What is Mongolia?

Монгол улс Mongol uls Mongolia
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem "Монгол улсын төрийн дуулал" National anthem of Mongolia
Location of Mongolia
Capital (and largest city)		Ulaanbaatar
Official languages		Mongolian
Government		Parliamentary republic
-	President	Nambaryn Enkhbayar
-	Prime minister	Miyeegombyn Enkhbold
Formation
-	National Foundation Day	1206
-	Independence from Qing Dynasty	December 29 1911
-	Mongolian People's Republic	November 24 1924
-	Democratic Mongolia	February 12 1992
-	Water (%)	0.6
Population
-	July 2007 estimate	2,951,786 [1] (139th)
-	2000 census	2,407,500 [2]
GDP (PPP)		2005 estimate
-	Total	$5.56 billion (147th)
-	Per capita	$2,175 (138th)
HDI (2004)		0.691 (medium) (116th)
Currency		Tögrög (MNT)
Time zone		(UTC+7 to +8[3][4])
Internet TLD		.mn
Calling code		+976
2

Mongolia (IPA: /mɔn.goʊ.li.ə/) (Mongolian: Монгол улс) is a country typically classified as being a part of East Asia, although sometimes it is considered part of Central Asia, and the northern rim of historical Mongolia extends into North Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. Its capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia was the center of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century and was later ruled by the Qing Dynasty from the end of the seventeenth century until 1911, when an independent government was formed with Russian assistance. The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed in 1924, leading to the adoption of communist policies and a close alignment to the Soviet Union. After the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, Mongolia adopted a new constitution which was ratified in 1992. This officially marked the transition of Mongolia to a multi-party political system. Mongolia's political system is parliamentary republic.

At 1,564,116 square kilometres, Mongolia is the nineteenth largest, and the least densely populated independent country in the world with a population of around 2.9 million people. It is also the world's second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. The country contains very little arable land as much of its area is covered by arid and unproductive steppes with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately thirty percent of the country's 2.8 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though Buriats, Kazakhs and Tuvans also live in the country, especially in the west. About 38% of the population lives in Ulaanbaatar.

History

Main article: History of Mongolia

A large number of ethnicities have inhabited Mongolia since prehistoric times. Most of these people were nomads who, from time to time, formed great confederations that rose to prominence. The first of these, the Xiongnu, were brought together to form a confederation by Modu Shanyu in 209 BC. They defeated the Donghu, who had previously been the dominant power in eastern Mongolia. The Xiongnu became the greatest threat to China for the following three centuries; the Great Wall of China was built partly as defence against the Xiongnu. Marshal Meng Tian of the Qin Empire dispersed more than 300,000 soldiers along the Great Wall to prevent an expected invasion from the North. It is believed that after their decisive defeat by the Chinese in AD 428–431, some of the Xiongnu migrated West to become the Huns. After the Xiongnu migrated west, Rouran, a close relative of the Mongols, came to power before being defeated by the Göktürks, who then dominated Mongolia for centuries.

Early history

During the seventh and eighth centuries, Mongolia was controlled by the Göktürks, who were succeeded by the ancestors of today's Uyghur and then by the Khitan and Jurchen. By the tenth century, the country was divided into numerous tribes linked through transient alliances.

Mongol Empire

Main article: Mongol Empire

In the late twelfth century, a chieftain named Temüjin united the Mongol tribes to the Naiman and Jurchen after a long struggle and took the name Genghis Khan. Beginning in 1206, Genghis Khan and his successors consolidated and expanded the Mongol Empire into the largest contiguous land empire in world history, going as far northwest as Kievan Rus.

