Time for a change
Even some three years ago, Mongolia could be called a modest pastoral power with an unpretentious standard of living and cheap goods made from animal skin and wool. Today it is growing trade, large investments, construction, tourism, high level consumption, etc. Mongolian wool goes to Europe, Mongolian coal to the USA, China and Canada. This small steppe country with a rich past is of interest to many, including Russia. Only relations between us still cannot improve after the collapse of the USSR.
Mongolia still buys gasoline, food, household goods and electricity from Russia. But our countries were not noticed in strategic cooperation. The special economic zone Altan Bulag on the border, designed to become the second "Manchurian", is still a remote village. There is practically no Russian capital in the numerous Mongolian deposits. And the conflicts over the Selenga basin, which feeds our Baikal, have not been resolved.
For the first time I was in Mongolia in 2009 as part of a delegation of the Buryat government. Then the ambitious attempts of the head of Buryatia Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn to become a mediator in diplomatic relations with the southern neighbor caused a smile. Still, the head of one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is not up to the rank to resolve such issues. Later, the Buryat government came to Mongolia more than once in impressive numbers. A position was even invented - the Minister for Cooperation with Mongolia with a separate (in addition to the Russian embassy) representative office in the capital. It was taken over by a former minister Agriculture Buryatia Zhargal Batuev. But things, as they say, are still there.
Three years ago, Ulaanbaatar seemed very cold and hostile to me. Having heard the Russian speech, the Mongols became taciturn, even a taxi ride became torture, not to mention the service in restaurants and shops. Apparently, the development of tourism is progressing by leaps and bounds. In my current visit of Mongolian hospitality, I noticed much more.
Transformation of the empire
About three million people live in Mongolia. Almost half of them are in the capital - Ulaanbaatar. Over the past decade, migration to the city of the rural population has become massive. People change professions, go into trade, tourism and other services. Yesterday's shepherd or machine operator becomes a guide-translator, a milkmaid stands behind the counter of the capital's largest department store. The country is changing very quickly. Not only internally, but also externally. Elite quarters, 25-story skyscrapers, shopping and business centers built of glass and concrete are growing like mushrooms in Ulaanbaatar after the rain. More than 300 thousand cars are registered in the capital alone. To relieve urban traffic jams, the government plans to start building multi-level interchanges and overpasses.
Ten years ago, there was a big loss of livestock in the country, which was comparable to a large-scale financial crisis, since livestock is the basis of the economy. And this crisis ultimately transformed the country. Farmers, having sold the remains of the surviving livestock, went to the city. With the reduction in the number of animals, the price of meat and other agricultural products has risen from "penny" to normal. In search of new ways of development, Mongolia began to actively participate in world politics, primarily to cooperate with the United States and Canada.
Foreign capital is now clearly visible in the elite housing estates. By the end of this year, tens of thousands of meters of housing will be commissioned, moreover, available only to wealthy Mongols or foreign specialists. The cost of one square meter starts from two million tugris or 45 thousand rubles.
In general, it is very strange to compare these two different realities. On the roads of Ulaanbaatar, like nowhere else, there is a huge number of expensive SUVs: Lexus and Land Cruisers. Spas and elite saunas are filled even at night. The abundance of hotels, restaurants and karaoke clubs dazzles the eyes. The rich prefer not to take risks and be treated "by the Russians", as expensive clinics founded by doctors from Russia are called. At the same time, the average salary in the country is about 15-18 thousand rubles.
As ordinary residents say, corruption is to blame for everything. “New Mongols”, as a rule, are the wives, children and grandchildren of a bloated bureaucratic apparatus that does not hesitate to enter into gray financial schemes with foreigners, in fact, selling their homeland for next to nothing. Ex-president Mongolian Enkhbayar is now in prison for a similar crime. But people say that one thief just planted another.
National brand
In general, the country is making significant progress in terms of tourism. Over the past three years, a monumental monument-museum Genghis Khan, towering forty meters, and ski resort near the capital. AT in public places not bad WiFi and almost all the waiters speak English. For the first time, a single city taxi appeared on the roads of the capital. Nearly 1,000 white Hyundai Elantra cars were purchased by the Ulaanbaatar City Hall last year and are now catering to a growing influx of tourists.
