolia 1990-94 105
9 GOP per capita estimates 1991-94 107
10 Development of poverty in Mongolia 1992-94 111
11 Sample survey of herd size distribution 122
12 Budget allocations for science and technology in Mongolia 196
13 Principal trading partners and direction of trade, 1990-94 237
14 Foreign aid to Mongolia, 1991-March 1995 238
15 Foreign aid for the 1994 anti-poverty programme 241
16 Import trade, selected commodities 1990-94 246
17 Export trade, selected commodities 1990-94 248
18 Joint ventures, 1988-94 250
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation of the professional work
performed on this volume by Gerald Jackson, Leena Hoskuldsson
and Liz Bramsen, all of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, on
which the speed and quality of the production has depended. Our
thanks are also due to the staff of the Mongolia Society for help in
widening the scope of contributions to this volume.
On behalf of the group of authors, we express our gratitude
to all Mongolian authorities and staff who provided information
for the volume or otherwise assisted the authors during their stay
in Mongolia.
The Editors

Note on Spelling and Illustrations

Throughout this book we attempt to adhere to modern Mongolian
name usage, even when the earlier Western spelling has had wide
international currency - as in the case of Genghis Khan and Ulan
Bator (spelt here as Chinggis Khan and Ulaanbaatar respectively).
In a similar vein, pinyin is used for transcriptions from the Chinese
except (as in the name Chiang Kai-shek) where its use would
obscure meaning.
Some of the illustrations used in this volume are based on
traditional Mongolian motifs. However, the majority draw on the
sketches of the Khalkha lama, Lodai. In 1938, the Danish explorer,
Henning Haslund-Christensen, was in Hohhot (Inner Mongolia's
capital) collecting samples of folk music. Here he was assisted by
Lodai who translated and explained the meaning of these songs.
Often, Lodai reinforced his explanations with small sketches, usually
scenes from everyday Mongol life. Haslund-Christensen returned
to Denmark with these drawings and today they are held in the
Ethnology Department of the National Museum of Denmark. Our
thanks go to the Danish National Museum for permission to make
use of these illustrations in this volume.
 Introduction
Climbing out of the Black Hole

Ole Bruun and Ole Odgaard

Throughout recorded history, the Central Asian steppes provided

an overland channel of communication between major centres of
civilization in Eurasia. But it was more than that; Central Asia was
where all the adjacent civilizations of China, India, Islam and
Europe connected and interacted with one another. With the
technological development of seagoing vessels and the rise of
nation states in recent centuries, however, the foci of world history
moved seawards and westwards, while simultaneously the
peoples of Central Asia tended to lose significance and, more
important, gradually lost power over their territories.
While factors like geography and ecology perhaps prevented
the development of nation states in Central Asia, for centuries the
entire region lay open for territorial expansion of shifting powers.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, however, a marked
change occurred as the region became a target for imperial rivalry
among the major world powers - what is usually termed the
Great Game.l Despite its crucial role in previous centuries, Central
Asia later became perhaps the most neglected area in the study of
the world and its history.
The establishment of the Soviet Union and its long inter-
national segregation contributed to the impression of Central Asia
as a black hole in the middle of the world.2 During the long period
of Soviet dominance, Mongolia earned a reputation of being
among the most obscure and remote places on earth. Visas to stay
in the country were hard to come by, independent research was
nearly impossible and news was scant and mostly controlled.

