By W. Juna.
There has been a lot of recent discussion over the Chinese government’s new ‘bilingual’ education policy in Inner Mongolia. This new policy has reduced Mongolian language instruction in favour of instruction in Chinese (Also see a post by Prof. Christopher Atwood).
From September 2020, first year Mongolian school children are now required to learn in Chinese, along with their mother tongue. Mongolian textbooks of Morality and Law as well as History will also be replaced with textbooks written in Chinese from 2021 and 2022. The reform not only reduces Mongolian as a medium for teaching and learning, replacing social science subject textbooks, but will also alter the content of Mongolian textbooks. A quick perusal of the new Mongolian language and literacy textbooks reveal that well-known Mongolian authors’ works have been replaced with translated works of Chinese authors. The historical story of Chinggis Khan’s youth, ‘Temüjin’s Childhood’, for example, was replaced by Mao Zedong’s ‘Serve the People’, while the poem ‘Mongolian Language’, written by famous Mongolian writer and scholar B. Rinchin has been replaced by a translation of Chinese writer Weiwei`s ‘Who is the Dearest Person’, an essay paying homage to the Chinese Voluntary Army during the Korean War in the early 1950s. If such changes are conspicuous upon comparing the new textbooks with the old ones, other changes are not as immediately evident, such as the disappearance of the last stanza from Natsagdorj’s most famous poem ‘My Native Land’ (see poem below).
Borjgin Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj (1906-1937). Source: Wikipedia.
Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj was a Mongolian poet, writer, playwright, and one of the founders of Mongolian modern literature. Within his short lifespan of 31 years, he produced a copious body of works. The poem ‘My Native Land’ was published in the early 1930s and is one of the classics of Mongolian literature. In this poem, the author praises the pristine nature of Mongolia and infuses the lines with pride in the heroic history of the past, the enjoyment of the present and hope for the future. Originally it consisted of 12 stanzas, but is known to Mongols with 13 stanzas. The last stanza reads:
The mother tongue we learn from childhood is a legacy we cannot forget
The homeland we live eternally is a place we cannot depart from
The name Mongol has glory in world history
The heart of all Mongols beats with our homeland Mongolia
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful.
According to Professor Kazuyuki Okada in 1955, the 13th stanza, or last stanza, was added to the poem, which was taken from one of his later poems on history by the compilers of the collection of Natsagdorj’s work after his death. This expanded version has become well known across the Mongolian plateau, taught within schools both in Mongolia, as well as Inner Mongolia for decades. In Inner Mongolia, the poem has been included in the Mongolian high school Language and Literature textbook. Thus, hardly anyone remembers that the last stanza was from a different poem.
Natsagdorj’s beautiful rhymes delicately capture the nature of the Mongolian plateau and the Mongols love for their magnificent home and hence pulled at the heart strings of all Mongols. In particular, the 13th or the last stanza of the poem, has been recontextualized in a variety of contexts, ranging from the cultural revitalization movement, to a calligraphy competition, to an online advertisement of Mongolian-themed products (see Figure 1 below). The last stanza, which centers on the mother tongue and a connection to the homeland, evokes pride in Mongolians’ and a love for their language, culture and nomadic pastoral lifestyle.
The last stanza of My Native Land with the image of Genghis Khan (Source: WeChat post.)
Not surprisingly the deletion of this part from the poem in the recently revised textbook caused resentment among Mongols. The editors of the new textbooks may have been unaware of the fact that the last stanza was not in the original part of the poem. Even if they were aware, however, removing this emotionally-loaded stanza, in the context of a highly controversial education reform, makes it an intellectual and political issue. Put in context of the removal of other pieces of Mongolian history and culture from other textbooks, it is clear that the editors of the textbooks aimed to discourage young Mongols’ from an attachment to their language and cultural heritage. This unscrupulous removal of text has further fuelled Mongolians’ dissatisfaction and anger with the proposed new model of education. By tampering with the poem, reformers, who seek to depoliticize ethnic culture and identity, perhaps unwittingly politicized the famous poetry text.
My Native Land (Translation by John Gombojab Hangin)
Magnificent are the ridges of the Khentei, Khangai and Sayan.
Forest-covered mountains are the beauty of the north
Vast are the Gobis of Menen, Sharga and Nomin
Seas of sand dunes, supreme in the south
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Crystal-clear are the rivers of Kherlen, Onon and Tola
Health-giving fountains and hot springs abound
Deep-blue lakes of Kubsgul, Ubsa and Buir
Brooks and freshets quench the thirst of man and beast
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Splendid are the rivers of Orkhon, Selenge and Khokhul
Abundant are the mountain passes rich in minerals
Ancient monuments, ruined cities galore
Broad are the highways that vanish into the distance
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Snow-capped mountains gleam from afar
Clear blue skies over steppe, plain and field
Majestic glacial peaks are visible far off
Vast airy valleys which calm the mind of man
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Between Khangai and Altai lies the Khalkha land
Where we galloped to and fro since childhood
The long low foothills where we hunted deer and game
The beautiful valleys and hollows we raced our swift steeds
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Undulating sea of grass, when touched by the gentle breeze
Enchanting are the mirages of the wide open plains
Land with severe terrain that produces the best of men
Here are the sacred heights, worshipped since times of yore
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Luxuriant pasturelands full of fine grass
Here is wide open country criss-crossed by our tracks
A land to move as we like in all the four seasons
Where the soil is rich for the five kinds of grains
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
The sacred mountains where our forefathers rest
The land where our children grew, and rear their children
The meadow and valleys filled with the five kinds of stock
Here is the land which entrances all us Mongols
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
In the winter’s tingly cold-a blanket of ice and snow
The land shines like a crystal mirror
In the warmth of summer season- flowers and leaves unfold
Land where distant birds come to sing their songs
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
The fertile virgin lands between Altai and Khangai
Land of our eternal destiny where ancestors lie
Land grown mellow under the golden rays of the sun
Land grown eternal under the silver moon
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Homeland of our ancestors since the days of the Hsiung-nu
Land of great might in the days of the blue Mongols
Land we become more accustomed to with every passing year
Land where now the crimson flags flutter
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
Beloved country of us all who were born and die here
The enemy who dares invade our soil shall perish
Let us build our revolutionary state on the land ordained
Then let us march head high towards the brave future new world
This is my native land
Mongolia the beautiful
References:
Kazuyuki Okada, ‘D. Natshagdorjiin “Minii nutag“ ba “Tüühiin shüleg”-iin xarichaa’, in B. Mönhbayar eds, IIh Zoholch D. Natsagdorj Shine Sudalgaa II (Ulaanbaatar, 2017), pp.40-54.
John Gombojab Hangin, ‘Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj (1906-1937)’, in The Mongolia Socieity Bulletin Vol 6. No. 1(11), 1967, pp. 15-22.