Tale of two Mongolias: Chinese occupied Inner Mongolia versus Democrat, this is an interesting article about Mongolia versus Inner Mongolia Options

[baasiddeghuja]

Here is an interesting article about Mongolia versus Chinese colonized Inner Mongolia!




A Tale of Two Mongolias

Posted on Monday, May 30, 2011 by 2point6billion.com

Chinese Occupied Inner Mongolia and the Mongolian State are separate entities, but confusion remains as to the differences.

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

ULAANBAATAR, May 30 – Recent reports in the press over ethnic tensions “in Mongolia” demonstrate there is still much to be understood about the region. Apparently, an ethnic Mongolian herder was killed by a Han Chinese lorry driver in an accident that has sparked unrest in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. Meanwhile, Mongolia itself remains an independent country. Such reports however, tend to demonstrate poor standards of journalism, a lack of appreciation of the dynamics between the two areas, and a disregard for historical fact. That the incident was widely reported in headlines as having taken place in “Mongolia” blurs distinctions and is indicative of lazy journalism. In this article I aim to describe the differences between the two as well as shed some light on the background to the incident in question.

Many Chinese nationals still in fact regard all of Mongolia – including the sovereign nation to the north of Beijing – as being historically Chinese. Yet the reverse is true. While Mongolia was subsumed by the Han, it was the Mongols who were long the masters of the Steppes, creating under successive Khans an empire that stretched across Eastern Europe, Russia, most of Central Asia, China, Tibet and parts of India. Indeed, the very Dalai Lama himself is a symbol of Mongolian supremacy – the title was created by Altai Khan and bestowed upon the dominant Tibetan King of the day. The name itself is Mongolian, meaning “Ocean of Wisdom,” and is not Chinese. As Tibet sold religious favors to the Mongolians to legitimize the latter’s command of the region, so Tibet fostered a type of trade in religious blessings in return for military protection. This system would later be inherited by the Chinese dynasties as the Mongolian empire eventually crumbled, leaving Tibet to bestow favors upon the new regional power. This only came to a halt when Chairman Mao decided he had no need for religion and derided it as “poison.” Those acts of “suzerainty” so often quoted by the Chinese as meaning sovereignty, were in fact introduced by the Mongols, not the Chinese. A case for Tibet being part of Mongolia is arguably stronger than the case for the Chinese settlement of the land, military force and might not withstanding.

Indeed, the Chinese shame of having been invaded by the Mongols is such that history itself becomes warped – schoolchildren are taught that Genghis Khan was a Chinese Emperor. He wasn’t, he was a “barbarian” invader who conquered all. Beijing is still modeled – in terms of the siting of the main Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the main avenues – on the ancient Mongolian city plans. No wonder the Chinese have such a strange attitude towards their neighbor, with distinctions between the sovereign state and the Chinese autonomous region still being blurred today.

With the demise of the Genghis Khan-led Mongolian Empire, which effectively lasted for about 400 years under different Khans, Manchu Qing eventually gained the upper hand and subsumed Mongolia towards the end of the 17th Century under their Qing Dynasty. It was the collapse of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in 1911 that gave the Mongolians the contemporary initiative to declare independence, but this came just as the rise of the Bolshevik Revolution was occurring in Russia. Faced with a choice between going cap in hand back to the Chinese or sticking with the Russians, the Mongolians became under strong Soviet influence until their withdrawal in 1991. Democratic elections were almost immediately held.

Inner Mongolia like Mongolia, it also fell to the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the late 1600s, however each various region of Mongolia was subjected to different rules. Inner Mongolians, unlike those elsewhere, were forbidden to travel to other parts of what had been the Mongolian Empire and a gradual assimilation by the Han Chinese began in a manner that did not occur elsewhere. Mass emigration of Han Chinese began in the late Qing period with the balance of ethnicity shifting to Han dominance, a position that remains today. With that has come settlement and the gradual destruction of the nomadic lifestyle.



There are other curious differences between Inner Mongolians and Mongolians. As many Inner Mongolians over the past 300 years have intermarried with Chinese, Mongolian nationals often regard them as inferior. Plus the advance of settled farming runs counter to traditional Mongolian values and understanding of land management techniques.

