Or Psychological Warfare Was Not His Only Legacy Mongolia Sees Genghis Khans Good Side An Article from the New York Times By Jehangir S Pocha Published Tuesday May 10 2005 Genghis Khan wasnt really a bad guy Elbegdorj Tsahkia the Mongolian prime minister said with a gri ID: 631021
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Mongolia Sees Genghis Khan’s Good Side" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Mongolia Sees Genghis Khan’s Good Side
Or Psychological Warfare Was Not His Only Legacy Slide2
“Mongolia Sees Genghis Khan's Good Side” – An Article from the New York Times
By Jehangir S. PochaPublished: Tuesday, May 10, 2005Slide3
“Genghis Khan wasn't really a bad guy," Elbegdorj Tsahkia, the Mongolian prime minister, said with a grin. "He just had bad press."Slide4
Mongolia emerged from the Soviet Union's shadow in the early 1990s
Since the 1990s, the lore and myth surrounding the khan have captured the imagination of the countryGenghis Khan is seen as the founder of the Mongolian stateUnder the communists, Mongolians were forced to adopt the ways and views of Western civilization with an emphasis on communist theorySlide5
Today’s veneration is partly traditional in Mongolia, where most revere their ancestors and where Genghis Khan is considered the father of the nation
But it is also a backlashDuring the seven decades the Soviet Union ran Mongolia, Moscow feared the deification of Genghis Khan would incite Mongolian nationalism
So even mentioning his name was forbiddenSlide6
People were banned from visiting the home of Genghis Khan in Khentii in the northeast
In fact, a Soviet tank base sat on the sole road connecting Khentii to the rest of the countrySlide7
Now, as Mongolia is reinventing itself as a free-market democracy, it is searching for its past to help define itself
And the Mongol named Temujin, who took the title of Genghis Khan, or Universal Ruler, forged the world’s largest contiguous land empire in the early 1200sSlide8
Evidence of a renewed romance with Genghis Khan is everywhere
Children, streets, hotels, vodka, cigarettes, banks, candy bars, beer, products and businesses of almost every type carry his nameHis face is on Mongolian money, stamps, and official buildings, and it is spray-painted on street cornersSlide9
Genghis Khan’s comeback over 700 years after his death (1227) is especially popular with young people
One of the country’s top bands, Black Rose, sings his praises in anthems that combine raspy rock vocals with traditional Mongolian throat singing -Throat singing is a guttural style of singing or chanting and it is one of the oldest forms of musicSlide10
Historians in the West and in China, India, and Iran and other nations that fell to Genghis Khan’s horsemen in the early 1200s tend to only see the Mongol onslaught
But to Mongolians, one of history’s greatest tyrants has been the greatest heroSlide11
Differing assessments of conquerors can roil emotions in Asia, where passions over history run high
But since Genghis Khan’s legacy is free of living memory, it is proving easier to reviseIn fact, nations wanting to curry favor with resource-rich Mongolia are supporting attempts to resurrect its pastSlide12
Since Mongolians worship their dead and the location of Genghis Khan’s grave remains unknown, both Beijing and Tokyo are trying to outdo each other in sanctifying his memorySlide13
China is spending about $20 million to renovate a mausoleum it built to Genghis Khan in 1954 at Ejin Horo Banner on the Ordos Highlands in its province of Inner Mongolia
In October a Japanese-financed research team searching for the tomb said it had found it at Avraga, about 250 kilometers, or 155 miles, east of this capitalSlide14
Many people in this pristine, beautiful country see such global support for the rehabilitation of their god-king as fulfillment of a longtime quest for international dignity
But the Persian texts of the day and age of the Mongols warned the ancient cities of Bukhara and Samarkand: “All men who surrender will be spared; whoever does not surrender but opposes with struggle and dissension, shall be annihilatedSlide15
Many Mongolians feel that the savage image of Genghis Khan endures only because “his history was written by his enemies”
The Mongols were not scribes The only comprehensive chronicle of his times, “The Secret History of the Mongols” (a13th-century account of Genghis Khan’s life) was lost for centuriesSlide16
Even when it was rediscovered in the 1880s by a Russian diplomat in China, its dissemination was tightly controlled
So most of the material on Genghis Khan comes from the people he conqueredThe historians present the picture of a brilliant but tempestuous and cruel man
Genghis Khan was said to have been so hot-tempered that he slew his half-brother in an argumentSlide17
But a slow reconsideration of this fearsome figure has been taking place since 1982, when Francis Woodman Cleaves produced the first authoritative modern version of "The Secret History of the Mongols”
Some newly found details, such as Genghis Khan's apparent fear of dogs, make him seem more human; historians are also reassessing the nature of Mongol society and ruleSlide18
The new books say his empire gave citizens religious freedom, banned the slave trade, expanded a global economy and introduced several important international concepts, such as diplomatic immunitySlide19
The extent of Genghis Khan’s empire also led to greater contact between East and West, and these exchanges were carried further by his grandson, Kublai KhanSlide20
Though it is estimated that Genghis Khan killed about 40 million people across Asia and Europe, some researchers cite evidence that Genghis Khan might have exaggerated his massacresSlide21
Researchers at the Genghis Khan University in Ulan Bator even say that toward the end of this life he was trying to turn his empire into a civil state, based on a code of laws called the Great Yassa, which granted equal and defined legal rights for all citizens, including womenSlide22
But Genghis Khan's most astounding effect remains on the world's demography. In February 2003, the study "The Genetic Legacy of the Mongols," published by the American Journal of Human Genetics, estimated that Genghis Khan has more than 17 million direct descendants living today: One in every 200 people is related to him