Curriculum Connections
- Famous People from Mongolian History
- Geography of Inner Mongolia
- Music of Inner Mongolia
- Activity: Living Wax Museum
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Famous People from Mongolian History
Source: Mongolia (Cultures of the World), by Guek-Chang Pang, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History 8.4 World History 8.4.3.A. Identify individuals and groups who have made significant political and cultural contributions to world history
Genghis Khan—Empire Builder
The steppes of Central Asia during the 7th to 10th century were inhabited by nomadic tribes, probably of Turkic, Tataric, or Ugrian origin. The Mongols were a small group. One man inherited leadership of his clan from his father, and gained greater power by conquering or forging alliances with other clans. His name was Temujin. In 1206, at a great assembly of all the tribes, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan, “strong ruler.” All the clans agreed to adopt the name Mongol.
The aggressive Mongols rode out of the heart of Asia in the 13th c. and subjugated all the nations from Central Asia to the banks of the Danube River. The Mongol cavalry wore metal armor, which gave him greater agility than metal. He carried a small leather shield on his left arm for protection. His weapons were a lance, a bow with a quiver of arrows with different heads for different purposes, a saber, and a dagger. He was trained to shoot while riding at full gallop. A herd of fresh horses was always kept ready, and each cavalryman had a reserve of up to four remounts. Artillerymen with mangonels, or giant catapults, supported the cavalry.
Genghis Khan began building his empire in 1209 and defeated the Tanguts, who controlled the Silk Road linking China with Rome, in 1210. Many clans caught in the Mongol onslaught chose to submit rather be killed. They paid taxes and provided men to the army. Millions were subjugated and tribes were unified. Genghis died in 1227. The empire built by Genghis, his sons and grandsons, an empire which stretched over all of Asia almost to the Mediterranean Sea, began to break down into smaller, independent fiefdoms ruled by different branches of the family.
Shi Huang Di—First Builder of the Great Wall of China
The first part of the Great Wall of China was built by the Chinese emperor Shi Huang Di to keep out marauding tribes. His tomb contains over 6,000 life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses.
The Mongols’ 89-year rule of China ended in 1368, when they were forced back to Mongolia by the succeeding Ming dynasty whose rulers rebuilt the Great Wall of China to ensure that the Mongols and other marauding tribes were kept out for good.
Kublai Khan—Unifier and Developer
Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis, and proclaimed himself Great Khan. However, by this time, the powerful Mongol Empire had broken into fiefdoms. He spent much of his time in northern China (modern Inner Mongolia) and established a capital at Shangdu. He set himself the task of developing and unifying China. He founded the Yuan dynasty, moved his capital to present-day Bejing, encouraged trade, improved Chinese agriculture, advanced study of the sciences, and developed a written script for the Mongolian language. He united north and south China, attempted to invade Japan in 1274, in 1281, and Java in Southeast Asia in 1293. He died in 1294 at age of 79. A theoretical construction of Kublai, the "Pleasure Dome," is the subject of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1797 poem Kublai Khan. The poet Coleridge's work brought Kublai and his achievements to the attention of a widespread audience, and today Kublai Khan is a well-known historical figure.
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The Geography of Inner Mongolia
Source: Mongolia (Cultures of the World), by Guek-Chang Pang, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Geography 7.3 The Human Characteristics of Places and Regions 7.3.3. A. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their population characteristics
AnDa Union are a group of musicians from Inner Mongolia who formed a band in 2003. They have all been trained in traditional Mongolian music. They find inspiration in old and forgotten songs. In their words, “Our music draws from all the Mongol tribes that Genghis Khan unified. [The Mongols united under Genghis Khan in 1206, and their descendents went on to conquer the rest of China and then parts of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries.] We all have different ethnic backgrounds and we bring these influences into our music.” This music had all but disappeared during China’s recent tumultuous past.
