Mongolia, as the largest empire in the ancient history of the world, was a remarkable presence during the time of Genghis Khan.
Its territory crosses the Arctic Ocean and the South Asian subcontinent from north to south; West to the Danube River in Europe, the territory covers an area of 24 million square kilometers, which is twice and more than four times that of the Arab Empire, the ancient Roman Empire and Han and Tang China, the strongest of the same period;
The population reached 110 million, while the population of ancient Rome, the Arab Empire and Han and Tang China did not exceed 80 million during the same period.
Such a powerful Mongol Empire was only short-lived in the vast history and soon flourished and declined.
Today's Mongolia, first Sovietized and then Westernized, has long lost its own culture, lost itself, lost its national personality, and is seriously divided between the rich and the poor.
The green steppes and the slums under the blue sky are the reality of Mongolia.
How Mongolia was separated from China and completely Sovietized
Mongolia, historically known as Outer Mongolia.
In the 17th century, both Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia were under the rule of the Qing government and were completely part of Chinese territory.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the Qing government was corrupt and mediocre, the country was worried about internal and external troubles, and Outer Mongolia had a high degree of autonomy under the Qing government's lack of time to take care of, and took advantage of the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution to declare independence for the first time, but it was not recognized internationally.
At the end of World War II, in order to allow the Soviet Union to send troops to Japan, the United States agreed to Stalin's conditions for sending troops, one of which was to maintain the status quo of Outer Mongolia's independence at that time.
In the 1945 Yalta Conference, without the participation of Chinese representatives and without consulting China, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union forcibly interfered in China's sovereignty, formulated an agreement to maintain the status quo of Outer Mongolia's independence, and concealed it from China afterwards, and the Yalta Agreement was the result of the power diplomacy imposed on China by the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain.
Although Chiang Kai-shek negotiated with the Soviet Union many times to fight for the sovereignty of Outer Mongolia, under the tough strength of the United States and the Soviet Union, Chiang Kai-shek compromised and signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union for his own interests (demanding that the Soviet Union no longer support the Communist Party), which stipulated that Outer Mongolia should decide whether to become independent through a referendum.
Subsequently, the Soviet Union openly manipulated the Outer Mongolian referendum to achieve independence for its own interests in the Far East.
On January 5, 1946, Outer Mongolia was formally separated from China, and Inner Mongolia was divided into two parts, renamed the Mongolian People's Republic, or Mongolia for short, and Outer Mongolia established close diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union without China.
Due to the poverty and weakness of the country during the Republican period, Outer Mongolia at that time preferred to embrace the Soviet Union rather than return to China.
Since then, Outer Mongolia has followed the Soviet Union, embarked on the road of comprehensive Sovietization, and even abandoned its own national script and switched to the Cyrillic script of the Soviet Union to spell its own language.
The reason why the Soviet Union manipulated the independence of Outer Mongolia was because of the geographical location and resource advantages of Outer Mongolia.
Outer Mongolia is located between China and Russia, with the interests of the Soviet Union in the Far East, and Mongolia is rich in underground resources, and there are more than 80 kinds of proven metals, rare earths, fluorite, coal and oil, and the reserves rank within the world's top 20, for the Soviet Union, Mongolia is a piece of fat.
Mongolia has a vast land area with a population of only 3.2 million on 1.56 million square kilometers, making it the least densely populated country in the world.
The Soviet Union not only took advantage of Mongolia economically, but also assimilated Mongolia culturally in order to obtain greater benefits in Mongolia.
First of all, the Soviet Union completely denied the Mongolian national hero Genghis Khan, destroyed the Genghis Khan temple, and did not allow the Mongols to enshrine the portrait of Genghis Khan in their homes.
Secondly, the Mongols were forced to hang pictures of Lenin and Stalin in their homes, and the Mongols were forced to learn Russian, learn Soviet customs, state systems and architectural styles.
Mongolia is already on the road to complete Sovietization.
Abandoning its ancestors, China chose Sovietization and Westernization, and completely lost itself
The cultural assimilation of the Soviet Union completely caused Mongolia to completely lose its national culture, loss of creativity and independence, completely reduced to a colony of the Soviet Union, and became a resource provider to the Soviet Union, and Mongolia at that time was similar to the Soviet republic.
