At the Feet of Chinggis Khan
(Morley poses with with young women wearing traditional Mongolian clothing.)
After 12 days in Hovsgol Province, we flew back to Ulaan Baatar, left our bags at the hotel, and went walking through the city. We came to Sukhbaatar Square, the city’s central plaza, just as the national university graduation ceremonies ended, right there in the square. We couldn’t have come at a better time. The place was crowded with graduates dressed in their best, with their families from all over Mongolia. We plunged right into the crowd.
Many of the young women wore modern adaptations of traditional Mongolian clothing in bright silks, with super high heels. The colors were dazzling, and in many cases the effect was sexy and slinky. Some of the guys wore traditional clothing, but without the modern twist. It was fun to see the men’s hats, which stand up in a point on top, and I think Mongolian men look very manly in their traditional “deel” coats sashed low across the hips.
Groups were posing and everyone was taking pictures, so all we had to do was crowd in with the folks pointing cameras, and we got some great group shots. Morley had learned a word for “pretty,” “horhoon,” and so, combining that with English and sign language, she got several people to have their picture taken with her. People are so friendly and welcoming here, and if you take a photo and then show it to them on your camera screen, they respond with smiles and laughter.
Just about everyone who comes to Ulaan Baatar visits Sukhbaatar Square, and for good reason. It seems like there were big events happening there every day. At one end of the square is the parliament building with a huge statue of Chingghis Khan seated on a throne. It’s lit up with blue lights at night, and it always has people taking pictures of each other at the Khan’s feet, day or night.
The square is named for General Sukhbaatar who led the 1921 revolution which freed Mongolia from Chinese control — although China held onto the southern region, which is now the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. Sukhbaatar’s statue stands at the center of the square, supposedly on the spot where his horse urinated during a ceremony on July 8, 1921. This was considered a good omen, and someone took the care to mark the spot, although the statue wasn’t made until many years later. (I learned this from Wikipedia, and haven’t confirmed it yet with any of my Mongolian friends…) I love the statue: a heroic warrior on a heroic horse.
As a visitor to Mongolia, it’s important to understand about Chinggis Khan. We know him as Genghis Khan, the cruel and terrible warrior who destroyed whole cities in eastern Europe and the Middle East. But in Mongolia he’s like George Washington, the father of their nation who united the Mongol tribes and was an enlightened ruler. I guess people’s point of view depends on which history book they learn from. Just think of Alexander the Great, who we’re taught was a great hero and brilliant general who extended his empire all the way into India. But if you could see history through the eyes of the people he conquered, he might look more the way Chinggis Khan does to us.
Now young Mongolians are studying tourism and mining, engineering, and international relations. They start learning English in grade school, and many of them know several languages. Mongolia has its share of difficult problems—how to develop their resources without polluting or destroying the land, how to balance the surrounding international powers, how to modernize without losing their traditions—but I think it’s an exciting time to be a young Mongolian.