The incident in Inner Mongolia – which appears to have been as a result of an ethnic Mongolian herdsman trying to prevent Chinese coal trucks driving across grasslands – is symptomatic of the entirely different social structures each have come from. While many Mongolians remain nomadic, the Chinese are essentially settlers, and put land to long term use. The conflict of cultures and wisdom comes from the way the Chinese manage the land as opposed to the Mongolians viewpoint. “Scientific” methods of communal farming are deemed superior to the “backward” methods of the nomads. It’s a struggle as old as human habitation of the grasslands themselves, but one in which, in Inner Mongolia at least, the local ways are being pushed aside in favor of Han Chinese settlements and “advancement.” Such divisions cause friction in Inner Mongolia, but in Mongolia itself – where the traditional methods are still used without interference or ridicule – the wisdom of the nomadic life over a sedentary existence soon becomes apparent.

The results of the mass Han experiment in Inner Mongolia has had mixed results. In Inner Mongolia, the ethnic Mongolian’s earn significantly less than the Han Chinese, which may indicate that on an ethnic basis, the Mongolian nationals are already better off than their Inner Mongolian counterparts. Such a wide disparity between per capita incomes also indicates the money is not going back to the province. Inner Mongolia has become a feeding basket for the rest of China, regardless of the consequences to the ethnic residents, and to an increasing extent, the imposition of “scientific” methods of increasing production. It is, in essence, a region being stripped of its assets and the re-sale value of them.

That those Chinese methods at the expense of traditional nomadic lifestyles are heralded as superior by the Han settlers seems beyond doubt. Yet Inner Mongolia is suffering some of the worst desertification of grasslands in the world. The eradication of wolves for example, to protect valuable sheep flocks is a case in point. Traditionally, Mongolians and wolves have had a love-hate relationship. Yes, wolves take livestock, but wiping them out, as has been the Han Chinese policy, does far more damage than good. The “scientific” evaluation of the Han settlers of wolves as a scourge has resulted in many areas of Inner Mongolia becoming over-populated with rabbits, resulting in a total destruction of the grassland. Once replaced, it can never be reclaimed, and the Gobi Desert is growing in Chinese Inner Mongolia at a rate of 2.4 percent a year.

The accident that has sparked unrest in Inner Mongolia appears to have come from a similar lack of appreciation of land management by the Han. Apparently wanting to avoid a bumpy road, a convoy of coal trucks took a detour across nomadic pastures. It’s the middle of lambing season right now, and sheep will abort if disturbed, while the damage to the pastures themselves should not be underestimated. The Mongolian who died apparently did so trying to protect the grasslands and was run over by a truck – some say deliberately. According to the local township web site where the incident occurred, two Han Chinese drivers have indeed been arrested for murder. If true, such wanton disregard for the lives of ethnic minorities by the settling Han is as backward as that displayed by the European settlers towards the Native American Indians 400 years ago. That’s hardly civilized behavior for a nation that can put a man into space, and smacks of rampant colonialism.

Back in Mongolia itself, there is little signage in Chinese and a profound dislike for many Chinese. Wary of what happened to Tibet, and warier still of the damage being caused to millions of hectares of land to the south in Inner Mongolia, the Mongolian nationals retain their nomadic ways, and are passionate believers in democracy, Buddhism and the ways of the land. The link between traditional beliefs and a culture of awareness so in-tune with the land that it has become spiritual, ultimately manifests itself in the Dalai Lama being revered here. He still visits from time to time, and when that happens, the Chinese close the border in protest. A culture based on settlement, it seems, has no place for the sentimentality of the governing forces of nature. That is the major weakness in the Chinese attitude towards sustainable development. It leads instead to exploitation, while the Dalai Lama is regarded as a “Splittist.” What that really means is he understands the desirability for a nomadic lifestyle in Tibet over mass settlement. Lhasa, meanwhile, has become clogged up with fumes, and the air quality is suffering in that most holy of cities.

The Mongolians and the Tibetans, both used to harsh terrains, understand this. Not wanting to stress the land out, the nomadic existence still enjoyed by 30 percent of the entire national population of Mongolia is in reality far more sustainable than the “technologies” of the Chinese. While that Chinese "superior" culture has ended up poisoning children with melamine tainted milk from Han Chinese-run Inner Mongolian-based dairies, no such event took place in Mongolia itself, another major dairy producer.