The Mongols are terribly proud of the products of the national manufactory "Gobi". This is a huge industrial complex on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. The factory processes the wool of various animals from camels and yaks to the most delicate goat down. Introduction to production of international quality standards, including ISO 9001 dramatically affected the final product. The dressing has become noticeably better and more skillful. This is especially noticeable in Mongolian cashmere.
In the branded store, in addition to blankets, you can buy hats, scarves, leggings, socks, gloves, coats and vests. Perhaps the most beautiful Gobi products are thin colored cashmere stoles. The price for them starts from 200 thousand tugris, which is about 4.5 thousand rubles. A coat in a classic or national style will cost 18-30 thousand rubles. For a blanket made of pure cashmere, you will have to pay about 15 thousand rubles. The prices for Russians who are used to the fact that “everything is cheap in Mongolia” are quite shocking. Although around the world products made from natural wool are even more expensive.
The Mongols themselves, especially Mongolian women, are very fond of cashmere, despite its high cost for the domestic market and extreme impracticality. In the rich areas of Ulaanbaatar, you can find women,with legs up to the head wrapped in this most delicate material.
AT recent times good national brands of leather products appeared in Mongolia. For example, Orchid . Bags of this brand are made of solid leather. In quality, they are inferior to Italian firms, but also in price. Price Orchid starts from 220 thousand tugris, which is about 5 thousand rubles.
There is another national brand in Mongolia - these are 100% woolen carpets. AT Soviet time when the fashion for “His Vorseyshchestvo” was widespread, people were ready to pay their entire salary for such a carpet. Today, the demand for this product is much lower. There is a special factory in the city of Erdenet that makes carpets for Mongolia and for export. The quality is good and the prices do not bite. A small carpet costs from 3.5 thousand rubles.
Meat is the head
Meat in Mongolia, like bread in Russia, is a staple food. Meat is eaten boiled, raw, fried, stewed, and even dried like chips. At the same time, truly Mongolian cuisine is quite simple and boring for a tourist, because we come to another country to pamper not only the eyes, but also the stomach. To enjoy Mongolian foods in interesting performance you can go to a Korean restaurant, there are a lot of them in Ulaanbaatar. Or in a restaurant of Russian or Ukrainian cuisine. Near the central department store there is a "Ukrainian Tavern", which serves stunning dumplings with cherries and fluffy potato pancakes with Mongolian sour cream. There is a good French restaurant, Italian pizzerias, a great variety of American bars and English pubs, there is even one real Dutch bar, the owner of which arrived from Amsterdam, married a Mongolian woman and settled in the homeland of Genghis Khan. The gastronomic choice in Ulaanbaatar is huge, there are not only Chinese restaurants , they, in the wake of anti-Chinese sentiment, were recently closed under the pretext of unsanitary conditions. And yet, in Mongolia you can not order seafood and eggs. Firstly, they do not know how to cook them, and secondly, they do not know how to store them. Outbreaks of salmonellosis and other fatal poisonings are not so rare.
Evgenia Baltatarova, "Number One".
The country of ancient nomads - Mongolia - in last years is rapidly changing. For centuries, the Mongols lived mostly on wild land, leading a nomadic lifestyle. However, civilization with all its pluses and minuses came to them. locals from the steppes began to move to the cities. Modern Mongolia- what is she? See the series of photographs "Mongolian (urban) families" by French photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe.
1. Mongolia is really changing. "This country is in a 'transitional phase,'" French photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe, who has been documenting these changes for several years, wrote on her website. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe).