1) See, for instance, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in
Central Asia, New York, Kodansha, 1994.
2) A phrase used by Andre Gunder Frank, The Centrality of Central Asia,
Amsterdam, Centre for Asian Studies, 1992.
2 Mongolia in Transition
In terms of Mongolia's eventual independence, however, it
would be a mistake to characterize such conditions as mainly
negative. For a considerable part of its modem history, Mongolia has
benefited from playing the role of a buffer zone between China and
the Soviet Union. Active support from Russia and later the Soviet
Union initially enabled Mongolia to break away from the collapsing
Qing Dynasty and thereafter at several points prevented China from
regaining control. Even so, and despite Soviet dominance, from 1918
until the Chinese communist victory, Mongolia remained nominally
under Chinese suzerainty. Only in 1950 was Mongolian independence
recognized by Mao Zedong; still, Mongolian-Chinese relations have
been problematic. Mongolia entered a new phase in its history when,
between 1987 and 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Moscow's
exclusive dominance over the larger part of Central Asia finally
ceased.
Mongolia's place in the world was accentuated when the
country became a truly independent nation state in 1990. For a brief
interval, Mongolia was making world news. Subsequently, its
peaceful revolution and ongoing constitutional reforms have turned
it into a model for democratic development in Central Asia.
The renewed political and economic interest in Central Asia
among the surrounding countries as well as among the major
powers of the world is accompanied by an intensified academic
interest among students and scholars. Today, the new international
equations for both Mongolia and the entire Central Asian region
involve declining Russian power in the East; rising pan-Islamic
nationalism; nationalist tendencies in China; India seeking a strategic
alliance as a measure against ties between China and Pakistan; Japan
using Mongolia as a case to forge closer ties with Asian countries and
put an end to animosities from the time of World War II, and the
Western world claiming a 'third-neighbourly' role.3 However, with
the continued unstable political climate in the Central Asian region,
the scene is indeed set for a new round of international rivalry,
although diplomacy has taken the guise of international aid and
arms have been replaced by investments and economic cooperation.
Some of the papers presented in this collection originate from a
Central Asia workshop held at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
in Copenhagen in 1993, but have been substantially revised and
updated during the course of production of this volume. Other papers
were picked up on the way, either in Mongolia, China, England or
the United States during 1994 and 1995.
3) illustrated by James Baker's famous 1990 statement that Mongolia has two
good neighbours but, if it needed a third, the US would be happy to be it.
 Introduction 3
The chapters of this book trace the course of events since
Mongolia's step into full independence in 1990. They examine
continuity and change within their respective areas of concern and
express primarily the views of the individual authors.
Mongolia is a small country by the size of its population and it
remained inaccessible until its independence. As a consequence,
scholarship on Mongolian society, culture, economy and so forth is
very limited. In the compilation of this volume some topics thought
to be highly relevant for the full mosaic were impossible to cover. It is
nevertheless the hope of the editors that the volume will provide a
useful tool for experts, planners, students, scholars and others
visiting or sojourning in Mongolia or for anybody taking an interest
in the modern unfolding of that country.
Figure 1: Mongolia today
 The Mongols, Their Land
and History
Rolf Gilberg and Jan-Olof Svantessonl

Mongolia, the Mongolians and the Mongols are separate over-

lapping concepts. Most of the inhabitants of the state of Mongolia
belong to a branch of the Mongol people but a few Mongolians
belong to non-Mongol ethnic groups. Moreover, the majority of
Mongols live outside of Mongolia, mainly in China. Hence, while
this is a study of Mongolia and the Mongolians, an understanding
of the challenges facing them today must, of necessity, take into
account the wider context.2

Land
Northern China can be viewed as a huge valley. In the north it is
bounded by some lower mountains running east-west, through
which the Great Wall of China meanders. North of these mountain
ranges, beyond the Chinese farmlands, a large plateau spreads out
reaching much of the way to Siberia in the north and Xinjiang in
the west. Much of this plateau is covered by grass but the Gobi
desert (in the Mongol language, govi means desert) extends into
the dry centre and west.

1) This chapter draws heavily on the separate contributions made by Rolf

Gilberg and Jan-Olof Svantesson to this book and for which the editors are
highly indebted. However, given that these contributions were edited into a
single text by Gerald Jackson, making use of other sources as well, the editors
take full responsibility for the final shape of this chapter.
2) Some basic reference works on Mongolia are Sechin Jagchid and Paul
Hyer, Mongolia's Culture and Society, Boulder, Westview Press, 1979; David
Morgan, The Mongols, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1986; Alan J.K. Sanders, Mon-
golia: Politics, Economics and Society, London, Frances Pinter, 1987; Robert L.
Worden and Andrea Matles Savada (eds), Mongolia- a Country Study. Area
Handbook Program (2nd edition), Washington DC, US Department of the
Army, 1991.
6 Mongolia in Transition