After Genghis Khan's death, the empire was divided into four kingdoms, or "Khanates". One of these, the "Great Khanate," comprised the Mongol homeland and China, and its emperors were known as the Yuan Dynasty. Its founder, Kublai Khan, set up his centre in present day Beijing. After more than a century of power, the Yuan Dynasty was replaced by the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and the Mongol court fled north. The Ming armies pursued and defeated them in Mongolia, but were not able to conquer Mongolia. However, they were successful in sacking and destroying the Mongol capital Karakorum and other cities in 1380. The Chinese wiped out the cultural progress of the Mongols achieved during the imperial period and Mongolia was thrown back to the primitive state until the renaissance of the 16th-17th centuries. The Ming Emperor Yongle (1402-1424) mounted five military expeditions into Mongolia. The beginning of the 15th century is characterised by struggle for the throne between the Genghisid taiji and non-Genghisid nobles called taishi. The taishi were represented by the Oirad nobles whose success led to an ascendance of Esen Tayisi to power. To end the Chinese economic blockade and open up a trade with Ming Dynasty, Esen Tayisi raided China in 1449 and captured the Ming emperor at the Battle of Tumu. Shortly after death of Esen, the Genghisids dominated the power again. In 1466 Queen Mandihai the Wise installed a young boy Batumonhe, a descendant of Genghis Khan, on the throne and then she defeated the Oirad. Batumonhe Dayan Khan later eradicated the separatism of the taishi of Southern Mongolia. During the 16th century, Mongolia was split between the descendants of queen Manduhai into Khalkha, Chaharia, Tumet and other domains. The ruler of Tumet proclaimed himself as Altan Khan beside the legitimate Mongolian khan. Raiding China, he besieged Beijing in 1550 and reached peace with the Ming Dynasty. Altan Khan established the city of Hohhot in 1557. Upon meeting the Supreme Lama of Tibet in his domain in 1577, Altan Khan gave him title Dalai Lama and he became a convert to Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time ruler of Khalkha Abtai rushed to Tumet to meet the Dalai Lama. Thus, eventually most of the Mongolian rulers became Buddhists. Abtai Khan established Erdene Zuu monastery in 1586 at the site of the former city Karakorum.

The second half of the 15th and the 16th centuries saw the revival and flourishment of the Mongolian culture. Zanabazar (1635-1723), head of Buddhism in Khalkha, was a great master of the Buddhist art. He created the famous sculptures of Sita-Tara and Siyama-Tara, inspired by lively images of Mongolian women.

Manchu domination

During the seventeenth century, the Manchu rose to prominence in the east. They conquered Inner Mongolia in 1636. The Khalkha submitted in 1691, bringing all but the west of today's Mongolia under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. For the next two centuries, the Manchu maintained control of Mongolia with a series of alliances and intermarriages, as well as military and economic measures.

Independence

With the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Mongolia declared independence in 1911. The new country's territory was approximately that of the former Outer Mongolia. The 49 hoshuns of Inner Mongolia as well as the Mongolians of the Alashan and Qinghai regions expressed their willingness to join the young Mongol Khanate. After the October Revolution in Russia, Chinese troops led by Xu Shuzheng occupied the capital in 1919. The Chinese dominance did not last: notorious Russian adventurer "Bloody" Baron Ungern who had fought with the "Whites" (Ataman Semyonov) against the Red army in Siberia, led his troops into Mongolia and forced a showdown with the Chinese in Niislel Khüree. Ungern's forces triumphed, and he briefly in effect ruled Mongolia under the blessing of religious leader Bogd Khan. But Ungern's triumph was shortlived; he was chased out by the Red Army, which, while at it, liberated Mongolia from feudalism and ensured its political alignment with the Russian Bolsheviks. In 1924, after the death of the religious leader and king Bogd Khan, a Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed with support from the Soviets.

Alignment with the Soviet Union

Main article: Mongolian People's Republic

The Mongolian People's Republic was aligned closely with the Soviet Union. During the 1920s and 1930s, several high-ranking politicians who demanded a more independent course, like Dogsomyn Bodoo or Khorloogiin Dandzan, fell victim to violent power struggles and were killed. In 1928, Khorloogiin Choibalsan rose to power. Under his administration, forced collectivisation of livestock was instituted, and the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and Stalinist purges beginning 1937 left more than 30,000 people dead.

During the Soviet-Japanese Border War of 1939, the USSR defended Mongolia against Japan. Mongolian forces also took part in the Soviet offensive against Japanese forces in Inner Mongolia in August 1945 (see Operation August Storm). The (Soviet) threat of Mongolian forces seizing parts of Inner Mongolia induced the Republic of China to recognize Outer Mongolia's independence, provided that a referendum was held. The referendum took place on October 20 1945, with (according to official numbers) 100% of the electorate voting for independence. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, both countries re-recognized each other on October 6, 1949. The communist rule also undertook the Mongolia's enemies of the people persecution resulting in the murder of monks and other people.

After Choibalsan died in Moscow on January 26, 1952, Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal took power. In 1956 and again in 1962, Choibalsan's personality cult was condemned. Mongolia continued to align itself closely with the Soviet Union, especially after the Sino-Soviet split of the late 1950s. While Tsedenbal was visiting Moscow in August 1984, his severe illness prompted the parliament to announce his retirement and replace him with Jambyn Batmönkh.