2. “Changes are happening very quickly, they are not connected with the seasons, or with the weather or the habits of nomads, but with the rapid development of a market economy,” writes the author of these photos. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
3. The photographs taken by Lucille show the process of transformation and urbanization that is taking place in Mongolia today. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
4. The Mongols for centuries lived in yurts in the vast expanses of the steppe, and not in cramped apartment buildings. For many of them, moving to the cities was difficult step. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
5. “In my photo project, I focused on the attitude of Mongolian families to their new environment. In other words, I just watched how the Mongols feel and use the new space,” the photographer writes. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
6. Lucile Chombart de Lauwe visited Mongolia for the first time in 2007. Even then, she was amazed at how fast cities grew there. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
7. Interestingly, more than half of the urban population of Mongolia living in cities does not live in high-rise buildings or houses, but in settlements in traditional yurts. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
8. The photographer wrote that she had no problems communicating with the Mongols. She emphasized that it was exceptionally friendly and open people. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
9. Settlement of yurts in the suburbs of one of the Mongolian cities. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
10. Lucille started her photography project in Mongolia in 2011. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
11. In high-rise buildings less than half of the Mongols who settled in the cities live. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
12. The elderly in Mongolia are not accustomed to living in large settlements. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
13. Traditional Mongolian yurt. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
14. Inside one of the yurts visited by photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
15. The house of the Mongolian family. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
16. Yurts are often equipped as modern houses. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
17. Lonely yurts are now less and less common in Mongolia. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
18. Impromptu bathroom in a yurt. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
19. More and more young Mongolians are abandoning the traditional way of life of their ancestors and living in cities. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
20. Residential buildings in Mongolia. (Photo: Lucile Chombart de Lauwe). 
What do most people know about Mongolia? This is a poor backward country. People live in yurts, ride horses and graze cattle. And no one knows what's going on big world. Oh well.
The area of the country is simply amazing, although this is only a small part of their ethnic lands and only 4% of the area of the Mongol Empire. Most of this territory looks like a Martian desert, and only an asphalt road, small rivers in the valleys and rare roadside cafes remind you that you are still on Earth.
Ulaanbaatar
And then the Mongolian reality abruptly sets in.
Today Mongolia is one of the most rapidly developing economies in the world, with a standard of living disproportionately higher than the average for Russia. Most of the population lives in cities, urbanization is getting higher and higher every year.
The “Soviet friendship” is long over here, now there is democracy and a full-fledged market economy, without bribes, kickbacks and government regulation, international quality standards and a strong desire to become the second Korea. And no, not North.
At the entrance to the parliament sits like Darth Vader, a no less famous character named Genghis Khan, who at one time united all the Mongol tribes into a single Mongol Empire, which eventually subjugated a third of all mankind.
lonely among modern architecture stands a typical Soviet project "Russian Drama Theatre".
The shape of the roof of one of the hotels looks like a slide, which would be fun to slide down. If you put a trampoline. ^_^
A rare case when in the gallery contemporary art You can tell from the exhibits which country you are in. Horses are very popular here.
One of characteristic features Mongolian painting - the active use of contrast. Their paintings are almost always bright and have some sort of opposition, be it in subject matter, priorities, or color scheme.
The Gallery of the Union of Mongolian Artists has a workshop where everyone can learn from the masters. Sometimes children are brought here, and sometimes even older people come to learn the craft.
There are a lot of modern office buildings. And no less new ones are being built around, and sites are bought out even at the construction stage, because new corporations appear like mushrooms after rain.
The more surprising among all this look the ancient Buddhist monasteries.
Buddhism came to Mongolia a very long time ago, but spread gradually (but bloodlessly, unlike Christianity). First among famous characters Buddhism began to study Godan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. It took about 300 years before new religion supplanted shamanism.
Of course, it wasn't just that. Like any other religion, accepted as a state religion, this is an exclusively political tool. He came to teach the grandson of Genghis Khan spiritual leader Tibetan Sakya Pandita with his nephew Pagba Lama. They taught Buddhism to the Mongols, and the Mongols taught the Tibetans to hold on to their nation with their teeth in any situation.
Plan of Ulaanbaatar version of 1913, when Mongolia finally gained independence from China. It especially marked the residences and temples of the Bogd Khan, who led " popular revolution". The Bogdo Khan was so loved that even after the transition to communism, he remained a monarch and only his buildings survived the fire of religious purges inspired by the Soviet Union.
Did I already say that contrasts are their national feature?
Decided to go inside to see what the Mongolian looks like shopping center. Not bad so.
I really want to support such domestic producers.) Hmm, Meanwhile in Russia.
There are also many different Japanese, Korean and European nishtyakov for sale. A little more expensive, of course, but not critical.
