Chapter 11: Pastoral peoples on the global stage

I remember when I first met some of my French friends back in Xiamen, China, they called me “ Mongolian”. I tried to explain to them that “ I`m Chinese.” But, they replied; “ Most Chinese are Mongolians because Chinggis Khan once took over China ” Indeed, the Mongols once rule China, but it was a very short period of time, and it doesn`t mean all Chinese are the Mongols. My friends seem to mix the concept of Chinese and Mongols. As we grow up, we have been told that the Mongols are one of the 56 ethnic groups in China. So, the Mongols are the Chinese, and the Chinese still Chinese. After I have read Chapter 11, I found out that what we have learned before were not the whole image of the entire story.

According to the book, the Mongols belong to the Pastoral societies- an alternative to the agricultural way of life. They have some distinguished futures that separate them from their agricultural counterparts like Chinese.

First of all, their economy is based on the raising of livestock. ( their milk, blood…)

Second, their economies are less productive and supported far smaller populations compared to agricultural societies. Third, instead of living in the villages and cities, Mongols “ organized themselves in kinship-based groups or clans that claimed a common ancestry.”(514)Fourth, Mongol women enjoyed a higher social status, fewer restrictions and play a big part in public life compared to Chinese women.At last, Unlike the Chinese which settle down in one place, Mongols move around to fallow the vegetation and water supply.

From 1209, the Mongols started to conquest China. It took them 70 years to complete the conquest. When they had China, they moved their capital to Beijing and build an entirely new city on top of it. The Mongols gave themselves Chinese names, adopted Confusion rituals, supported Taoist and Buddist temples. But they didn`t become Chinese, they ignore the traditional Chinese examination system, not using Chinese language and make laws which discriminated against the Chinese.

But, this Mongol ruled dynasty didn`t last long. “By the mid-fourteenth century, intense factionalism among the Mongols, rapidly rising prices, furious epidemics of the plague, and growing peasant rebellions combine to force the Mongols out of China.” (529) So now, the remained Mongols in China became one of the 56 ethnic groups and merge into China. But the Mongols are the Mongols, they are never the Chinese ethnically, culturally.