Location of Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia (green on the map) refers to the Mongol autonomous region inside the People’s Republic of China. It extends across the north frontier of China and covers 1.183 million square km. It borders Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces in the east; Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces in the south; Ningxia and Gansu to its west; and the Republic of Mongolia and the Federation of Russia to the north. Mongolia (or Outer Mongolia) is a sovereign state located between China and Russia. Inner Mongolia is a multi-national autonomous region. Some of the ethnic minority groups are the Huis, the Manchus, the Daurs, the Ewenkis the Koreans, the Oroqens, the Zhuangs, the Tibetans and the Tus.
Physical and environmental description of Inner Mongolia
The land of Inner Mongolia is mainly steppes or plateaus, most of them are more than 1000 meters above sea level. Their grasslands make up more than 20 percent of China’s total grassland. They sustain millions of sheep, horses, goats, cattle and other livestock that graze there. They have been affected by goats, raised by herders for cashmere wool. In the east, there are primitive forests in the Greater Xinggan (or Hinggan) Mountain Range and these are some of China's richest timber resources. The plateaus also contain deserts. Large copper and gold deposits located in Oyuu Tolgoi, about 80 kilometers from the Chinese border into Mongolia, are being investigated for mining operations. There is limited natural freshwater resources in some areas. Policies of former regimes promoted rapid population and industrialization of cities that had negative effects on the environment. The burning of soft coal in power plants and the lack of enforcement of environmental laws severely polluted the air in Ulaanbaatar; deforestation, overgrazing, and the converting of virgin land to agricultural production increased soil erosion from wind and rain; and the desertification and mining activities has had a bad effect on the environment. Natural hazards are dust storms, grassland and forest fires, drought, and "zud," are harsh winter conditions.
Weather
Mongolia is totally landlocked and it has a continental climate similar to the northern United States. The winds are dry and the lack of humidity means that the sun shines brightly from a cloudless sky. Industry is impacting the climate.
Archaeology
University of California at San Diego research scientist Albert Lin invites us in his Valley of the Khans Project Ted Talk to join his technology- enabled exploration to help identify sacred burial mounds and other archaeological finds. By mapping archaeological sites copper mining and other industry can be managed in a sustainable way. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/projects/valley-khans-project/?source=A-to-Z .
The American Museum of Natural History expedition to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has an interactive website telling about the many important fossil finds in the Gobi desert.
Plants and animals
The deserts and the surrounding regions have many animals, including black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, endangered Bactrian camels http://www.oneearthadventures.com/gobi/wildlife/wildlife.htm , http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bactrian-camel/, Mongolian wild asses (read about Penn State Associate Professor Kateryna Makova research on wild horses in Mongolia http://live.psu.edu/story/54919) and even occasional snow leopards. The gobi bear is the only bear found in the desert www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDdHserQl5o. The deserts have a number of drought-adapted shrubs such as gray sparrow’s saltwort, gray sagebrush and low grasses such as needle grass and bridlegrass.
People and housing
Mongolia was an entirely a nomadic nation--- they moved from one place to another rather than settling permanently in one location—and the horse was a main means of transport. They transported their housing. The yurt has been the main habitation of Central Asian nomads for thousands of years and continues to be the main form of dwelling in the Mongolian steppe. These structures are known in many parts of the world by their Russian name, yurt, while in Mongolia they are called ger. They are traditional structures made of a wooden frame covered with layers of felt. http://www.mongolian-yurt.com/yurts-and-nomads.html
Recent livestock privatization and the collapse of the urban economy have influenced people to return to rural lifestyles. Most Mongolians live in countryside in small towns, in apt buildings or gers. A wooden fence surrounds each ger so it can be assigned a house number.
Clothing
The band AnDa Union is on a mission to stimulate their culture and reengage young Mongols. They dress in traditional clothing for their performances. They wear Deels , a long textile gown that forms the basis of almost all Mongolian clothes. Besides being a main cloth, it can serve as a blanket, or tent. Deel protects against cold and winds. If necessary, its long sleeves are rolled down to serve as gloves. A wide sash, made of several meters long textile, serves as a corset protecting against severe shaking during a fast horse ride. It also serves as a hanger to which a knife, firestone, cup and other accessories can be attached. A pocket formed by deel above the sash, makes an ideal place for keeping small items. In the nomadic culture, special attention was given to the quality of clothes and its tidiness since a missing button, undone seam or loose knot could have cost one's life during a sudden snow storm or fast horse ride.