But the Korean staff is, of course, the most impressive. :D
Hello to the Louvre with its pyramid.
Bus stop. By the way, it’s not so easy to deal with transport here: instead of key points (squares, monuments, museums), directions like “Tausand → Myangat-1 → Baga Toorog → Khoroolol-11” are indicated here, and one can only guess whether he is going to the central square Genghis Khan to the parliament or will be taken far, far north to the slums.
The National Gallery of Modern Art was located in a Soviet building and there was such a fat woman sitting at the entrance who immediately switched to Russian when she saw my student card. I was already thinking about leaving, but then I saw spurs hanging down through three floors and changed my mind.)
I directly felt how I was squeezed at this point by narrow walls. The case when abstractionism is really catchy.
"My brain after the session."
The Tibetan deities of anger in themselves do not leave indifferent, but here in general there is something that emerges from the darkness and through the contour of the pleading Mongol, brr.
There are a lot of Mongolian restaurants in the city. In short, it's meat, meat, some lettuce, and more meat.
I'm going to see what the outskirts of the city looks like.
Selbe, one of the rivers on which the city stands. In fact, it is mountainous and, therefore, not always like this, just in different time it dries up and then fills up again.
The Mongols have as many as 10 types of writing, some of which are still used today. Cyrillic-based writing is the main one, Latin and vertical Old Mongolian script are used in parallel, the monks also have an alphabetic-syllabic letter “soyombo” (generally some kind of game, similar to a flown encoding, universal writing for Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit). They roll out as best they can.
Gandantegchenlin or simply Gandan. largest Buddhist monastery in better times about 14,000 people lived here. After total repressions against believers, it was closed, but 10 years later it was opened again and until the collapse of the USSR, it was the only functioning church in the country.
Now everything is slowly being restored, many people are returning to the faith. Strictly speaking, no one refused it, it was just not customary to demonstrate it. Now 150 people constantly live, study and work in the monastery (yes, only 1% of the previous number).
Inside the central building stands a gigantic statue of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara (whose incarnation is considered the Dalai Lama), the height of a nine-story Soviet building.
Along the walls of the building there are racks with small identical figurines of buddhas, a total of a thousand pieces. I don’t remember why such a quantity is needed, but there is also some kind of stoned symbolism there.
Buddhist University is not some pathetic Sunday School, here is a real conveyor of the enlightened! Seriously, they teach sutras, sing and meditate there.
Not far from the monastery there is the Zanabazar Museum of Art, which exhibits a collection of various religious artifacts made so technically that they decided to classify them as art objects. For example, this is actually not a picture, it is an embroidery of unrealistic accuracy.
It seems to me, or did this bodhisattva refuse to go into nirvana at all for the sake of saving humanity? -_-
However, these deities generally have their own atmosphere.
Many places in the city center have lanes for the blind. There are also bike paths for pedestrians. >_<
Nothing unusual, just a Mongolian inch with a lollipop sitting on a sunflower tree.
Expensive club houses in a new area of the city. On the other hand, the perimeter is fenced, and near the private sector - also with barbed wire.
A shopping center on the outskirts of the city, literally immediately behind which the mountains begin.
Great residence of the Bogd Khan.
The inside is no less beautiful. The ground floor is open to the public and filled with purely religious art, which he adored. Upstairs are apartments and reception rooms.
There are several other buildings around, some for meditation, some for meetings, some for servants.
Everything is decorated in the same style.
There is especially a lot of their traditional embroidery. I have no idea how they managed to make it so accurate, you can even see the faces on the necklace of demon heads.
Winter residence. Well, still, Ulaanbaatar is the coldest capital in the world, in winter the temperature reaches -40 ° C.
Among the monotonous household items, a European carriage catches the eye. It turned out to be a personal gift from the Russian Tsar.
New residential complex. The apartments are still only for sale, and some shops and cafes are already working downstairs.
Every Mongolian city has a large statue of Buddha.
Cool facade of the shopping center.
Nothing inside either. Judging by the design, at first it was planned to make separate boutique rooms à la department store, but then they decided to make an open space and replaced all the walls with glass. It turned out even nicer than expected.