1990 Democratic Revolution

Main article: 1990 Mongolian democratic revolution

The introduction of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR by Mikhail Gorbachev strongly influenced Mongolian politics even though Mongolia was a sovereign nation. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, combined with these two policies, were enough to lead to the peaceful Democratic Revolution of 1990. This, in turn allowed Mongolia to begin engaging in economic and diplomatic relations with the Western world. The nation finished its transition from a communist state to a multi-party capitalist democracy with the ratification of a new constitution in 1992.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Mongolia

Government of Mongolia is characterized as a parliamentary democracy, which is governed under the Constitution of Mongolia that guarantees full freedom of expression, rights, worship and others. As a result, media in Mongolia is totally free with a public television and no government news paper and all being privately owned. Mongolia has two main parties among many other parties. Until June 27, 2004, the predominant party in Mongolia was the social democratic Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party or abbreviated as the MPRP, a former communist party during the socialist republics. The main opposition party was the Democratic Party or DP, which controlled a governing coalition from 1996 to 2000.

From 2000 to 2004, the MPRP was back in power, but results of the 2004 elections required the establishing of the first ever coalition government in Mongolia between the MPRP and MDC (Motherland Democratic Coalition). The coalition broke down in January 2006, the current government has been formed with the MPRP, some small parties and some DP defectors.

President

Main article: President of Mongolia

Mongolia's president has a symbolic role, but can block the parliament's decisions, who can then overrule the veto by a 2/3 majority. Mongolia's Constitution provides three requirements for taking office as President: the individual must be a native-born Mongolian, be at least 45 years of age, and have resided in Mongolia for five years prior to taking office. The current President is Nambaryn Enkhbayar.

The State Great Khural

Main article: State Great Khural

Mongolia uses a unicameral parliamentary system in which the president has a symbolic role and the government chosen by the legislature exercises executive power. The legislative arm, the State Great Khural, has one chamber with 76 seats and is chaired by the speaker of the house. It elects its members every four years by general elections. The State Great Khural is powerful in the Mongolian government with the president being largely symbolic and the prime minister being confirmed from the parliament.

Prime Minister and the Cabinet

Main article: Prime Minister of Mongolia

The Prime Minister of Mongolia is elected by the State Great Khural. The current prime minister is Miyeegombyn Enkhbold, who was elected by fifty-six votes to ten on January 25 2006. The deputy prime minister is Mendsaikhan Enkhsaikhan (since 28 January 2006). There are other prime ministers of each department like finance, defense, labor, agriculture, etc. and those offices constitute the prime minister's cabinet.

The cabinet is nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the president and confirmed by the State Great Khural.

Foreign relations and military

Main articles: Foreign relations of Mongolia and Military of Mongolia

Mongolia maintains positive relations and has diplomatic missions with many countries such as the United States, Russia, North and South Korea, Japan, the People's Republic of China. The government has focused a great deal on encouraging foreign investments and trade. Mongolia supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and has sent several successive contingents of 103 to 180 troops each to Iraq and Afghanistan. Also 200 Mongolian troops are serving in Sierra Leone on an UN mandate to protect the UN's special court set up there. From 2005 to 2006, about 40 troops were deployed with the Belgian and Luxemburgian contingent in Kosovo. On November 21, 2005, George W. Bush became the first-ever sitting U.S. President to visit Mongolia.^[5]

Mongolia has embassies in Almaty, Ankara, Bangkok, Berlin, Beijing, Brussels, Budapest, Cairo, Warsaw, Washington, D.C., Vienna, Vientiane, Havana, Delhi, London, Moscow, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Pyongyang, Seoul, Sofia, Tokyo, Hanoi, and Singapore, a consulate in Irkutsk, and a diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York City and to the European Union in Geneva. ^[6]

Geography and climate

Main article: Geography of Mongolia

At 1,564,116 km²^[7] (603,909 mi²), Mongolia is the world's nineteenth-largest country (after Iran). It is significantly larger than the next-largest country, Peru.

The geography of Mongolia is varied with the Gobi desert to the south and with cold and mountainous regions to the north and west. Mongolia consists of relatively flat steppes. The highest point in Mongolia is the Khuiten in the Tavan bogd massif in the far west at 4,374 m (14,350 feet). The basin of the lake Uvs Nuur, shared with Tuva Republic in Russia, is a natural World Heritage Site.

