Mongols

ETHNONYMS: Menggu (in Chinese), Monggol (in Mongolian)

Orientation

Identification. Mongols live in a number of different countries. The Siberian Buriats and the Kalmuk Oirats on the Volga reside in the Russian Federation; the Barga, Khiangan, Juu Ud, Khorchin or Jirem, Chakhar, Shiliingol, Alshaa, Ordos, Turned, Daurs, and a small community of Buriat Mongols live in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (IMAR), People's Republic of China (PRC); the Oirat (or Deed) Mongols live in Qinghai Province and in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, PRC; the Khalkha, along with a small population of Buriat and a larger one of Oirats, live in the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR).

Location. The range of Mongolian culture extends from northeastern Manchuria (125° E) westward to eastern Xinjiang (80° E). A north-south geographical projection extends in the south from the Ordos Desert, 37° N, northward to Lake Baikal in Siberia at 53° N. Mongols also live in Qinghai Province and along the lower Volga and Don rivers. There is a small remmant Mongolian community in Yunnan Province in the PRC.

The MPR, nearly four times the size of California, is wedged between Russia, to its north, and Inner Mongolia to the south. Ecologically, Mongols in Central Asia live in a landlocked, arid region. There is, nevertheless, much topographical diversity. In both the MPR and the IMAR there are high mountians; rich, wooded areas with rivers, streams, and lakes; and rolling plains of grass (steppes). The Mongolian plateau is the origin of many important Asian rivers. The Yellow River cuts through northwestern Inner Mongolia. The climate is characterized by warm summers and very cold, dry winters. The climate varies by region. At Ulaanbaatar (in Russian, Ulan Bator), capital of the MPR, the average temperature ranges from 18° C in July to below 0° C in January; whereas in Alshaa County in southwestern Inner Mongolia the temperatures can range from 37.7° C for July to below 0° C for January.

Demography. Mongols constitute 90 percent of the MPR's 1,943,000 total population. In contrast, Mongols constitute only 13.5 percent (2,681,000 Mongols and 60,000 Daurs) of the IMAR's 19,850,000 total population. The population in both regions is expanding. The MPR financially rewards families with six or more children, whereas the PRC, in 1986, restricted urban and peasant Mongolian families to two children. The new policy does not apply to pastoral Mongols.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Mongolian language is similar to other Altaic languages (Turkish, Uigur, Kitan, Jurchen, and Manchu). In the MPR the largest and most important dialect is Khalkha. In the MPR Oirat is the only other main dialect, whereas in the IMAR dialects may be divided into many regions: in the center there is the Chahar-Shiliingol dialect, which is closely related to standard Khalkha; in the northeast Barga and Buriat are spoken; in the southeast the major dialect is Khorchin; in the northwest it is Alshaa; and in the southwest it is the Ordos dialect. The Oirat or Kalmuck dialect is spoken in northwestern Xinjiang, Qinghai, and the western part of the MPR. With the exception of the Daurs, who speak a separate language in northeastern Inner Mongolia, the dialects are more or less mutually intelligible. Historically, the Mongols adopted a Uigur or vertical script under the leadership of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan (1206-1227). In 1946, the MPR formally adopted the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. The Uigur script remains the official script in the IMAR. In the MPR the official language is Mongolian, whereas in the IMAR both Mandarían and Mongolian are the official languages of government publication and documentation.

History and Cultural Relations

Mongols were an insignificant northern tribe until the early thirteenth century. Under the leadership of Chinggis Khan they were transformed into a large nomadic segmentary state. Khubilai (Kublai) Khan established the Yuan dynasty (1260-1368) and shifted the political center of Mongolian power from Karakorum (near Ulan Bator) to northern China (near Beijing). Mongol power declined after the Mongol dynasty in China was overthrown in 1368.