On one of the hills in the south of the city, during the times of socialism, they made an observation platform and dedicated it to the joint actions of the Soviet and Mongolian armies. First, the Russians helped to defend independence from China, and then the Mongols helped to defeat Germany. Friendship is magic.
But the view from here is really good. It also shows how vast the area is occupied by the poor private sector in the north.
However, even not far from the center there are small ghettos where people still live in yurts, without water and gas, except that they conduct electricity there by connecting to the general power grid. Fortunately, every year there are more and more residential buildings, and there are fewer and fewer of them.
Another river, the Dund, supplies the city with water all year round.
Mongolian national dish "mountain of meat". Nothing extra.
And I could eat borscht.)
“Oh, cool, Soviet department store,” I thought.
I went to the supermarket downstairs. Ukrainian "Roshen" even got here.
And inside something is not a department store at all. And with such a pace, soon only our archaic associations will remain from the Soviet past in this country.
With such a shaky picture of the world, I went back to Russia.
Mongolia is a country that is located in East Asia, borders on Russia, China and has no access to the sea. Vast territories of the country, some of which are not very suitable for life, are unevenly populated. At the same time, Mongolia boasts a rapid pace of economic development and a fairly high standard of living for the population. Mongolia has observer status in most international organizations.
Brief history of the state
The first attempts to establish the Mongolian state were made by disunited tribes that settled the territory of modern Mongolia 850 thousand years ago, in the 4th century BC. The Huns then united to fight the Chinese tribes and ruled over the Mongolian steppe until 93 BC. Later, the Hunnic Empire was replaced by several Kirghiz, Turkic and Mongol khanates. None of them managed to gain a foothold in the Mongolian lands for a long time: a nomadic lifestyle, militancy and insufficiently authoritative power - all this caused disunity.
A more stable union of tribes went down in history under the name Khamag Mongol and became the basis of the future Mongol Empire led by Genghis Khan. But already from the end of the 13th century, cultural differences, the death of the strongest ruler, the endless redistribution of power and the heterogeneity of the population of the state caused the beginning of the collapse of the Golden Horde.
For the next few centuries, the Mongolian steppes were occupied by various rulers, empires and nationalities: the Yuan Empire, the Northern Yuan dynasty, the Chinese Qing Empire, ruled by the Manchu dynasty, until 1911. When the Xinhai Revolution thundered in China, which put an end to the empire, and a national revolution arose in Mongolia itself, statehood as such did not exist on the territory of modern Mongolia.
New Mongolia in 1915 was recognized as an autonomous part of the Republic of China, and nine years later, the independence of the state was proclaimed again (for the first time in 1911). However, until the end of World War II, the independence of Mongolia was recognized only by the USSR.
The Mongolian People's Republic was characterized by some features of Soviet power: repression, collectivization, destruction of monasteries, and later perestroika. The aggression of Japan was reflected by the joint actions of the USSR and Mongolia. The modern history of Mongolia began with the adoption of a new Constitution in 1992 and a change in political course.
State structure and politics
Mongolia is a parliamentary republic with a diverse population. The head of state is the president, the executive power is represented by the government, the legislative power is represented by the parliament, which is called the State Great Khural. In the localities, power remains in the hands of local governments, which are elected for a term of four years.
In 2008, a domestic political crisis occurred in Mongolia, which provoked riots in the capital of the state (Ulaanbaatar) and caused a change of government and presidential re-elections. The current president of the state is Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, and the ruling party is the Mongolian People's Party (MNP).
Geography of Mongolia
In terms of territory, the state occupies the nineteenth place in the world, being quite large. The area of Mongolia is 1,564,116 km², which is commensurate, for example, with half of Yakutia. Most of the country (in terms of geographical features) is occupied by a plain with several towering ridges and mountain ranges. The Gobi Desert is located in the southern part of Mongolia.
All sources of fresh water originate in the mountains and are fed by several large tributaries. There are a large number of lakes in Mongolia, many of which are temporary, that is, they form during the rainy season and disappear during the drought.
The area of Mongolia and the location of the state make the climate sharply continental. The average temperature in the winter season ranges from -25 to -35 degrees, in summer it is within the same values with a plus sign. Precipitation decreases from northwest to south.