Most of the country is hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter, with January averages dropping as low as -30°C (-22°F). The country is also subject to occasional harsh climatic conditions known as zud. Ulaanbaatar has the coldest average temperature of any national capital in the world. Mongolia is high, cold, and windy. It has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers, during which most of its annual precipitation falls. The country averages 257 cloudless days a year, and it is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure. Precipitation is highest in the north (average of 20 to 35 centimeters per year) and lowest in the south, which receives 10 to 20 centimeters annually. The extreme south is the Gobi, some regions of which receive no precipitation at all in most years.

The name "Gobi" is a Mongol term for a desert steppe, which usually refers to a category of arid rangeland with insufficient vegetation to support marmots but with enough to support camels. Mongols distinguish Gobi from desert proper, although the distinction is not always apparent to outsiders unfamiliar with the Mongolian landscape. Gobi rangelands are fragile and are easily destroyed by overgrazing, which results in expansion of the true desert, a stony waste where not even Bactrian camels can survive.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Aimags of Mongolia and Sums of Mongolia

Mongolian administrative divisions are breaken down into 21 aimags (province) and each aimag into multiple sums (district). Mongolia is divided into the following Aimags (provinces):

Arkhangai Bayan-Ölgii Bayankhongor Bulgan Darkhan-Uul Dornod Dornogovi Dundgovi Govi-Altai Govisümber Khentii

Khovd Khövsgöl Ömnögovi Orkhon Övörkhangai Selenge Sükhbaatar Töv Uvs Zavkhan

The aimags are further divided into 315 sums ("districts"). The capital Ulan Bator is administrated separately as a municipality (khot) with provincial status

Economy

Main article: Economy of Mongolia

Mongolia's economy is centered on agriculture and mining. Mongolia has rich mineral resources, and copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production.

There are currently over 30,000 independent businesses in Mongolia, chiefly centered around the capital city . The majority of the population outside urban areas participate in subsistence herding; livestock typically consists of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and Bactrian camels. Agricultural crops include wheat, barley, vegetables, and other forage crops. GDP per capita in 2006 was $2,100.^[8] Although GDP has risen steadily since 2002 at the rate of 7.5% in an official 2006 estimate, the state is still working to overcome a sizable trade deficit. A massive ($11 billion) foreign debt to Russia was settled by the Mongolian government in 2004 with a $250 million payment. Despite growth, the proportion of the population below the poverty line is estimated to be 36.1% in 2004, and both the unemployment rate and inflation rate are high at 3.3% and 9.5%, respectively<ref name="factbook-mn" /> Mongolia's largest trading partner is China. As of 2006, 68.4% of Mongolia's exports went to China, and China supplied 29.8% of Mongolia's imports.^[9]

Industrial sector

Industry currently accounts for 21.4% of GDP, approximately equal to the weight of the agriculture sector (20.4%). These industries include construction materials, mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, tin, tungsten, and gold), oil, food and beverages, processing of animal products, and cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing. The industrial production growth rate is estimated to be 4.1% in 2002. Mining is continuing to rise as a major industry of Mongolia as evidenced by number of Chinese, Russian and Canadian firms opening and starting mining business in Mongolia.<ref name="factbook-mn" /> Domestic food production, especially packaged food production has been increasingly coming up with speed with investments from foreign companies.

Science and technology

Mongolia has increasingly started to develop its technology industry since the democratic revolution of the early 1990s, and many new technology companies have been founded. Also, some technology companies in nearby countries, such as South Korea and the People's Republic of China, have started to open offices in Mongolia. Number of telecommunications companies and internet service providers have been established resulting in greater competition in the internet and phone market, especially in cell phones. A company in Mongolia established a cellphone service covering all areas of Mongolia. Relative to electronics and other mechanical industries, software industry has been more focused on by the Mongolian and foreign companies that opened up offices in Mongolia.

Service sector

After the democratic revolution of the early 1990s, Mongolian domestic production has picked up providing basic food production to its residents through increasing competition among companies. According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2003, the service sector accounted for 58% of the GDP, with 29% of the labor force of 1.488 million involved.

However, investment from other countries (including China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Russia) have helped to add more paved roads. Of which the most important is a 1000 km north-south road leading from the Russian border at Sühbaatar to the Chinese border at Zamyn-Üüd. The air transport company of Mongolia is MIAT.