The Manchus, who conquered China in 1644, divided Mongolian territory into the geographical regions of Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. They also reorganized the Mongols into a banner administration system that bound Mongols to a specific locality, thereby effectively curtailing migration. The collapse of the Manchu (or Qing) dynasty in 1911 resulted in the formation of autonomous regions in Outer Mongolia and among the Bargas. As Russia fell into a civil war, China abolished the newly formed regions, and thereby provoked the formation of the first Mongolian political parties. In Feburary 1921 White Russians entered Outer Mongolia and drove out Chinese forces; in July 1921, the Russian Red Army drove out the Whites and installed a "constitutional monarchy." The MPR was officially formed in 1924-Khorloogiin Choibalsan and Sukhbaatar (in Russian, Suke Bator) formed and led the early Revolutionary party, and Choibalsan served from 1939 to 1952 as premier. In the 1930s the Japanese formed a new government (Meng-Jiang) in central Inner Mongolia, headed by the Mongolian prince Demchigdonggrub (Dewang). The Japanese army withdrawal in 1945 enabled Soviet-Mongolian military units to enter Inner Mongolia and Manchuria. It was not until after the Soviets had rejected political unification that the majority of Inner Mongolian leaders agreed to back the Chinese Communist party. The MPR and USSR have several long-term economic and "friendship" agreements. In 1987, the MPR established diplomatic relations with the United States.

The MPR is, ethnically, relatively homogeneous. The Kazaks, who live in the west, are the MPR's largest minority group (4 percent), followed by the Russian and Chinese urbanites (2 percent each). There was considerable resentment of Soviet domination of the MPR. The Soviet Union, however, was also regarded as a useful protector against China, as is its successor, the Russian Federation. Inner Mongolia is an ethnically diverse region. Ethnic relations between Mongols and Han Chinese continue to swing between mild antagonism and overt hostility. Most Mongols in the IMAR regard themselves as citizens of the PRC.

Settlements

The Mongols have always lived in a variety of dwellings: temporary grass shelters, the standard yurt (ger ) with a wooden latticework frame covered with felt, a permanent dwelling made from adobe brick, and multistory apartment complexes. Because of the fierce north winds, dwellings face the southeast. Today, 51 percent of the MPR's Mongolian population lives in cities, whereas the majority of the IMAR Mongols are farmers. The largest city in the MPR is Ulaanbaatar (population over 500,000). A few other "large" cities with a population of more than 10,000 are Choibalsan, Darkhan, and Erdenet. In the IMAR the three largest cities are Baotou (more than 500,000), Huhhot (491,950), and Wuhai (under 40,000).

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The Mongols no longer concentrate on raising horses, cattle, camels, sheep, and goats. Instead there is a preference for sheep, which have the highest market value. Mongols continue to hunt a variety of animals: wild antelope, rabbits, pheasants, ducks, foxes, wolves, and marmots. In the mountainous areas they formerly hunted bears, deer, sable, and ermine.

The Mongols have used irrigation and dry-farm methods for centuries. Mongolian peasants grow barley, wheat, oats, corn, buckwheat, millet, potatoes, sugar beets, garlic, cabbage, onions, carrots, sorghum, and fruit trees (especially apples), and raise pigs and sheep. Among herders a typical diet consists primarily of millet, milk tea, dairy products, mutton, kumiss (fermented mare's milk) and liquor (khar arkhi ). Of the total land area in the MPR, about 65 percent is used for pasturage and fodder. In the MPR, most wheat is grown on state farms and fodder on collectives. With only 15 percent of its labor force employed in industry, the MPR relies on imports from the former Soviet Union for most of its industrial goods. The majority of Mongols living in the IMAR are peasants, with smaller numbers of herders and urbanites. The region is economically subsidized by the Chinese state.

Industrial Arts. Historically, Mongolian artisans were honored and respected. They worked in gold, silver, iron, wood, leather, and textiles. Recently the applied arts have increased in importance because of export demands and tourist preference.

Trade. Historically, Mongols supplemented their economy by trade and raiding. They never developed a merchant class. On a regular basis the Mongols traded animals, fur, and hides for grain, tea, silk, cloth, and manufactured items with Chinese and Russian trading companies. The Mongols also traded with each other during the naadam, which continues to function in the IMAR as a trade-marriage-entertainment fair. Most trade in the MPR is with the former USSR and eastern Europe, whereas most trade in the IMAR is either with other Chinese provinces or with the United States and Japan.