Administrative division of the state
Mongolia, whose population is unevenly distributed over the territory of the state, is divided into 21 aimaks, with a total of 329 somons, and the capital Ulaanbaatar. The largest city is expectedly the capital, with one and a half million permanent residents. The administrative center is followed in terms of population by the aimag Khuvsgel (114 thousand people), Dornogovi (109 thousand people) and Uverkhangay (100 thousand people).
A characteristic feature of Mongolia is the presence of temporary settlements, in connection with which an address system different from the standard is used. So, in Mongolia there are no usual names of cities, streets, numbers of houses and apartments, and addresses are replaced by digital codes that allow you to locate an object on the ground with an accuracy of one meter. Moreover, the longer the code, the more accurately you can determine the location of the object. The system is suitable for use on a global scale, and is actively used in digital cartography and navigation systems.
Economy of Mongolia
The economy of Mongolia is developing extremely dynamically, and the state itself is the largest sales market in the entire Asia-Pacific region. According to the latest forecasts, the state's economy will grow at least 15% per year in the short term.
The main industries of Mongolia are represented by:
- mining (20% of GDP) and mineral resources;
- agriculture (16% of GDP);
- transport (13%);
- trade (also 13%).
Considering the employment of the population, it can be noted that most of the able-bodied citizens are employed in agriculture (41%), slightly less in the service sector.(29%) and trade (14%).
Mongolia sends oil products, equipment (both industrial and industrial) and consumer goods for import (the population is provided with everything necessary). The main partners in international trade are Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
Financial sector
The Central Bank has the same functions as similar institutions in other states. The currency of Mongolia is the Mongolian tugrik, which was put into circulation in 1925. To date, the average exchange rate is: 2405 tugriks = 1 US dollar. Despite the fact that there is a national currency of Mongolia, the American dollar is also in circulation (it is used in almost all areas, except for paying for public services) and the Russian ruble or euro, which are accepted in small shops (mainly in the capital) and markets.
By the way, prices in Mongolia pleasantly surprise tourists. You can buy memorable souvenirs, products made of natural wool and leather, carpets in the capital at a lower cost than in Russia. Food prices are moderate. So, lunch will cost an average of 6-7 dollars.
State population: general characteristics
The population of Mongolia is characterized by mono-ethnicity, the predominant number of urban population (even despite the large employment in agriculture), positive natural growth, a large number of dialects in the language of the population and a diverse religious composition.
State population
The population of Mongolia according to the data for 2015 is 3 million 57 thousand people. The inhabitants of the capital account for one third of the total number of citizens. The nature of the resettlement of citizens across the territory of the state will be discussed in more detail below.
The natural increase of the population is 28 persons per 1000 citizens per year. This fact allowed the population of Mongolia to quadruple between 1950 and 2007. Back in 1918, the population of Mongolia was only 647 thousand people, and by 1969 it was already twice as many. Any correct data on the number of inhabitants until 1918 was not preserved due to the difficult history of the formation of statehood, when the territories of Mongolia were part of other countries, and the indigenous population was oppressed.
Density and population distribution
The average population density in Mongolia is almost 2 people per square kilometer. This indicator was the reason for placing the state in last place (195th line) in the list of world population density. The most densely populated (5-6 people per square kilometer) in Mongolia are the valley of the Orkhon River and the mountainous regions of Khangai - the most livable areas to the west of the capital.
Vast territories (40%) of the state are unsuitable for a comfortable life due to natural features. The population density is a record one person per 10-15 square kilometers, part of the territories remains completely uninhabited.
Ethnic and national composition
Mongolia (the population is predominantly representatives of the Mongolian group) is a mono-ethnic state. The dominant ethnic group is divided into several clans of Turkic origin, sub-ethnic groups and close ethnographic groups.
In addition to the indigenous population, which makes up just over 82% in total, Turks, Russians and Chinese live in the country. There are only 1,500 Russians in Mongolia, while as many as 20,000 lived in the late 1980s. Mostly Old Believers fled to the neighboring state, fleeing religious persecution in their homeland. There are currently several hundred Chinese living in Mongolia, while in the 60s the number of immigrants from China in Mongolia reached 25 thousand people.
