Mongolian Matters » history

Gregory Delaplace on Cinema in West Mongolia

khuushuur — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:21:55 +0000

An old invitation to a Mongol Kino movie show.

The young but renowned anthropologist Gregory Delaplace has opened the doors of his new personal website. It is an interesting mix of several topics that he has covered over the years. From ghost stories and “things invisible” to hiphop.

One of the most interesting bits is on the history of cinema in the west of Mongolia. It paints a picture of how cinema was spread in the socialist ages and how it rapidly declined in the days after.

The first cinema showing 35mm movies in Ulaangom was opened in 1954: not yet a proper kinoteatr, it was just a little building hosting a projector and a few spectators. The same year, jeeps (GAZ-51) were provided so that to widen the range of movie touring. At that time, some 30 programs were shown in the whole aimag, and each touring unit would cover 5 to 6 sum. The techniques were still poor though, and screening quality remained bad.

The report is co-authored by Vincent Micoud and developed in cooperation with a researcher from the Osaka National Museum of Ethnology.

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Vietnamese perspective on Mongolian Invasions

khuushuur — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:50:00 +0000

Buddhism Today has an article on Buddhism in Viet Nam, that describes its percieved Mongolian invasion:

“At that time, the Mongolian became a super power in the world stage. By then, half of the world already felt into the Mongolian hands: Central Asia, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, Iran… then China. After dominating China, Mongolian look into Vietnam. Then 30,000 troops of Mongolian cavalry -very well known at that time- crossed the border and attacked Vietnam the first time on January 17, 1258. Emperor TRAN THAI TONG -the one who wanted to be a Buddhist monk – now commanded the Vietnamese army to fight back. It took about 2 weeks, the Mongolian was defeated.

Angry over the defeat, the Mongolian took the revenge. The second invasion was well prepared, began on August 1284, with 200,000 strong troops under the command of a Mongolian prince. This time, the commander of Vietnamese army was Emperor TRAN NHAN TONG, also a devout Buddhist. The second invasion was not luckier than the first time. After 6 months that both sides had engaged into the fierce battles, the Mongolian was defeated and there was only a few thousands survived to back home.

For Mongolian, especially Emperor Koubilai, the defeat was so unbelievable and unbearable. It’s too shameful for the Mongolian empire, therefore, only two months after the defeat, Koubilai giving the order to mobilize all of his best units, ready to take the revenge. On December 25, 1287, 500,000 Mongolian troops under the command of the same Prince, one more time, crossed the border to invade Viet Nam the third time. Again, Emperor TRAN NHAN TONG led the Vietnamese army to fight back and defeat the Mongolian. This time it took for only 4 months. Like last time, there were only few thousands Mongolian survived to comeback. After the third try, the Mongolian quitting the idea to invade Vietnam. Vietnam then began enjoying the peaceful time for about two centuries.”

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Chinese version of Mongolian Buddhist History

khuushuur — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 09:23:00 +0000

“Between 1600 and 1640, when the Great Ch’ing Empire (Daicing Gurun, Daic& ing Ulus) emerged, there were many central Tibetan priests and Tibetan Buddhist priests from Mongolia (usually called lam-a, lama,

At that time, there were large numbers of lamas in Mongolia and China, but only two of them were on the side of Ming. Both of these two lamas were invited by the Chinese military leaders in Liaotung to serve as fu k’uan. The lamas were Lama Wang (Wang lama, Sangs-rgyas Pa-sangs) and Lama Li (Lii lama, Bsod-nams Mtsho). Both of them were Chinese. Lama Wang came from the Hsuan-hua Ta-tung area and had previously engaged in negotiations with Mongolia there. His activities in Liaotung, still diplomatic work with Mongolia, were recorded from 1622 to 1629. “

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Genghis Khan On Sukhbaatar Square

khuushuur — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:57:00 +0000

Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) has finally fully claimed his thrown again on Sukhbaatar square where this weekend the impressive gallery was revealed. Already during Nadaam time many dignitaries came to pay respect to Chinggis Khaan, including international princes and prime-ministers, but only recently the construction was entirely completed. At last the sizable Chinggis can confidently oversee his people, including a lone horse rider on the middle of the square.

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Genghis Khan Craze 132800 – Punky Chinggis on the new 20.000 banknote

khuushuur — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:47:00 +0000

The new Mongolian Tugrug note of 20,000 features a purple and green Chinggis, adding a new coulour scheme to the series of notes. The bank notes were recently launched and started circulating in the regular currency traffic. The 20,000 note now is the one with the highest value in circulation in Mongolia, with a value of around USD 17. The cover image is the same as the five hundred to ten thousand notes, but on the rear side an image of the national white banners is featured.

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technorati: mongolia

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Genghis and the airport

khuushuur — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 11:18:00 +0000

While most of the world is looking with a slight bewilderment at the images and other display of Chinggis Khaan during the recent celebrations it is somehow the airport that still can bring people from miles and miles away to emotional outbursts, as in The Guardian:

“Sombre news from Ulan Bator. In honour of Mongolia’s 800th anniversary, its airport has been renamed after Genghis Khan. This reflects the newly assertive stature of the former communist state. …

[Genghis] is credited with a belief in meritocracy, decimalisation, female emancipation, freedom of religion and flat taxes (after a fashion). He also specialised in mass slaughter, razing cities to the ground (saving only the engineers and artists), and pouring molten silver into the ears of insurgent leaders or, if they preferred, suffocating them under his table while he ate dinner. Neoconservatives still often declare themselves ‘well to the right’ of him.

How all this will play with tourists landing at Ulan Bator airport is not clear. Genghis Khan told his generals to treat foreign foes by ‘robbing them of their wealth, bathing their loved ones in tears,”

Apperently, while here it seems an innocent rename to a local hero, for some the link between the brutal Genghis Khan and an airport seems to be a hounting one.

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Mongolia’s Genghis Khan Craze #1156: A Cunning Can

khuushuur — Tue, 30 May 2006 15:07:00 +0000

We know in beers there is Chinggis, Khan Brau and since recently Mongol. There is Khaan coffee, Chinggis Khaan Hotel, Chinggis Khuree, Chinggis Khaan International Airport. But the very last innovation is the one and only Genghis Khaan Energy drink.
Drinking this certainly makes you feel you can conquor the world…

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Japan’s Genghis Khan Craze #1154: Shall we do a movie?

khuushuur — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:27:00 +0000

Japan is preparing another movie on Chinggis Khaan. Arrangements have been made with the Mongolian side, who will contribute as well. To make it a little more easy to look authentic they will film during the high season in the most touristy places.

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Mongolia’s Genghis Khan Craze #1153: Shall we build a Statue?

khuushuur — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 15:11:00 +0000

Plans were announced to build a 40-metre high statue on Tsonjin Boldog hill, 53km outside
Ulaanbaatar. The steel statue of Chinggis Khaan, holding a golden whip, is to be financed by the Genco Tour Bureau.

(to put things in perspective, the dots on the white part are actually people)

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Mongolia’s Genghis Khan Craze #1152: Airport renamed

khuushuur — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:21:00 +0000

Now that even the airport is being renamed Chinggis Khaan, I suppose it is only a matter of time before Ulaanbaatar will turn into Chinggis Khot.

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