During the period of Sovietization, Mongolia imitated the public ownership of the Soviet Union, implemented an egalitarian distribution system, relied on superior underground mineral resources, relied on Soviet aid, and the whole people could still live a life of food and clothing.
The good times did not last long, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was no time to take care of Mongolia, and the Sovietization of Mongolia came to an end.
But still, there is no desire to develop national independence, but instead it turns around and embraces the lap of the United States and embarks on the road of comprehensive westernization.
Mongolia has completely become a Westernized country without national characteristics.
Taking advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries extended their hands to Mongolia, which embraced the United States while currying favor with South Korea and Japan.
The Western market economy quickly infiltrated Mongolia, similar to the great changes in many socialist countries in Eastern Europe, Mongolia completely abolished public ownership and promoted a capitalist private ownership economy.
The result is the loss of state-owned resources and the formation of an oligopoly in the hands of a few powerful people, who rely on the supply of mineral resources to the West that should belong to the whole people, grab a lot of wealth, get rich and live a rich life.
Ordinary herders can only be allocated pasture and livestock from intensive pastures to operate freely, which leads herders to work independently and blindly expand the scale of farming.
The nomads are characterized by living by grass and water, and wherever they go, they are home, and because the state has not restricted and scientifically managed the development of privatized animal husbandry, the blind expansion of animal husbandry has seriously damaged the grassland ecology.
Mongolia's climate has four distinct seasons, and the temperature difference is relatively large, the highest temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature is more than minus 40 degrees.
Gales, sandstorms and snowstorms cause frequent natural disasters, while Mongolia's own manufacturing industry is very poor, scientific and technological development and innovation is almost zero, basically relying on the sky for food, there is no ability to resist natural disasters - each disaster will cause serious casualties and property damage.
There is an old Chinese saying: "When a family takes advantage of ten thousands, it is not counted to bring hair", because the lives of livestock are too fragile, and in the event of a disaster, almost all the livestock of each herdsman dies, and they are instantly destitute.
From 2000 to 2002, Mongolia suffered from special summer heat and winter cold for three consecutive years, resulting in the death of 8 million and 9 million livestock, respectively, accounting for more than 30% of the total livestock in the country.
Many lakes and rivers dried up due to the intense heat, and the grasslands were barren and turned into deserts.
A snowstorm in the spring of 2005 killed 120,000 livestock and 100,000 mothers aborted from freezing and miscarriage.
And after each natural disaster, thousands of refugees migrate to the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, build a new yurt, and produce a furnace of black bituminous coal.
The gradually depleted grasslands have made it impossible for herders to turn over, and the yurts around Ulaanbaatar are gathering more and more.
The capital city's extraterrestrial yurts – newborn slums
Ulaanbaatar: rich and poor inside and outside the city
In the 18th century, Ulaanbaatar was named Kulun by Qianlong, which means temple.
In 1924 Cullen was changed to Ulaanbaatar, which means the city of red heroes.
In the process of Sovietization and Westernization, Ulaanbaatar emerged as a modern city with a staggered style of Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia and Korea, with a population of 1.5 million, accounting for one-half of the country's total population, and was called the most Westernized country in Asia by the West.
The country's rich and middle class gather in the capital Ulaanbaatar, accounting for about 0.8% of the country's total population, but the largest number of people in Ulaanbaatar are poor people who can barely maintain food and clothing, and the rich in Ulaanbaatar live in high-end and gorgeous villas.
The oligarchy in the capital Ulaanbaatar, relying on mineral resources, maintained a high GDP growth rate in the capital Ulaanbaatar when international commodity prices soared, and it was positive growth until the outbreak of the financial crisis in 08, even reaching a high of 17%.
The oligarchs monopolize the resources of the country, and wealth has nothing to do with the poor.
After the international financial crisis, although commodity prices fell, this did not affect the oligarchs in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of the country's resources.
Ulaanbaatar's nightlife is very rich, with an astonishing density of Soviet-American, Korean-Japanese style bars, cabarets, and entertainment venues, which are places where the rich and foreigners enjoy.
In stark contrast, herders in yurts outside the city are hungry and hungry.
In winter, due to the cold weather, herders burn low-quality coal for heating, and there are no toilets and running water indoors, so they can only defecate everywhere and drink contaminated water.