Faced also with the new, massive wealth that Mongolia’s numerous mining projects will bring, the GDP growth rate and per capita income will see Mongolia outstrip its southern neighbor in just a few years. Mongolia’s per capita income by 2015 is expected to reach US$10,000, higher than that of Inner Mongolia and even surpassing the Shanghainese. For a nation of “backward and unsophisticated horsemen” (as was described to me by one Han Chinese recently) its seems that maybe after all, the nomadic lifestyle and attention to detail as regards natural sustainability may be the way forward.

It’s been noticed by some Han Chinese as well. Lu Jiamin, writing under the alias Jiang Rong, wrote about this issue in his novel “Wolf Totem.” It’s a book all Inner Mongolian-based cadres would be well advised to read, and makes one weep for the inevitability of the Han destruction of land through settlement farming in areas that simply cannot sustain such treatment. When scientific progress means milk laced with poisons, it’s time to start looking at the traditional alternatives. The two Mongolias could not be more different.

Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the Principal of Dezan Shira & Associates and Vice Chair of the Regional UNDP body covering Northern China and Mongolia. He is based in Beijing and is currently spending time in Mongolia evaluating the market potential and challenges for foreign investment.

Related Reading

Jiang Rong’s “Wolf Totem”
A publishing sensation in China, this novel wraps an ecological warning and political indictment around the story of Chen Zhen, a Beijing student sent during the 1960s Cultural Revolution to live as a shepherd among the herdsmen of the Olonbulang, a grassland on the Inner Mongolia steppes.

[Titanium]

So in other words, Inner Mongolia is 6 times richer than Outer Mongolia?

[baasiddeghuja]

You do not understand the main point of this story:

Mongolians in Mongolia enjoy freedom, liberty, and human rights, and enjoy higher income than their Inner Mongolian brethrens who are exploited by 22 million Chinese illegal immigrants, whose income is lower than that of Mongolians in Mongolia, and who suffer under the Chinese communist dictatorship!

So, who is better off: Mongolians in Mongolia who enjoy freedom and democracy, and fast growing economy, OR Inner Mongolians who are minority in their own land, who have no freedom, liberty, and human rights, and who are worse off than their brethrens in Mongolia because the Chinese suck up all the resources from Inner Mongolia?

Furthermore, as this author pointed out, the Chinese are turning Inner Mongolia, once one of the most beautiful grasslands on earth, into life-less deserts!

Read Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem! In that book, you will find out the real superiority of the Mongolian nomadic warrior culture compared to the Chinese rice-peasantry culture!

So in other words, Inner Mongolia is 6 times richer than Outer Mongolia?

[Yearofthedragon]

You do not understand the main point of this story:

Mongolians in Mongolia enjoy freedom, liberty, and human rights, and enjoy higher income than their Inner Mongolian brethrens who are exploited by 22 million Chinese illegal immigrants, whose income is lower than that of Mongolians in Mongolia, and who suffer under the Chinese communist dictatorship!

So, who is better off: Mongolians in Mongolia who enjoy freedom and democracy, and fast growing economy, OR Inner Mongolians who are minority in their own land, who have no freedom, liberty, and human rights, and who are worse off than their brethrens in Mongolia because the Chinese suck up all the resources from Inner Mongolia?

Furthermore, as this author pointed out, the Chinese are turning Inner Mongolia, once one of the most beautiful grasslands on earth, into life-less deserts!

Read Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem! In that book, you will find out the real superiority of the Mongolian nomadic warrior culture compared to the Chinese rice-peasantry culture!

You are a Pavlov dog. Do not ever teach me about democracy. You are conditioned to worshipping your White master only. Learn more about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov . Before preaching anything you even don't know yourself.

This post has been edited by Yearofthedragon: Feb 22 2012, 02:25 AM

[Titanium]

You do not understand the main point of this story:

Mongolians in Mongolia enjoy freedom, liberty, and human rights, and enjoy higher income than their Inner Mongolian brethrens who are exploited by 22 million Chinese illegal immigrants, whose income is lower than that of Mongolians in Mongolia, and who suffer under the Chinese communist dictatorship!