Division of Labor. The gender division of labor is complementary. Among herders, women and children milk, churn butter, cook, sew, and perform child-care duties, whereas the men tend the cattle, horses, and camels, collect hay, and hunt wild game and occasionally wolves. Both sexes tend and shear sheep. In agricultural settings, men construct dwellings and plant, irrigate, weed, and harvest the crops, whereas women cook, clean, sew, perform child care, and assist with the planting and harvesting. In urban settings both men and women work for a wage. Women are responsible for most of the household chores and childcare duties.

Land Tenure. In the MPR, collectivization, after failing in the 1920s, was reintroduced in the late 1950s and has remained the predominant mode of production. In China, collectivization was first introduced in the late 1950s. In the early 1980s it was rejected in favor of the responsiblity system, which extended to both farmer and herder longterm contracts to use the land.

Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Kinship. The kinship system (i.e., relations governed by rules of marriage, filiation, and descent) was strongly patrilineal in the past, but its larger units, the clans and lineages, lost many of their functions to the Manchu administrative institutions. Among herders the ail, a group of households consisting of kin and nonkin that migrated together, formed a discrete social unit. The functions of the ail included mutual help in times of trouble, common kinship rituals (weddings, hair-cutting rites, funerals, etc.), and economic exchange (payment of marriage expenses). Within urban settings, situational use of kinship ties is preferred over other corporate forms of kinship.

Marriage. Within the domestic cycle, there is more importance placed on marriage than on birth or death. Mongols typically married young: for girls it was at age 13 or 14, for boys a few years later. Today Mongolian peasants marry in their early twenties and immediately start a family. Urban Mongols, especially the college-educated, delay marriage until their late twenties and, sometimes, early thirties. Except for urbanites, there is no dating tradition and marriages continue to be arranged. Premarital sex is common among Mongolian herders in the IMAR. Postmarital residence is almost exclusively patrilocal. Birth control is discouraged in the MPR and encouraged in the IMAR. Among peasants and herders, divorce is rare.

Domestic Unit. Historically, the main kinship groups are the nuclear and extended family and the patronymic group (a group of agnatically related men with their wives and children). Within the MPR collective farm the household remains the basic domestic unit. Among the Mongols in the PRC the primary domestic units are the nuclear and stem family.

Inheritance. Until the seventh century and the establishment of Buddhist estates, "property" was defined only as movable property. Wives in Mongolian society had rights to inherit property. Under Communism that right continues to be guaranteed by law. The eldest son inherited part of the family wealth at the time of his marriage, and the youngest son inherited the remaining family property after both parents had died.

Socialization. Historically, cultural transmission occurred informally between parent and child. The common means of discipline are verbal reprimand and corporal punishment. In the MPR, primary education after the age of eight is free and compulsory. Ten years of schooling are required. Ninety percent of the Mongols in the MPR are literate. In the IMAR most Mongols attend primary school. In urban areas, most attend middle school. Very few Mongols attend college.

Sociopolitical Organization

Mongols, throughout Central Asia, lived under governments that promoted a Marxist-Leninist political philosophy with a single, dominant political party. The MPR, the PRC, and the former USSR had a politburo, the chief policy-making body that follows the directives of the Central Committee. In March 1990 the MPR politburo proposed to give up its monopoly on power in favor of a more democratic constitution. In the 1992 parliamentary elections the former Communist party won by a large margin.

Social Organization. Traditionally, Mongolian society was organized around lay and ecclesiastical social classes. Social worth in the present-day MPR and the IMAR is determined by occupation in the command economy. The introduction of market incentives in the IMAR countryside reduced the influence of minor officials but did not undermine the power of the high-ranking officials.