Petroleum products are to a large part (80%) imported from Russia, which makes Mongolia vulnerable to supply side shocks. This is one strong example of the influence of Mongolia's neighbors on its economy.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Mongolia

Mongolia's total population as of July 2007 is estimated at around just 2.9 million people ranking at around 138th in the world in terms of population. It has very small population relative to its two border neighbors, China and Russia. Though the majority of Mongolian citizens are of Mongol descent there are small populations of Kazakh, Tuvan, and Tungus peoples. Mongolia's population growth rate is estimated at 1.54% (2000 census). About two-thirds of the total population is under age 30, 36% of whom are under 14. This relatively young and rapidly growing population has, as in many developing countries, placed strains on Mongolia's economy. According to the [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html|CIA World Factbook], 50% of Mongolia's population is Buddhist-Lamaist, which is related to Tibetan Buddhism. 40% is listed as having no religion, 6% is Shamanist or Christian, and 4% is Muslim. Life in sparsely populated Mongolia has become more urbanized. Nearly half of the people live in the capital and in other provincial centers. Semi-nomadic life still predominates in the countryside where many families stay in villages during the cold winters and live in gers during the summer, though agricultural communities that are settled year-round are becoming more common. Around 40% of the population continue to live traditional nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle.^[10]

Ethnic Mongols account for about 85% of the population and consist of Khalkha and other groups, all distinguished primarily by dialects of the Mongol language. The Khalkha make up 90% of the ethnic Mongol population. The remaining 10% include Buryats, Durbet Mongols and others in the north and Dariganga Mongols in the east. Turkic peoples (Kazakhs, Tuvans, and Uyghurs) constitute 7% of Mongolia's population, and the rest are Tungusic peoples, Chinese, and Russians. Most, but not all, Russians left the country following the withdrawal of economic aid and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Languages

The official language of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongolian, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and is spoken by 90% of the population. A variety of different dialects are spoken across the country. In the west the Kazakh and Tuvan languages, among others, are also spoken. The Russian language is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia, followed by English, though English has been gradually replacing Russian as the second language. Korean has gained a popularity as tens of thousands of Mongolians work in South Korea.^[11] Interest in Chinese, as the language of the second neighbouring power has been growing. Japanese is also popular among the younger people. A number of older educated Mongolians speak some German, as they studied in the former East Germany, while a few speak other languages from the former Eastern Bloc. Besides that, many younger Mongolians are fluent in the Western European languages as they study or work in foreign countries including Germany, France and Italy.

Mongolian is one of the Mongolic languages. Mongolic is frequently included in the Altaic languages, a group of languages named after the Altay Mountains that also includes the Turkic, and Tungusic languages, and sometimes, Korean and Japanese.

Religion

Various forms of tengriism and shamanism have been widely practiced throughout the history of what is now modern day Mongolia, as such beliefs were common among nomadic people in Asian history. Such beliefs gradually gave way to Tibetan Buddhism, but shamanism has left a mark on Mongolian religious culture. Indeed, some shamanistic practices and traditions, such as the use of ovoo as religious sites, are still practiced.

Throughout much of the twentieth century, the communist government ensured that the religious practices of the Mongolian people were largely repressed. Khorloogiin Choibalsan complied with the orders of Joseph Stalin, destroying almost all of Mongolia's over 700 Buddhist monasteries and killing thousands of monks. The fall of communism in 1991 restored the legality of public religious practice, and Tibetan Buddhism, which had been the predominant religion in the region before the rise of Communism, again rose to become the most widely practiced religion in Mongolia. The end of religious repression in the 1990s also allowed for other religions, such as Islam and Christianity, to spread in the country.

See also: Buddhism in Mongolia, Islam in Mongolia

Education

During the state socialist period, education was one of the areas of significant achievement in Mongolia. Illiteracy was virtually eliminated, in part through the use of seasonal boarding schools for children of nomadic families. Funding to these boarding schools has been cut in the 1990s, contributing to slightly increased illiteracy.

Primary and secondary education formerly lasted ten years, but has been expanded to eleven years recently and is set to be expanded further to twelve years.

Mongolian national universities are all spin-offs from the National University of Mongolia and Mongolian University of Science and Technology

The broad liberalization of the 1990s led to a boom in private institutions of higher education, although many of these establishments have difficulty living up to their nomer of "college" or "university".

Health

Health care in Mongolia is rapidly improving, leading to a higher life expectancy.