Figure 2: Mongolia and its environs

This plateau has been the home of the Mongol people for
centuries, if not millennia. Here too, as shall be seen below, other
nomadic horse tribes have lived and at different times moved quite
freely westwards through Xinjiang into the Central Asian and
Russian steppes, often ending up at the very gates of Eastern Europe.
But with the Manchu conquest of Ming China and formation in 1644
of their Qing Dynasty began the modern division of the plateau. The
vast area just north of the Great Wall became known as Inner
Mongolia; the lands beyond up to the Russian border as Outer
Mongolia. Inner and Outer Mongolia took different political courses
after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Inner Mongolia remaining
a Chinese territory while Outer Mongolia claimed independence and
today comprises the state of Mongolia.
Mongolia's geography defines much of its character and to a
large extent may determine its future direction. The country is
landlocked, sandwiched between Russia to the north and China to
the south. The shortest distance to the sea is 700 km eastwards
through China to the Yellow Sea. Covering an area of 1,566,500 sq
km, it is nearly the same size as Alaska or the size of France,
Germany, Italy and Spain combined. Its borders are some 8,170 km
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 7
long and generally have been defined by historical circumstances
rather than physical features.
Mongolia has an average altitude of 1,580 m above sea level but
this plateau country is not wholly steppeland. About 18 per cent of
the country is a low but hilly landscape and another third (mainly in
the north) generally mountainous. The highest point (Hiliten Peak in
the Tavan Bogd Mountains close to the Russian border) is 4,653 m
above sea level. The lowest point, the Khokh Nuur Lake depression
in eastern Mongolia, is 532 m above sea level. Surprisingly, Mongolia
has about 4,000 inland lakes though their combined surface area is
little more than one per cent of the country. The biggest lakes are in
the northern part of the country, among them the saltwater lake Uvs
Nuur (surface area 3,350 sq km) and the freshwater lakes Khovsgol
(2,760 sq km) and Khar Us Nuur (1,852 sq km).
The elevated and inland nature of the country means that it has
an extreme continental climate, more so than Central Europe, which
shares the same latitude. Winters are thus very cold with an average
temperature of minus 20°C (dropping to minus 50°C) and summers
are warm with an average temperature of 25°c (rising to 40°C). The
mountainous northern part of Mongolia receives between 30 and 40
em of rain annually, while the central part receives 20 em and the
south only 10 em or less per year. Accordingly, the north has a lot of
forest cover and many rushing rivers, while the central zone is
mostly steppe, covered with a green carpet of grass in summer. In the
south, the landscape is mostly flat and dry with huge desert steppes.
Even so, only 3 per cent of the Gobi is actually sandy desert.
On this grassland and steppe live most of Mongolia's 28 million
domestic animals. In 1994 these comprised 2,408,900 horses, 366,100
camels, 3,005,200 cattle, 7,241,300 goats and 13,786,600 sheep. Most
(95 per cent) of this livestock is now privately owned. Since climate
and altitude prevent most of the land from being used for large-scale
agriculture, Mongolia is highly suitable for nomadic pastoralism, the
culture of which has defined much of the Mongols' history and their
present-day characteristics. None the less, in economic terms, the
mineral wealth of the country is highly significant both in current
exports and in potential developments. Copper is today Mongolia's
dominant export item with gold, silver, iron, chrome, copper, zinc,
tungsten and mercury also mined. Additionally, large deposits of
coal and oil have been found.