So, who is better off: Mongolians in Mongolia who enjoy freedom and democracy, and fast growing economy, OR Inner Mongolians who are minority in their own land, who have no freedom, liberty, and human rights, and who are worse off than their brethrens in Mongolia because the Chinese suck up all the resources from Inner Mongolia?

Furthermore, as this author pointed out, the Chinese are turning Inner Mongolia, once one of the most beautiful grasslands on earth, into life-less deserts!

Read Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem! In that book, you will find out the real superiority of the Mongolian nomadic warrior culture compared to the Chinese rice-peasantry culture!

So in other words, Inner Mongolia is 6 times richer than Outer Mongolia?

[Boron]

The tone of all you mongolians will get you exactly what you deserve from Chinese: nothing, zero. Even your minerals are all developed by foreigners, including Chinese. Even sitting on such natural gifts you cannot develop. What entitlement you think you have talking to Chinese with your tone? fu-king idiots.

This post has been edited by Boron: Feb 22 2012, 02:53 AM

[baasiddeghuja]

I am not trying to teach you about democracy and human rights! I understand that the values such as democracy, freedom, and human rights are alien concepts to most Chinese! I know that the Chinese communist party always tells the Chinese that because China has 1.4 billion people, China must be controlled by the Communist Party.

But I bet that the time will come when the Chinese people realize that it is EVIL to kill innocent students by tanks and millions of unborn babies by forced abortion due to the Communist party one-child policy. Then, perhaps, we can talk democracy and share with you Mongolia's successful democratic transition to a thriving democracy! Until then, you enjoy your brutal communist rule that kills millions and millions of innocent Chinese every year!

You are a Pavlov dog. Do not ever teach me about democracy. You are conditioned to worshipping your White master only. Learn more about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov . Before preaching anything you even don't know yourself.

[Boron]

everyone knows how hateful mongols are. But this is news to some people, they're also stupid enough to come get humiliation in a Chinese chat.

[baasiddeghuja]

The Mongolians including these neo-nazi youth are very angry at you-Chinese because you-Chinese stole 50 percent of traditional Mongolian land, and exploit 4.5 millions (60 percent of world's Mongolians) Mongolians under the brutal Chinese rule!

This is the reason why Mongolians are talking to you in this tone: We want OUR LAND BACK!

The tone of all you mongolians will get you exactly what you deserve from Chinese: nothing, zero. Even your minerals are all developed by foreigners, including Chinese. Even sitting on such natural gifts you cannot develop. What entitlement you think you have talking to Chinese with your tone? fu-king idiots.

[crabdonut]

Here's some food for thought for Mongols: They accuse Chinese for having low working standards, peanuts for pay, with no insurance or safety, but it really is just a testament to how hard working Chinese are and how lazy Mongols are. Mongolia is nowhere even close to being developed and they're demanding good pay, insurance, work unions etc.? Almost countries that want to industrialize have to go through the phase of terrible working conditions and low pay. It sucks for the generation that has to go through this phase but their descendants reap the benefits. Maybe thats why Mongolia has such a high unemployment rate. Men and women who want more than they deserve.

[baasiddeghuja]

The Mongolians including these neo-nazi youth are very angry at you-Chinese because you-Chinese stole 50 percent of traditional Mongolian land, and exploit 4.5 millions (60 percent of world's Mongolians) Mongolians under the brutal Chinese rule!

This is the reason why Mongolians are talking to you in this tone: We want OUR LAND BACK!

The tone of all you mongolians will get you exactly what you deserve from Chinese: nothing, zero. Even your minerals are all developed by foreigners, including Chinese. Even sitting on such natural gifts you cannot develop. What entitlement you think you have talking to Chinese with your tone? fu-king idiots.

[Mid-Night_Sun]

i like how you didnt post the pic they showed.



http://www.2point6billion.com/news/wp-cont...as-compared.jpg


like 1/10 the population of Inner Mongolia and still so much worse in gdp per capita.