Language and writing in Mongolia
The diversity of closely related ethnic groups predetermines minor, but still pronounced linguistic differences. The state (Mongolian) includes several dialects:
- Oirat;
- directly Mongolian;
- Buryat;
- hamnigan.
Turkic dialects are also widespread:
- Kazakh;
- Tuvan;
- Tsaatan-Soyot.
Teaching in the capital of the state is also conducted in Kazakh.
In 1945, the Mongolian language was translated into Cyrillic with the addition of two more distinct letters. Old Mongolian is not used today, although attempts to restore the language have been repeatedly made. To this day, Tibetan is widely used in religious practices, in which works of art, religious and scientific treatises were written in past centuries.
Religious affiliation of the population
The main religion in Mongolia is modified Buddhism (53%). At the same time, in the capital, the majority of Christian, not Buddhist temples (197 versus 63). Most of the population are atheists (38%). Religious diversity is also represented by Islam, shamanism, Christianity and some other religions.
Standards of living
Mongolia, whose standard of living in most sources remains beyond the scope of the narrative, is a fairly developed state with a stable economy. Until now, people leading a nomadic lifestyle have remained in the country, but their existence is facilitated by the numerous benefits of civilization. The capital is similar to most modern cities. So, today Mongolia is confidently opening a “window to the big world” for itself.
In the early 1990s, a social movement for democracy emerged in Mongolia. Forces opposed to the communist regime form the Mongolian Democratic Party (MDP). In March 1990, the leadership of the MPRP resigned, and P. Ochirbat became the new head of state. He begins the policy of reforming the party and the political system of the country. The 1960 constitution is amended to abolish the dominance of the MPRP in the country. Finally, in July of the same year, the first multi-party parliamentary elections are held. They were won by the MPRP. In September 1990, a coalition government of Mongolia by D. Byambasuren was formed, which included representatives of both the MPRP and the opposition. Market reforms, privatization of land and industry begin. In 1992, the fourth Mongolian constitution was adopted, and the post of president of the country was introduced. P. Ochirbat is elected the first president of Mongolia. At the same time, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Mongolia is being carried out.
In 1996, the democratic coalition won the next elections to the State Great Khural. However, her attempt to reform the economy was not supported by the population, and already in 1997, MPRP candidate N. Bagabandi won the presidential elections. The Democratic coalition failed to get the government working. The situation became even more complicated when in October 1998 one of the leaders of the democratic movement, the candidate for the post of head of government, S. Zorig, was killed. The ruling coalition failed for a long time to choose the head of government - five candidates for this post could not succeed. Only in December 1998, Khural approved E. Narantsatsralt as the head of government. However, in July 1999, he resigned. R. Amarzhargal became the new head of government.
The difficult economic situation in the country led to disappointment in the policy of the ruling coalition, and the MPRP won an unconditional victory in the 2000 parliamentary elections. N. Enkhbayar became the head of the government, who continued the market reforms, but in a milder version. In 2001, MPRP candidate N. Bagabandi was re-elected president of the country for a second term.
The parliamentary elections in 2004 ended with the following results: MPRP - 48.78%, DP - 44.8%. The coalition formed a government headed by T. Elbegdorzh. MPRP candidate N. Enkhbayar became president in the 2005 elections.
The Mongolian nation was formed in the XII-XIII centuries - during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Thus, in the Middle Ages, the processes of nation formation and state formation for the Mongols went in parallel. However, later, during the period of feudalism, the Mongols lose their state unity. The gradual conquest of the Mongol principalities by China intensifies the rift in the Mongol nation: the Mongol lands are divided into western, eastern and southern. The new process of state formation, which began at the beginning of the 20th century, was already significantly lagging behind the process of nation formation that was completed in general terms. The modern Mongolian state managed to unite only the western and eastern Mongolian lands (Outer Mongolia). Southern (Inner Mongolia) - belong to China.
For Mongolia, several positive consequences of the collapse of the USSR can be noted. For the first time in the past three centuries, Mongolia has found itself on its own and is not in the orbit of the direct influence of its great neighbors, Russia and China, which are concentrating on their own economic reforms and political stability. This situation gives Mongolia a unique opportunity to shape an independent future.