History
For over 2,000 years, horse tribes have occupied the Central Asian
steppes outside China. Throughout history, the frontier between
8 Mongolia in Transition
China and Central Asia has coincided with a strong cultural
demarcation between sedentary agriculturalists and nomadic
pastoralists. It was to protect China against these nomadic peoples
that the first ruler of a united China, the Qin Emperor Shi Huang Di
(221-207 BC), connected and unified existing fortifications in
northern China to form the Great Wall. The enemy against whom it
was initially designed were the Xiung-nu, whom later historians
have linked to the Huns. Appearing in about the fourth century BC,
the Xiung-nu established a giant confederation encompassing parts
of today's Siberia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia.
Their attacks against China reached a crescendo about 200 BC but
continued for centuries afterwards. This external warfare was
interspersed with civil war and, during the time of the Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 220), the confederation broke up. Many of its peoples
either moved west or were absorbed by the Chinese. The resulting
peace was temporary as the rise of new nomadic powers soon
brough fresh conflict but meantime during this respite, in about
AD 200, the Silk Road reached its zenith.
The fall and departure of the Xiung-nu allowed other nomadic
tribes to come into prominence, and in successive waves they
conquered the steppes and attacked China. All too often Chinese
resistance was weakened by internal conflicts but, although at one
point (in 317) all of China north of the Yangtze had been conquered by
nomadic peoples, China survived and often managed to sinicize her
invaders. As with the Xiung-nu, fragmentation, collapse and either
flight westwards or absorption by China was the fate shared by
many invaders. Among them were the Juan-juan (whom historians
have identified with the Avars and who were, some say, a Mongol
people). They in tum were overthrown in the SSOs by a people who
were soon to make their mark in world history, the Turks, whose
own empire quickly fragmented and eventually was destroyed by
the Tang Dynasty in 744. Thereafter, the Tang established their
suzerainty over the Kitan, a Mongol people living in northern China,
and in alliance with the Turkic-speaking Uighur they expanded their
rule as far as the Oxus Valley. At the same time, the Uighur
established their own sprawling empire across the northern fringes
of China. Soon after, however, the forces of Islam arrived in Central
Asia. The Oxus was lost and the Kitan used China's preoccupation in
the west to revolt and strike from the north. It was only with Uighur
assistance that the Tang survived and managed to hold on to
Xinjiang but with the Uighur collapse in 846 (apparently with Tang
connivance), the Kitan were able to expand in all directions. The
Tang fell in 906 and in 916 the Kitan founded their own dynasty, the
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 9
Liao, which ruled northern China until 1125. Increasingly sinicized,
this fell victim to attacks from the Song Dynasty in the south and the
Jurchen, ancestors of the Manchu, in the north. The victors then
fought one another for much of the rest of the century.
The name 'Mongol' derives from a small nomadic tribe, who
around 1200 lived in the vicinity of the upper Orchon River to the
west of modem-day Ulaanbaatar. The rise to their leadership of
Chinggis Khan in 1196, and his subsequent subjugation of first the
surrounding tribes and later a vast swathe of Asia and Europe
stretching from northern China to the Black Sea and Persia, is a
complex story. So too is the continued expansion of Mongol power
after the death of Chinggis in 1227 and its eventual collapse. Of
necessity, then, only the barest details are presented below.3
Chinggis was succeeded by his son, Ogedei, during whose rule
Korea, Tibet and parts of China were conquered. Advances were also
made into the Muslim heartlands, but the best-known initiative was
the conquest and ravaging of Russia and much of Central Europe.
Defeated in every engagement, Europe was only spared by the death
of Ogedei in 1241; Mongol forces withdrew in accordance with
Chinggis' legal code that all of his offspring meet to decide on a
successor. Disunity and the brief reign of Ogedei's successor meant
that it was only after 1251 - when a grandson of Chinggis, Mengke,
was elected Khan - that the Mongol advance resumed. In the West,
the conquest of Europe was to be deferred but an advance through
the Middle East was ordered. The defeat of the Abbasid Caliphate
saw the fall of Baghdad and subsequent conquest of Mesopotamia
and Syria. The Mongols then advanced into Palestine, prompting
Christian crusaders to wonder if an alliance with the Mongol devil
against the Muslim unbeliever were possible, but this probe was
defeated by a Mameluke army. Meantime, in the East, the conquest
of Song China proceeded. Within a few short years Mengke and his
brother Khubilai had accomplished much of this task: Nanchao
(modem Yunnan) fell in 1253 and Tonkin (northern Vietnam) in 1257.
When in 1259 Mengke suddenly died, he was succeeded by Khubilai,
who completed the destruction of the Song by 1279 and in that year
founded the Yuan Dynasty.
During the reign of Khubilai, the Mongols were at their zenith.
They had conquered much of continental Asia and even (unsuccess-
fully) made probes across water against Japan and Java. Europe lay
3) A number of works relate the ensuing history of the Mongols, for instance
Michael Prawdin, The Mongol Empire, Its Rise and Legacy, London, George Allen
and Unwin Ltd., 1941; David Morgan, The Mongols, Oxford, Basil Blackwell,
1986; C.R. Bawden, The Modern History of Mongolia, London & New York, Kegan
Paul Int., 1968/1989.
10 Mongolia in Transition
essentially defenceless against their advance. Khubilai, however, saw
the limits of Mongol strength and his reign was more one of
consolidation than advance. He also shifted the seat of power from
Karakorum in the steppes to Dadu (modem-day Beijing), thus
shifting the political centre of his empire from Mongolia to China. In
the long run, this proved to have important consequences.