This post has been edited by Mid-Night_Sun: Feb 22 2012, 03:08 AM

[Boron]

For a country that 3 armored battalions can overrun in one week, you should learn smarter ways to talk to Chinese.

This post has been edited by Boron: Feb 22 2012, 03:08 AM

[Boron]

i like how you didnt post the pic they showed.



http://www.2point6billion.com/news/wp-cont...as-compared.jpg


like 1/10 the population of Inner Mongolia and still so much worse in gdp per capita.

if china sealed the border they'd be $400 per capita if even that much.

[Mid-Night_Sun]

if china sealed the border they'd be $400 per capita if even that much.

well i can see why they want inner mongolia. they lose to it in every category except ethnic % make up lmao. what i find strange is this victim mentality.

oh boo hoo you took 50% of our land. 60% of mongol under ruthless chinese rule.

then they switch right up.

talking about Genghis khan conquering China.

Genghis Khan was Song ally. unless they accept Jin as Chinese it was Kublai who did it. and he did everything he could to COPY Chinese. but thats beside the point. how are they going to hype up that vaunted tough Mongol image then come crying about Chinese. so lame.

This post has been edited by Mid-Night_Sun: Feb 22 2012, 03:27 AM

[Titanium]

This is the reason why Mongolians are talking to you in this tone: We want OUR LAND BACK!

Not gonna happen.

Face it, the Mongols are a defeated, annexed and colonized people much like the Native Americans.

The Mongol descendants in the near future will be living in Chinese cities as Chinese citizens speaking Chinese and forgetting about their Mongol heritage. Just accept it and move on!

This post has been edited by Titanium: Feb 22 2012, 03:32 AM

[Boron]

Not gonna happen.

Face it, the Mongols are a defeated, annexed and colonized people much like the Native Americans.

The Mongol descendants in the near future will be living in Chinese cities as Chinese citizens speaking Chinese and forgetting about their Mongol heritage. Just accept it and move on!

To get a country at all sandwiched between two land empires, they should feel precious about the independence and relative equality they have now, not to provoke the one country that may claim it someday.

well i can see why they want inner mongolia. they lose to it in every category except ethnic % make up lmao. what i find strange is this victim mentality.

oh boo hoo you took 50% of our land. 60% of mongol under ruthless chinese rule.

then they switch right up.

talking about Genghis khan conquering China.

Genghis Khan was Song ally. unless they accept Jin as Chinese it was Kublai who did it. and he did everything he could to COPY Chinese. but thats beside the point. how are they going to hype up that vaunted tough Mongol image then come crying about Chinese. so lame.

I wonder if they even believe their own stories. If mongols are so proud of conquering China for a short time, why do they think Chinese should feel indebted for holding half of Mongolia?

This post has been edited by Boron: Feb 22 2012, 03:42 AM

[Crossbowman123]

The Mongolians including these neo-nazi youth are very angry at you-Chinese because you-Chinese stole 50 percent of traditional Mongolian land, and exploit 4.5 millions (60 percent of world's Mongolians) Mongolians under the brutal Chinese rule!

This is the reason why Mongolians are talking to you in this tone: We want OUR LAND BACK!

Am I suppose to feel pity?

If you want "your" land back, then take it back. Don't cry like a baby.

[Hugham]

The Mongolians including these neo-nazi youth are very angry at you-Chinese because you-Chinese stole 50 percent of traditional Mongolian land, and exploit 4.5 millions (60 percent of world's Mongolians) Mongolians under the brutal Chinese rule!

This is the reason why Mongolians are talking to you in this tone: We want OUR LAND BACK!

Your original homeworld is around Lake Baikal in the north under Russia territory.

The modern day Mongolia is not your land as historical evidence proof it.

You just a nomad people who immigrate to that land less than 1000 years ago.

Why don't you ever try to liberate fellow Asians under Russia occupation in Siberia instead of bothering the China?

[robot_devil]

if china sealed the border they'd be $400 per capita if even that much.

Thats what they did back in the 90's when for some reason the Outer Mongolian leadership suddenly got the great idea to invite the Dalai Lama over for an "official" visit. The CHinese side decided to close off their side of the border for "rail maintenece". Needless to say, the once uppity Monolians were litterally begging for mercy just after one week.