literate
For Bayaryn, it is important to salvage Genghis Khan from his reputation as just a fierce, hardly civilized warrior chieftain.
Bayaryn has uncovered documents which he claims are evidence that the Khan was actually literate -- even if the Mongolian writing system was only invented when he was at a mature age.
Given the straightforward, phonetic Mongolian writing that existed at the time, it would not have been too difficult, he argued.
"It would have taken an average adult two months to learn written Mongolian, while a relatively intelligent person would be able to do it in one month. And Genghis Khan was intelligent," he said.
"If it's accepted that he was indeed literate, it will change our perception of him as simply an uncivilized mass murderer," he said.
Even if he could not read and write, the Khan was much more than a military man, according to Baladugqi, an ethnic Mongolian and a professor at the Inner Mongolia Modern History Research Institute.
open-minded
"Only under Genghis Khan and his successors was the Silk Road under one political authority. You could transport a product all the way from Beijing to Moscow and sell it there," he said.
"Political, economic, social, cultural and religious exchanges thrived on a scale never seen before," he said.
For Baladugqi, it is an undeniable fact that Genghis Khan founded his empire on raw power, but if his skills had been only military he would never have been able to create a world empire.
"Genghis Khan was open-minded and not at all conservative. He adjusted his rule to local conditions," Baladugqi said.
"Mongolians have a very open mind, and it could be because they are used to the wide-open steppes," he said.
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