Kipchak
(Golden Horde)
Ill , - r-"
__/ " ~ " Chagatai

Figure 3: The Mongol expansion and subsequent khanates

Part of the success of Chinggis and some of his successors can be

ascribed to their strategic skills. The fighting tactics of Mongol
cavalry and infantry changed little in the period - apart from the
learning of one crucial art, siege warfare - but what made the
Mongols almost unstoppable was how small bands of troops were
wielded into large military formations that moved independently
but at the decisive moment acted in concert to crush their enemy.
Crucial to this strategic strength were maintenance of an iron unity;
co-option of defeated enemies into the Mongol armies but merciless
treatment of rebels and of intransigent enemies as an example to
others; and a brilliant courier system centuries ahead of its time. The
result was that, for several generations at least, the traditional
relationship between Mongolia's steppe nomads and the peoples of
the settled lands beyond was transformed. In the past, nomadic
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 11
raiders had made frequent sorties and occasional full-scale invasions
into the settled lands but in general they had only been able to seize
and plunder the countryside; their small resources and chronic
disunity soon made them vulnerable to counter-attacks from the
unconquered cities so that they either withdrew to the steppelands
or were destroyed. Chinggis and his successors broke this pattern by
building a war machine that was able to conquer entire civilizations.
However, there was another pattern from the past that in time
destroyed Mongol power. Traditionally, although invaders from the
steppes had managed to conquer the cities and thus hold on to large
tracts of territory, their power was transient even when they founded
empires and dynasties. Disunity was always endemic but what made
this fatal was that the conquerors lost those qualities honed in the
harsh life of steppes that had enabled them to conquer these lands.
They grew soft and lost their hard fighting edge. All too easily they
adopted the ways of the people they had conquered and, in so doing,
forfeited the respect and loyalty of the kinfolk remaining in the
steppes. This happened to the Juan-juan, the Turks, the Kitan and the
Jurchen; for the Mongols too it occurred.
The sinicization of Khubilai's successors brought a gradual
breaking away of the distant khanates from central rule and their
eventual demise (the most resilient being the Golden Horde, whose
control of southern Russia and Central Asia survived into the
sixteenth century). In China, the Yuan abdicated administration and
eventually power to their Chinese advisers. Less than a century after
its foundation, the Yuan Dynasty was gone, ended by the victory of
Zhu Yuanzhang (founder of the Ming Dynasty) but arguably also
destroyed from within.
The extinction of the Yuan did not destroy Mongol power, not
even after a massive Ming invasion of Mongolia in the 1380s that led
to the obliteration of Karakorum in 1388. Rather, traditional patterns
resurged: periods of fragmentation with petty raiding into China,
consolidation under a great new leader - often coupled with serious
attacks on China and other neighbours - followed by collapse and
renewed fragmentation, usually upon the death of the great leader.
Such was the situation for much of the Ming period but in the long
term two factors made its continuation untenable: the rise of new
military technology, especially the cannon (against which traditional
Mongol tactics were vulnerable), and the expansion into Mongol
territory of two new powers employing these weapons - the Russians
moving east and south across Siberia, and the Manchus pushing
north and west (as well as south against the Ming). Following their
destruction of the Ming and establishment of their own Qing
Dynasty in 1644 and reduction of southern China in the 1680s, the
12 Mongolia in Transition
Manchus moved to safeguard their northern flank agamst the Russians
and destroy Mongol independence. This was largely achieved in the
1690s, typically because civil war raged among the Mongols and one
group called in the Manchu to assist them. The last independent
Mongol territory - in Xinjiang, from which the Qing were harassed
and Tibet dominated- was conquered in 1732.
Not all Mongols came under Qing rule. The ancestors of the
Kalmyk Mongols lived in the Altai area in the western part of Mongolia
but moved further west to escape Manchu conquest. Settling in the
region of the lower Volga, they came instead under Russian rule.
When Peter the Great was Tsar, Russian relations with the Kalmyks
were good but under later Tsars the relationship deteriorated. Con-
sequently, more than half (about 400,000) decided to leave Russia in
1771. Only about 120,000 people survived hunger, disease and fighting
before they settled in the Heavenly Mountains in Xinjiang, where
they were granted land by the Qing Emperor.
Despite several Mongol revolts over the century after conquest, the
Manchu grip was consolidated by the implementation of a feudal
administration system. This was based on traditional Mongol lines but
worked to isolate Mongol leaders from each other while binding them
to the Qing Emperor through personal oaths of allegiance. During
the 1750s, the first distinction between northern and southern
Mongolia was made. Inner Mongolia was virtually absorbed into
China and opened to the first influx of Chinese settlers. Provided it
remained loyal, Outer Mongolia was largely left to its own devices. A
century of relative peace followed during which Buddhism, which
had been introduced centuries earlier (the first monastary established in
1586), increasingly dominated the country. It was also, however, a
period that saw the Buddhist establishment co-opted and corrupted
by the Qing, increasing economic control by the Chinese and a
general stagnation of Mongol society.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Western advances and local
rebellion fostered turmoil in China and the slow collapse of the Qing
Dynasty. Conditions in Mongolia worsened due to higher taxes and
mounting debts to Chinese usurers but this was not just a local
phenomenon; the situation elsewhere in China was but little better.
Reform measures to retrieve this situation came too late to save the
Qing dynasty, which collapsed in 1911.
Immediately, with Russian complicity, the Mongols of Outer
Mongolia claimed their independence. At the time, however, the
Russians, Japanese and other great powers had wider interests to
protect so that the Mongols finally had to agree to autonomy. This
inconclusive situation lasted until1919 when the chaos and terror of
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 13
the post-war world suddenly engulfed the region. Not only was
China riven by serious political divisions and the rise of local warlords
but, to the north in Siberia, Bolshevik revolution fought White counter-
revolution. On the sidelines but actively involved were the Japanese,
Americans and others holding much of the Trans-Siberian railway -
only a short distance from the Mongolian border. In 1919, then, at
Japanese instigation, the new Chinese republic attempted to absorb
Outer Mongolia, sending troops in to enforce its will. Simultan-
eously, a White Russian army retreating from Bolshevik forces in
Siberia seized the region and crushed the Chinese garrison in Ulaan-
baatar. The reign of terror that followed only ended in 1921 when
Mongolian revolutionaries, backed by Soviet forces making use of
Buryat Mongol soldiers, entered the country.4 In 1924, the Mongolian
People's Republic was proclaimed.
Until the end of the Soviet era, Mongolia was very much under
Soviet control; it relied heavily on Soviet economic support and
modelled its administration, economic development - indeed most
things - on the Soviet pattern. Copying the Soviets reached its peak
in the 1960s, when an intensive programme of industrialization was
embarked upon; with it came the first significant urbanization, as
shall be seen below.
Sometimes the Soviet model was followed to extreme lengths, as
with the brutal programme of forced collectivization of the pastoral
economy in the 1930s. When widespread starvation was followed
by rebellion, Moscow - now alarmed by the Japanese seizure of
neighbouring Manchuria - sent in tanks to restore order but also
ordered an economic U-turn. Thereafter, a far milder socialization
programme was pursued. There was no such reprieve for the
Buddhist establishment, however. At the time of the revolution the
religious establishment controlled most aspects of Mongolian society,
including education, the judiciary and health care, and was not in the
slightest interested in abdicating this dominant position. As late as
1934, the income of the Buddhist establishment was almost as much
as that of the state and it has been claimed that in 1935 monks
constituted 48 per cent of the adult male population. In the 1930s, in
a campaign swinging between persecution and conciliation, the
Buddhist establishment was progressively excluded from areas of
public life and was ultimately suppressed.5 Subsequently, only a single
lamasery, Gandantegchilen (Gandan temple) in Ulaanbaatar was
allowed to exist in the entire country. Several monastic rebellions

