The rebirth of Chinggis Khaan: state appropriation of Chinggis Khaan in post-socialist Mongolia

Abstract

A massive monument of Chinggis Khaan (Chinggis Khaan’s name is spelt differently depending on the language in which it was written and on conventions of transliteration. Among the most common are Chinggis, Genghis, Genghiz, or Jengiz. For the purpose of the paper, the Mongolian transliteration is used.) imposingly gazes down from the government palace in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. The monument was erected in 2006 in commemoration of the 800-year anniversary of the establishment of “the Great Mongolian State.” Occupying arguably the most prominent national space, the monument serves as an arresting emblem of the state. With its silent yet triumphant symbolization, the monument articulates the state’s new ideology in the post-Soviet era. The monument is one of countless symbolic and material grand-scale state expressions appropriating Chinggis Khaan. In this article, I examine the state’s appropriation of Chinggis Khaan as the marker of Mongolian post-socialist national identity. In doing so, I critically examine how the state appropriates history, remembering and forgetting certain parts, to cultivate a shared sense of belonging and pride. Unifying the public in shared glorification and celebration of Chinggis Khaan ultimately serves to instill devotion to the national political and ideological project.

Keywords:

• Mongolia
• Chinggis Khaan
• memory
• ideology
• nationalism

Notes

1. Entrepreneurs in Mongolia commodify Chinggis Khaan as the most reliable and dignified brand. As such, one can find a wide range of products and businesses named after him, including hotels, restaurants, pubs, carpets, beers, and vodkas, to name just a few (Bulag 2010, 32).

2. As shall be discussed later, Chinggis's birthday was picked by historians (under the directives by the state) in 2012. As the record of his birth is entirely unknown, it is a pure invention to serve the state’s ideological need.

3. In 1991, Mongolian rock singer Jargalsaihan established his band Chinggis Khaan. He has several songs paying tributes to Chinggis Khaan, some of which won international awards.

4. They are several ultra-nationalist groups in Mongolia. They are inspired by the legacy of Chinggis Khaan and often publicly state their position to keep Chinggis’s blood pure. They have been responsible for increased physical and verbal abuses against foreigners in Mongolia, as they consider foreigners taint otherwise pristine Mongolian culture and pure Mongolian blood.

5. According to a recent genetic study, 0.5% of the male population in the world might indeed be direct descendants of Chinggis Khaan. The study suggested that 8% of the men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry y-chromosomes that are nearly identical. Therefore, roughly 16 million descendants living today could be linked to Chinggis Khaan (Zerjal et al. 2003).

6. These decrees were superseded by the president’s decrees of 1997 (N59) and 2001 (N118) and the government decrees of 1993 (N27), 1997 (N115), 2001 (N112), and 2005 (N136).

7. The monument was designed by renowned artist L. Bold. He crafted the monument with artists from the Mongolian Artists’ Association.

8. I borrowed here Michael Billig’s (1995) term “flagging” for continual reminding.

9. For more detailed information on the various forms of “expressions” in Ulaanbaatar’s cityscape, see Diener and Hagen (2013).