Political Organization. There were six leagues under the Manchu dynasty, which the MPR reorganized into eighteen provinces (aimags ) and thirteen municipalites. In the MPR, a new administrative unit, the sumun, became the county administrative unit. The banner (khoshuun ) level, between the province and sumun, was abolished. In Inner Mongolia, the Guomindang continued the traditional banner system. In 1947, the Communists established the IMAR and continued the banner administrative organization.

Social Control. Mongols did not develop a codified legal system until the thirteenth century. The Mongol legal code included categories ranging from religious to criminal law. These codes lasted until the Communist party came to power. The legal codes developed in both the MPR and the IMAR stress collective over individual rights. Everyday affairs are regulated primarily by social censure.

Conflict. Historically, at the heart of the Mongolian-Chinese conflict there has been the question of land use. Throughout much of the early twentieth century, the migration of Chinese peasants pushed the herders into inferior pastureland. This led to periodic conflict. Ethnic conflict is, more or less, a moot issue in the MPR, whereas in the PRC's autonomous regions it is not. The Han Chinese believe the state's affirmative-action policy provides too many benefits. The Mongols argue that state has not provided enough benefits.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs and Practices. Historically, the primary religions of the Mongols were shamanism and animism. Mongols believed that the shaman had the capability of "soul travel" and could cure the sick. In the sixteenth century Lamaist Buddhism incorporated into its cosmology many shamanistic symbols and rites. Under the Manchus Lamaism flourished. Monastic centers were developed. The 1921 Revolution in Outer Mongolia brought an attack on Buddhism as a superstition. During the Cultural Revolution all but two of Inner Mongolia's 2,000 temples and shrines were destroyed. In the MPR the state has restricted the performance of festivals associated with shamanism and Lamaist Buddhism. In the IMAR, however, the obooshrine ritual festival continues to be an important community event. The oboos are thought to be inhabited by spirits and deities of localities. In the southwestern Ordos region the Chinggis Khan Memorial continues to draw Mongols from throughout the IMAR. There is also a small community of Mongolian Moslems located in the Alshaa Banner in western IMAR.

Arts. Mongolian culture is noted for its epic poetry and music. Modern Russian folk songs and dances, performed in Mongolian, are popular in both the MPR and the IMAR.

Medicine. Diease and sickness were regarded as the result of evil influences and wrongdoing. The most common diseases were smallpox, typhoid fever, bubonic plague, and syphilis. The Russian and Chinese doctors cured syphilis and reduced the occurrence of the other dieases. Modernization has meant increased access to Western medicial facilities. In the MPR women now give birth in hospitals, whereas in the IMAR herders and farmers continue to give birth in their homes. Longevity has increased in both rural and urban areas, primarily due to hygienic and medical development.

Death and Afterlife. After the introduction of Lamaist Buddhism, Mongols switched from earthen burial to "sky burial"—the body was left on the steppes to be eaten by wild animals. Today "sky burial" continues only in the Ujemchin districts of Shiliingol and among the Oirat (or Deed) Mongols living in the Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai. In other banners and districts, rural Mongols bury the dead in community graveyards. In urban China they are cremated.

Bibliography

Humphrey, C. (1978). "Pastoral Nomadism in Mongolia: The Role of Herdsmen's Cooperatives in the National Economy." In Development and Change, 133-160. London: Sage.

Jacchid, Sechin, and Paul Hyer (1979). Mongolia's Culture and Society. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

Rupen, Robert (1979). How Mongolia Is Really Ruled. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press.

Vainshtein, Sevyan (1979). Nomads of South Siberia. Edited with an introduction by Caroline Humphrey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

WILLIAM JANKOWIAK

Mongols Nomadic people of e central Asia who overran a vast region in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the early 13th century, Genghis Khan united the different tribes in the area and established an empire that stretched from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean and from Siberia to Tibet. Genghis Khan's possessions divided among his sons and developed into four khanates, one of which was the empire of the Great Khan (Kublai Khan) that included China. In the 14th century, Tamerlane, allegedly a descendant of Genghis, conquered the Persian and Turkish khanates and broke up the Golden Horde. By the end of the century, the true Mongol khanates had practically disappeared.

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