4) For an account of this crucial period in Mongol history, see Bawden, The
Mongol Empire, pp. 187-237.
5) Worden and Savada, Mongolia -a Country Study, p. 103.
14 Mongolia in Transition
attempted to resist this campaign but these were to no avail.
Revelations since the fall of the People's Republic indicate that in the
process of this suppression, tens of thousands of Buddhist monks
were executed by the regime.6
The close alignment with the Soviet Union meant that
Mongolia's relationship with China very much followed that of the
USSR. It did mean that full Mongolian independence was recognized
by Mao Zedong in 1950 but also that relations became strained after
the 1962 Sino-Soviet split and were very tense in the 1970s when,
following Sino-Soviet clashes along the Amur River, the Soviet troop
build-up in Mongolia rose to 100,000 troops. Exacerbating these
strains was the acceleration of Chinese settlement in Inner Mongolia,
so that today only 14 per cent of the population is registered as
Mongol. (This has meant that, even though Inner Mongolia is formally
an autonomous region, the influence of the Mongols on its eco-
nomical, political and cultural life is limited.) Gradually, following
Mao's death in 1976 and the rise of Gorbachev as Soviet leader,
tensions eased and in 1986 full diplomatic relations between China
and Mongolia were established. Finally, in 1988, delineation of the
long Sino-Mongolian border was amicably settled.
Such a close relationship with Moscow meant that Mongolia felt
the full effects of, first, Gorbachev's introduction of glasnost and
perestroika and, second, the decline in Soviet willingness to prop up
their client regimes. Opposition demonstrations in late 1989 led the
ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party to call new multi-
party elections following which, in 1992, the communist state was
dismantled and the People's Republic was renamed Mongolia or the
State of Mongolia?
Mongolia's history continues to have a marked effect on the
country, especially the legacy of Chinggis Khan and his successors. He
is remembered very differently in different places, however: the
Russians remember him only as a destroyer; the Chinese as the
originator of their Yuan Dynasty; 'but for the Mongols he has always
been the centre and origin of their national history, the founder of
their independent statehood'.8 It is not surprising, then, that there is
a resurgent Mongolian interest and pride in Chinggis and far less
inclination to apologize for his deeds.

6) Buddhism still survived in private, however. Details of this and the recent
Buddhist revival appear in the next chapter.
7) The section on domestic politics in the next chapter gives a much fuller
account of these events.
8) Bawden, Modern History of Mongolia, p. 417.
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 15
People
The imperial history of the Mongols under Chinggis and Khubilai
Khan accounts for the scattered communities of today's Mongols.
Some 7.5 million people claiming Mongol identity live scattered over
a vast area covering several states. Approximately 2.5 million live in
the independent state of Mongolia, while 4.9 million live in China,
mainly in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia but also in
pockets in Xinjiang, Qinghai and other provinces. About 600,000 live
in Russia, especially in the area around Lake Baikal and in the region
of the lower Volga.
The Mongols are not a homogeneous people. On the basis of
geography and self-identity, they can be divided into three groups:
the northern, eastern and western. Of these, the eastern Mongols of
Inner Mongolia are the most populous Mongol group but it is the
Khalkha, a northern Mongol people, who make up the majority (70
per cent) of the population of Mongolia.
The fact that the Mongol diaspora has a far larger population
than that of Mongolia has had important geopolitical implications
and especially has bedevilled Sino-Mongolian relations throughout
this century. The current revival in Mongolia of Buddhism, which
theologically and historically is closely linked to Tibetan Lamaism,
adds an extra dimension to the delicate situation.9