The rich in the cities do not care whether the poor live or die, the State is unable to improve the lives of the poor, and hunger and disease make it difficult for the poor to make their livelihoods.
In the cold winter, the low-quality coal in the yurts hangs over the capital all day long, although the Kent Mountains can block the cold current of Siberia, but also lock wisps of black smoke over the city, "MP2.5" 900 exceeds the World Health Organization standard by 25 times, smog pollution has caused many children to contract pneumonia and die.
Poverty has also led to the prosperity of Mongolia's custom industry, because Mongolia has no other industries than extractive, service and animal husbandry, the poor have nowhere to find employment, and girls have to make a living by laughing to survive.
Ulaanbaatar has a population of only about 1.5 million and 19,000 women work in customs.
The brothels of Ulaanbaatar are already a landscape, and they are really laughing at poverty and not laughing at prostitutes.
The steppe kingdom was reduced to a slum, how did the Mongolian government recover its sect?
Inside and outside the capital of Ulaanbaatar, ice and fire, such a serious polarization, what is the Mongolian government doing?
After the end of Sovietization, Mongolia also learned Western democracy and implemented a multi-party system, imitation is not creation, it is difficult to grasp the connotation of others, Mongolia's learning of Western democracy is also different.
A small country with a population of only 3 million is not as large as the population of a medium-sized city in a developed country, but there are more than 30 political parties, and these political parties each have their own political parties to win over oligarchic syndicates and fight each other for the interests of small groups, resulting in the entire country not engaging in scientific and technological innovation to develop the economy.
In addition to the more than one million people in the capital Ulaanbaatar, most of Mongolia's more than one million people live on the plateau, completely below the absolute poverty line.
Although education and healthcare in Mongolia are free, the level is low.
The rich send their children abroad to study, and if they are sick, they go abroad for medical treatment, and the poor can only enjoy low-level medical care and education.
In December 2022, government officials embezzled huge sums of coal exports due to soaring prices in Mongolia and suffering as prices soared in Mongolia and the government was unable to improve the country's economy.
As a result, large-scale popular demonstrations broke out in Mongolia, and protesters surrounded the capital Ulaanbaatar State Building, and the crowd was so angry that they wanted to storm the building to demand justice, and the scene was out of control.
According to estimates, the value of mineral resources owned by Mongolia is equivalent to one trillion yuan, and the average Mongolian citizen can share about 300,000 yuan, but these resources are divided among the oligarchs of the consortium and have no connection with the common people, and Mongolia's private ownership economy has reached the brink of decay.
What was once a steppe kingdom turned into a ghetto.
Where is the path to government reform in Mongolia?
Born from the same root, different choices in heaven and earth
Historically, Outer Mongolia and the mainland Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were originally one family, called Mongolia, and the difference in living environment was not large.
After the independence of Outer Mongolia at the Yalta Conference, the mainland established the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in May 1947, which also has a history of more than 70 years, and its development varies greatly due to different choices.
Although the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is also deeply inland and far from the sea, with the take-off of the mainland's reform and opening up economy and the rapid development of transportation, the economy has long been turned upside down.
The opening up has made the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region highly integrated with neighboring provinces, and Inner Mongolia is dotted with airplanes and underground high-speed railways.
The regional economy and the state's policy tilt towards ethnic minority areas have led to rapid economic growth in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, taking 2021 as an example, with a per capita GDP of 85,300 yuan, surpassing the developed province of Shandong, comparable to Chongqing, and leading the country's development.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has long left its former brother Outer Mongolia far behind, and the Mongolian Congress will not regret its original choice?
Today's Inner Mongolia is still a green grassland, blue sky, windblown grass and low ecological environment of cattle and sheep, attracting tourists from all over the world.
The local people have preserved their own language and customs and culture, which is a beautiful scenery in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Summarizing the outcome of Mongolia's complete westernization, and comparing the development of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a country without its own culture is like a nation that has lost its backbone, losing its ability to stand tall in the sky.
Mongolia's choice to follow the Soviet Union, which invaded the great powers by expanding its territory, and the United States, which was selfish and unprofitable, should be expected.
In any case, Mongolia, as a child of China on the evil road, the motherland will not forget it, and hopes that Mongolia will know its way back.
China will open its mind and help Mongolia open up the road of rejuvenation through the "Belt and Road", get out of the predicament, and create the glory of the Mongolian steppe kingdom again!