back in Ulaanbaatar

Mongolia’s population has not grown much since 1997 when I came here the first time. It is now around 1.4%. Among the total of 2.6 million people in Mongolia, only 50% live permanently in urban areas. 25% of the country’s population are still nomadic, with the other 25% semi-nomadic - living in villages in the winter and grazing animals on the steppes for the rest of the year.

However, the level and speed of urbanization has increased. More and more people from the vast countryside have migrated into the capital for work. In the late 1990s, this rural-urban migration has gone up to 13% a year. Today, in late 2008, Ulaanbaatar’s population has reached over one million.

An hour before reaching Ulaanbaatar, I couldn’t contain my eager anticipation and came out of the cabin to find people to chat with. The train staff were relaxed, looking out the window. They have all been working on this route for years. These old-timers might have some good travel tips to share?

‘How long do you stop in Ulaanbaatar?’ I asked them.

‘Just for a day. We are staying in the hotel to rest before returning on the same route to Beijing,’ one of them replied.

‘Be very aware when you are out there in Mongolia,’ another one said to me.

‘Why?’

‘There are so many pickpockets. They don’t have good habits. They are very poor there. So watch you bag.’

It was the same old thing that I kept hearing from the Chinese about Mongolia. I am sure that the prejudice is related to the historical antagonistic relations between the two countries. You have to ignore such irrationality. But they were wrong even about the practical information.

‘You can use renminbi or American dollars really easily there,’ one said. ‘You don’t need to change money.’

At midday, our train arrived at Ulaanbaatar. The city of Red Hero. (Ulaanbaatar literally means Red Hero.) I took a deep breath as I walked out onto the platform. The air was so familiarly fresh and crisp. I felt good to be back!

I was lucky to get a room only a few minutes’ walk from the Sukhbaatar Square - named after Damdin Sukhbaatar, leader of Mongolia's 1921 revolution.

Although the entire tourism in Mongolia is built on the legacy of Chinggis Khan, I’ve always found the modern history of this country far more fascinating and relevant.

Most Chinese historians like to claim that Mongolia has always been part of China – “since time began” was the phrase they’ve always used. In fact, a glimpse at the simple historical facts would show that this cannot be further from the truth. The incorporation of Mongolia’s territory by China really began in the seventeenth century. As the last descendant of Chinggis Khan passed away, eastern Mongolia became annexed into the Manchu empire in 1634. In 1644, the Manchus expelled the Han-Chinese Ming dynasty and created the Qing dynasty – the last dynasty - in China, with the support of Mongolia.

However, Mongolian interests soon became marginalized during the Manchu rule which the Han-Chinese population began to see as corrupt. Finally in 1696, the Manchus claimed western Mongolia as part of the Qing dynasty.

In 1911, in the same year when Mongolia declared independence from China’s dying Manchu empire, the empire was overthrown by Han Chinese republicans, followed by the formation of China’s first republic. In theory, there should be no justification for the Han-Chinese republicans to maintain their rule over the territories gained under the bygone Qing dynasty. But the Chinese historians argue otherwise. The republicans theorized the annexation of Mongolia and other territories in the rhetoric of “five-group common peace”. (Five groups refer to the Han, Manchu, Mongolia, Hui, Tibet.)

Ulaanbaatar, then named Khuree (meaning ‘City of Felt’), became the capital of Outer Mongolia and was renamed Niislel Khuree (meaning ‘Capital Camp’). Following the republic revolution, the Chinese invaded the Mongolian capital in 1918. However, by then, Sukhbaatar was made commander-in-chief of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Army, which defeated the Chinese and later, in 1920, the White Russians.

The city was eventually renamed Ulaanbaatar, meaning Red Hero, in 1924, in commemorating the victory of communism as well as the final independence from China (but not from Russia).

You can get a feel of the country’s past from the setting of the atmospheric Sükhbaatar Square, surrounded by the grand, colourful Soviet-style Government House at the front, the Golomt Bank, the Central Post Office on one side and the Culture Palace on the other. Apart from the triumphant Sükhbaatar on horseback in the middle of the square, you can also see those of Chinggis Khan and two of his generals in front of the Government House at the top of the Square.

I sat down by the statue and looked up from here. The sky was crystal clear. I love the blueness, and I could just sit under the statue watching it for ages. It was heart-lifting. I am sure I wasn’t the only person feeling this way. Dozens of couples were having their wedding pictures taken around the square. A smiling, young bride walked pass me, looking up at the blue sky above.

Note: The exchange rate was £1 equals to T1,851 (Mongolian currency Tugriks). The recommended level of a budget meal was T3,000 (£1.6).