Language
The Mongols are not a homogeneous people; nor is their language a
homogeneous language. However, as a rule, the Mongolian dialects
are not too different from one another, so that Mongols of different
groups often can communicate without too much difficulty. The three
largest dialect groups, Khalkha Mongolian, Oirat/Kalmyk and Buryat
are rather close, and speakers of these can learn to understand each
other quite easily. The other dialects differ more and the variation
within the entire Mongolic group can perhaps be compared to that
within Romance (Spanish, Italian, French, etc). Only the Dakhur
Mongols in northeastern Mongolia speak a dialect which no other
Mongols understand due to the taking of so many loan-words from a
non-Mongol language.
The main dialect in Mongolia is Khalkha, which is also the basis
for the Cyrillic variant of written Mongolian. Khalkha Mongolian is
the standard language in Mongolia, used in all kinds of communica-
tion, in everyday life, in administration, in books and newspapers, as
9) Alan Sander's chapter, in the section on the Buddhist revival and Mongolia's
relationship with China, discusses these issues in greater detail.
16 Mongolia in Transition

Khalkha / IM dialects
Oirat dialects
Buryat dialects
Other dialects

Figure 4: Distribution of the Mongols today (by language)

Notes: (1) Differences between Khalkha and the Inner Mongolian (IM) dialects
are only minor, hence these dialects have been consolidated into one group.
(2) In some parts of China, Mongolian dialects are intermixed with
other languages (esp. Mandarin Chinese in N .E. China and Kazakh in Xinjiang).
(3) Not shown on this map are the (Oirat) Kalmyks of the lower Volga.
Source: Based on various maps from Christopher Moseley and R.E. Asher (eds),
Atlas of the World's Languages, London, Routledge, 1994.

well as at all levels of education. Also abroad this dialect is usually

considered to be standard Mongolian.
The Mongolian language has been naturally adapted to the nomadic
life on the steppes. It contains a great varity of words for grasses and
vegetation. The language also has a variety of terms for domestic
animals according to their age, sex, colour and other special features.
Together these dialects comprise the Mongolic language group,
which is similar in phonology and grammatical structure to the Turkic
and Tungusic languages. But because they have comparatively few
words in common, some scholars doubt that they are genetically
related and explain the common features as due to a long period of
contact. Others are firmly convinced that Altaic is a proper language
family, meaning that these languages have descended from an earlier
common language (Proto-Altaic), from which the shared words and
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 17
structural features are inherited. The Altaic languages are structur-
ally similar to Korean and Japanese, and also to Ainu, an almost
extinct language which was spoken in northern Japan. Some scholars
include some or all of these languages into the Altaic family, while
others believe that they are connected with other language families
or are unique languages. Mongolian is structurally dose to Turkish,
Korean and Japanese, but very different from Chinese, Tibetan and
the languages of Southeast Asia. In contrast to Chinese, Mongolian is
not a tone language, but has vowel harmony, which is a characteristic
feature of the Altaic languages.

Written Mongolian
The classical Mongolian alphabet is an adaptation of the script used
by the Turkic Uighurs in Central Asia from the ninth to the sixteenth
century but is ultimately of Syrian origin. According to tradition, an
Uighur called Tatatunga, who served at the Mongolian court, was
ordered in 1204 to find out how the Uighur alphabet could be used to
write Mongolian. The Khan needed a script for the Mongol language
because he wanted to have the history of his people in a written
form. Because the classical Mongolian spelling preserves some
archaic features of the language, it is likely that the Mongolian script
was in fact invented some years earlier.
The Uighur script was originally written from right to left in
rows, like other scripts of Semitic origin (e.g. Arabic), but under
Chinese influence it was rotated 90 degrees antidockwise, and in this
way inherited by the Mongols, who thus write in columns from left
to right. Otherwise, written Mongolian has changed very little.
Today, the script does not follow strictly the spoken language. The
script has twenty-four letters, which again come in up to three
different forms according to their position in the word, either first, in
the middle, or ending the word. The classical Mongolian script
serves as a common writing for all Mongolian dialects. All groups,
no matter which dialect they speak, can read the same script even if
the text was written long ago.
The earliest known inscription using the Mongolian alphabet is
the so-called Chinggis Khan's stone from 1227. Presumably in the
1240s, the first literary text in Mongolian, called The Secret History of
the Mongols, was written. The original has been lost and all that has
survived is a text from the fourteenth century where the Mongolian
language is written using Chinese characters for Mongolian sounds.
LattimorelO mentions another reason for the creation of a Mongolian