Food
Authentic Mongolian food includes milk tea, braised mutton chunks, instant-boiled lamb, kebab, and roast mutton legs, mutton chops and whole roast lamb.
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Music of Inner Mongolia
Sources: AnDa Union www.andaunion.com
Mongolia (Cultures of the World), by Guek-Chang Pang, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
PA Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities 9.2. Historical and Cultural Contexts D. Analyze a work of art from its historical and cultural perspective.
Many of the members of the band AnDa Union come from musical families and are part of a strong Mongolian musical tradition that is passed from generation to generation. AnDa Union describe themselves as music gatherers, digging deep into traditional nomadic culture of Inner Mongolia, from all the Mongol tribes that Genghis Khan unified, and unearthing forgotten music. They draw inspiration in old and forgotten songs. They are on a mission to stimulate their culture and reengage young Mongols, many of who have forgotten how to speak their own language and forgotten about their music. Hadanbataar, their drummer, says, ”Young Mongolians like us now understand how important our culture is but maybe the next generation won’t care and we have to prevent this from happening.” Mongols have a strong musical tradition that is passed from generation to generation.
The band’s instruments include the morin khuur (horse head fiddle, morin means horse), the maodun chaoer (three-holed flute), and Mongolian versions of the lute and mouth harp.
The morin khuur is the Mongolian nation’s principal instrument. Much of the canon of Mongolian performance art (song, dance, drama, stories, even blessings) is created with the music of the Morin Khuur. For hundreds of years the instrument itself changed little. In the twentieth century, when there were developments to playing technique and even to the Morin Khuur`s construction. Many households have one hanging in their doorway. The instrument pays homage to the most important animal in the Mongol culture, the horse. When Mongolians were entirely a nomadic nation--when they moved from one place to another rather than settling permanently in one location--the horse was a main means of transport. Many songs and poems were written praising the horse. A carved wooden head of a horse is placed on top of the instrument, and horse hair from the tail is used for the two strings and for the bow.
AnDa Union are also accomplished singers, moving fluently from hoomai, the guttural throat song, to the clear long notes of urtinduu, long-song.
Hoomai is a type of overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, in which the singer manipulates the resonances or formants created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds and out the lips to produce a melody. The fundamental and overtones or partials of a sound wave can be selectively amplified by changing the shape of the resonant cavities of the mouth, larynx and pharynx. This resonant tuning allows the singer to create more than one pitch at the same time (the fundamental and a selected overtone.
Urtinduu It is called "Long song" not because the songs are long (even if some of them are), but because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. A four-minute song may only consist of ten words. but because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. The main feature of the long song is the prolonged, tenuto notes with deeply modulated vibrato on the vowels. These majestic vibrating notes called shuranhai give the song profound philosophical, meditational character and they often depict the spacious mountain valleys and the tranquility of the Mongolian soul. In 2005 UNESCO declared the Mongolian Long Song one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
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Activity: Living Wax Museum
Research a famous person from Inner Mongolia (for ideas see www.cpa.psu.edu/preK-12 or choose one of the AnDa Union band members) www.andaunion.com and create a characterization of this person to be included in a living wax museum.
What you will need
Identify a the famous Mongolian person
Make a poster to be displayed beside you in the museum including the following information:
name of famous person
picture of the famous person
dates person lived
what the person is famous for
Create a costume you can wear to become this person—It should be representative of the person
Create a pose. This will be your position in the wax museum. It should represent your character, should be comfortable to you, and can include any props you deem necessary, as long as they are realistic.
Create a one-minute monologue. This is to be something that is spoken by you as that person. You must attempt to sound as that person would sound—accents, tone of voice, inflection changes, etc. You will also need to block this one-minute monologue: have movement --be doing something--as you speak). It should be relevant to the character. You may use your props at this point. The monologue can be something the person actually said or something that you create for them to say.
Museum Opening
You will be assigned a spot according to what your presentation requires. You will be required to "strike a pose"/freeze and be that person for the wax museum. You will perform your monologue and movements when touched on the shoulder. When finished, you will return to your original pose.