According to the [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html|CIA World Factbook]average childbirth (fertility rate) is around 2.25 per woman (2007), average life expectancy is 67 years, and the infant mortality rate is at 4% (2% according National Ministry of Health in 2006 ^[12]) .

The health sector comprises 17 specialized hospitals and centers, 4 regional diagnostic and treatment centers, 9 district and 21 aimag general hospitals, 323 soum hospitals, 18 feldsher posts, 233 family group practices, and 536 private hospitals and 57 drug supply companies/pharmacies. In 2002 the total number of health workers was 33273, of which 6823 were doctors, 788 pharmacists, 7802-nurses and 14091 mid-level personnel. At present, there are 27.7 physicians and 75.7 hospital beds per 10.000 population overall.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Mongolia

The main festival is Naadam, which has been organised for centuries, consists of three Mongolian traditional sports, archery, horse-racing (over long stretches of open country, not the short racing around a track practiced in the West), and wrestling. Nowadays it is held on July 11 to July 13 in the honour of the anniversaries of the National Democratic Revolution and foundation of the Great Mongol State. Another very popular activity called Shagaa is the "flicking" of sheep ankle bones at a target several feet away, using a flicking motion of the finger to send the small bone flying at targets and trying to knock the target bones off the platform. This contest at Naadam is very popular and develops a serious audience among older Mongolians. In Mongolia, the khoomii, or throat singing, style of music is popular, particularly in parts of Western Mongolia.

The ornate symbol in the leftmost bar of the national flag is a Buddhist icon called soyombo. It represents the sun, moon, stars, and heavens per standard cosmologic symbology abstracted from that seen in traditional thangka paintings.

Sports and recreation

Mongolia's Naadam festival takes place over three days in the summer and includes horse racing, archery, and Mongolian wrestling. These three sports, traditionally recognized as the three primary masculine activities, are the most widely watched and practiced sports throughout the country.



Horse riding is especially central to Mongolian culture. The long-distance races that are showcased during Naadam festivals are one aspect of this, as is the popularity of trick riding. One example of trick riding is the story that the Mongolian military hero Damdin Sühbaatar scattered coins on the ground and then picked them up while riding a horse at full gallop.

Other sports such as table tennis, basketball, and soccer are increasingly getting popular. More Mongolian table tennis players are competing internationally. Wrestling is the most popular of all Mongol sports. It is the highlight of the Three Manly Games of Naadam. Historians claim that Mongol-style wrestling originated some seven thousand years ago. Hundreds of wrestlers from different cities and aimags around the country take part in the national wrestling competition.

There are no weight categories or age limits. Each wrestler has his own attendant herald. The aim of the sport is to knock one's opponent off balance and throw him down, making him touch the ground with his elbow and knee.

The winners are honored with ancient titles: the winner of the fifth round gets the honorary title of nachin (falcon), of the seventh and eighth rounds zaan (elephant), and of the tenth and eleventh rounds arslan (lion). The wrestler who becomes the absolute champion is awarded the title of avarga (Titan). Every subsequent victory at the national Naadam-festival will add an epithet to the avarga title, like "Invincible Titan to be remembered by all".

Beginning in 2003, the Mongolian parliament adopted a new law on Naadam, making amendments to some of the wrestling titles. The titles of iarudi and Hartsaga (Hawk) were added to the existing above-mentioned rules.

The traditional wrestling costume includes an open-fronted jacket, tied around the waist with a string. This is said to have come into use after the champion of a wrestling competition many years ago was discovered to be a woman. The jacket was introduced to ensure that only men could compete.

Mongolia's traditional wrestlers have made the transition to Japanese sumo wrestling with great success. Asashoryu was the first Mongolian to be promoted to the top sumo rank of yokozuna in 2003 and was followed by his countryman Hakuho in 2007.

Football is also played in Mongolia. The Mongolia national football team began playing again in the 1990s; it has yet to qualify for a major tournament. The Mongolia Premier League is the top domestic competition.