10) Owen Lattimore, Inner Asian Frontiers of China, Boston, Beacon Press, 1962.
18 Mongolia in Transition
script: an independent Mongol script different from Chinese would
support the Mongol solidarity and independence from Chinese culture,
which otherwise would have had a great impact on the Mongols had
they chosen to use Chinese characters to write Mongolian.
The Mongolian script was used in Mongolia until 1941, when it
was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet. In Inner Mongolia, the
Mongolian script was briefly replaced with Cyrillic in 1955 but, as a
consequence of worsening Sino-Soviet relations and perhaps too fear
of a common Mongol front, the move was reversed in 1958; the
Mongolian script is still used there today.
Following the replacement of the old communist regime in 1990,
it was argued that the Cyrillic alphabet was a Soviet legacy whose
time was over. In 1991, the Mongolian parliament decided that
official documents should no longer be written in Cyrillic but in the
old Mongolian script. Accordingly, the full transition to the
Mongolian script was to take place in 1994 but this proved to be too
difficult a task and in 1995 a new and more realistic programme for
the reintroduction of the Mongolian script was approved. Instead,
the Cyrillic alphabet will still be used while the reading and writing
abilities in Mongolian script are raised to the level of Cyrillic. This is
to be accomplished throughout the country by 2005, with priority
given to the training of teachers and gradual introduction of the script
in the school curricula. That the new programme is to be adminis-
tered by local authorities, however, adds considerable uncertainty to
its full implementation.
A heated debate over the issue of writing has taken place. Most
people younger than about 50 years of age know only the Cyrillic script
and may be unwilling to learn a new system of writing. In addition,
some people argue that the Mongolian script differs too much from
the modem language. Indeed, there are many differences, but they
are in no way overwhelming. From a linguistic point of view the differ-
ence between the Mongolian script and the modem pronunciation is
similar to the difference between writing and pronunciation in some
European languages, for instance French or English. However, intro-
ducing a new script at a time when government at all levels is under
considerable financial strain, when many public services have been
discontinued and when schools are struggling to survive, may add
unnecessary difficulties to Mongolia's transition.
The Mongolian and Cyrillic scripts have been taught simultan-
eously in the schools for a number of years, and some newspapers
and books are already published in the Mongolian script. It is likely
that the Mongolian script will be used more in the future than it is
now, but for the time being it will not replace Cyrillic.
 The Mongols, Their Land and History 19
Mongolian names
The Mongols do not usually have family names. The name system is
similar to the Icelandic system, for instance, in which a person's full
name consists of a personal name plus the father's name.ll In
Icelandic, the father's name (plus son or daughter) comes after the
personal name, but in Mongolian the father's name is put in the
genitive case and precedes the personal name. For instance, the
personal name of Mongolia's most famous author was Natsagdordz
and his father's name was Dasdordz, so his complete name was
Dasdordziin Natsagdordz. If the father's name is unknown or
should be concealed for some reason (as was sometimes the case
with revolutionaries or persons considered enemies of the state), the
mother's name is to be used instead. For instance, the President of
Mongolia, Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat carries his mother's name
Punsalmaa. Some names are common Mongolian words, for instance
baatar (hero) and naraa (my sun). But it is more common to make a
name by combining two words, for instance sukhbaatar (axe hero)
and sarantsatsral (moonbeam). Also, many names related to Buddhist
terminology have been borrowed from Tibetan and Sanskrit, for
instance dordz or otsir (thunderbolt) and rintsin Qewel). The Tibetan
names of the week-days and the corresponding heavenly bodies are
also popular names: njam (Sun, Sunday), dawaa (Moon, Monday), etc.

Society
With only 2.5 million inhabitants for a country 1,566,500 sq km in
size, Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the
world. The population density is greatest in the north with one to
two persons per square kilometre and less than one per square
kilometre in the south. By its nature, the Mongols' traditional
nomadic lifestyle has restricted the size of the Mongol population; as
will be seen in Dennis Sheehy's chapter, the ability of the steppelands
to sustain a pastoral economy has been and is quite limited. Mongol
population numbers must have been especially checked in recent
centuries when Russian and Manchu expansion not only prevented
Mongol expansion into new territories but also encroached on
existing Mongol lands. Winter, with its limiting of the amount of
food available to livestock (hence by extension limiting the number
of herders), remains a decisive influence even to this day.
None the less, this figure of 2.5 million inhabitants is a huge
increase on the population of about 1924, when 542,500 Mongols,

11) In contrast, in Inner Mongolia only the personal name is used.