Several Mongolian women have excelled in pistol shooting: Munkhbayar Dorjsuren is a double world champion and Olympic bronze medal winner (now representing Germany), while Otryad Gundegmaa and Tsogbadrakh Munkhzul are as of May 2007 ranked second and third in the world in the 25 m Pistol event.^[13]

Architecture

The traditional Mongolian dwelling is known as a yurt (Mongolian: ger). According to Mongolian artist and art critic N. Chultem, yurts and tents were the basis for development of the traditional Mongolian architecture. In the 16th ad 17th centuries, lamaseries were built throughout the country. Many of them started as yurt-temples. When they needed to be enlarged to accommodate the growing number of worshippers, the Mongolian architects used structures with 6 and 12 angles with pyramidal roofs to approximate to the round shape of a yurt. Further enlargement led to a quadratic shape of the temples. The roofs were made in the shape of marquees.^[14] The trellis walls, roof poles and layers of felt were replaced by stone, brick, beams and planks, and became permanent.^[15] Chultem distinguished three styles in traditional Mongolian architecture: Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese as well as combinations of the three. Among the first quadratic temples was Batu-Tsagaan (1654) designed by Zanabazar. An example of the yurt-style architecture is the lamasery Dashi-Choiling in Ulan Bator. The temple Lavrin (XVIII century) in the Erdene Zuu lamasery was built in the Tibetan tradition. An example of a temple built in the Chinese tradition is the lamasery Choijing Lamiin Sume (1904), which is a museum today. The quadratic temple Tsogchin in lamasery Gandan in Ulaanbaatar is a combination of the Mongolian and Chinese tradition. The temple of Maitreya (disassembled in 1938) is an example of the Tibeto-Mongolian architecture.<ref name="Chultem" /> Dashi-Choiling monastery has commenced a project to restore the temple and the 80-feet sculpture of Maitreya.

Music

Main article: Music of Mongolia

Popular music

The first rock band of Mongolia was Soyol-Erdene, founded in the 1960s. Their Beatles-like manner was severely criticised by the Communist censorship. It was followed by Mungunhurhree, Ineemseglel, Urgoo, etc., carving out the path for the genre in the harsh environment of Communist ideology. Mungunhurhree and Haranga were to become the pioneers in the Mongolia's heavy rock music. Haranga approached its zenith in the late 1980s and 1990s.

The leader of Haranga, famous guitarist Enh-Manlai, generously helped the growth of their following generations of rockers. Among the followers of Haranga was the band Hurd. In the early 1990s group Har-Chono put the beginning for Mongolia's folk-rock merging the elements of the Mongolian tenuto song (poorly described as "long" song) into the genre.

By that time, the environment for development of artisitic thought had become largely liberal thanks to the new democratic society in the country. The 1990s saw development of rap, techno, hip-hop and also boy bands and girl bands flourished at the turn of the century.

See also

• Architecture of Mongolia
• Communications in Mongolia
• Foreign relations of Mongolia
• Military of Mongolia
• Mongolyn Skautyn Kholboo (Mongolian Scouts Association)
• Public holidays in Mongolia
• Transportation in Mongolia
• Greater Mongolia region

References and notes

• Mongolia, Encyclopaedia Britannica
• [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html Mongolia] CIA World Factbook
• Background notes on Mongolia, US Department of State

External links

General

• Open Directory Project - Mongolia
• Flags of the Mongolian aymags
• The UB Post Independent English Weekly News
• Mongolia Web News Regular online news in English
• American Center for Mongolian Studies Promoting research and scholarship in Mongolia

Official

• Mongolia Open Government from the Office of the Prime Minister
• Mongolia Ministry of Foreign Affairs official site
• Mongolian Tourist Board

Reports and pictures

• Photographical reportages by Michel Setboun
• Collection of annotated photos of Mongolia: people, religion, culture, economy
• Plants of Mongolia
• Birds of Mongolia
• 21 Days In Mongolia Gallery and diary of a backpackers trip to Mongolia
• Mongolia Blog 2006 A blog and photos of an American's experience in Mongolia

•  • [ e] Countries of Central Asia
Afghanistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Mongolia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

•  • [ e] Countries and territories of East Asia
People's Republic of China  People's Republic of China1  Japan  North Korea  South Korea  Mongolia SARs  Hong Kong  Macau Sometimes included:  Singapore Vietnam Russian Far East 1 Otherwise known as "Taiwan"; see Political status of Taiwan.

•  • [ e] Countries of Asia

Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan1 Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China, People's Republic of China, Republic of (Taiwan)2 Cyprus Egypt3 Georgia1 India Indonesia4 Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan1 Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia1 Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor)4 Turkey1 Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen3 For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory and List of unrecognized countries. 1 Partly or significantly in Europe.  2 The Republic of China (Taiwan) is not officially recognized by the United Nations; see Political status of Taiwan. 3 Partly or significantly in Africa.  4 Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania.