His name is on streets, schools, a brand of vodka and many a newborn baby. Now, 800 years after Genghis Khan inspired terror on two continents, Mongolians are taking their reverence for the great conqueror to new heights.
The Mongolian capital's airport is being renamed after him. Construction crews are working 24 hours a day to build a US$5 million statue of the great Khan and his sons in the city's central square. There are even suggestions that Ulan Bator, which means Red Hero in an echo of the communist era, should be renamed Genghis City.
The fervor reaches a peak this Monday with the start of Naadam, an annual festival of traditional sports, such as horse racing, wrestling and archery, as well as heavy drinking. This year's celebration coincides with the 800th anniversary of a seminal event: In 1206, warring tribes united under a warrior who took the title Genghis Khan and conquered an empire.
PHOTO: AP
The government expects some 500,000 tourists this year in the country of 2.8 million, thanks to a state-backed international promotion campaign. Hotel rooms are so scarce that the US Embassy is advising US citizens to think about other destinations for summer travel.
Getting in the spirit, the legislature granted amnesty to 1,590 prisoners, Ulan Bator city authorities ordered 285 chronic alcoholics into dry-out clinics and the president urged Mongolians to party, though not too hard.
"Let's keep our streets clean and orderly," President N. Enkhbayar said on TV. "Let's sing our national anthem together. Let's drink vodka moderately."
The celebration of Geng-his Khan shows how much has changed since 70 years of Soviet-backed communist rule finished in 1990. The communist authorities suppressed Genghis' name and signs of his legacy, viewing him as a feudal oppressor and a nationalist rallying symbol and killed many Mongolian aristocrats who claimed to be his descendants.
Democracy is evident in the half dozen groups that pitched traditional tents opposite the new Genghis Khan monument last month, protesting that the US$16 million being spent on festivities should be used to ease poverty.
To the rest of the world, Genghis Khan may be a synonym for barbarism, but to Mongolians he represents order, civilization and an empire that stretched across Asia to Central Europe.
He is a touchstone of national identity to a nation caught between Russia and China and wary of being swallowed up by either.
The World Academy of Ching-gis Khan, a private group which uses an alternative spelling of the great Khan's name, called for a return to the pre-Buddhist shamanistic rituals popular in Genghis' day.
"If Mongolians again perform these rites, Mongolia will be blessed and will prosper," said P. Davaanyam, the academy's president, who claims to be a 30th-generation descendant of Genghis Khan.
China, which controls Inner Mongolia on Mongolia's southern edge and whose vibrant enterprises threaten to overwhelm Mongolia's indigenous industries, also claims rights to Genghis Khan. It says his tomb is in Chinese territory, a claim that has not been independently verified, and is promoting tourism to Inner Mongolia for the 800th anniversary.
The widespread use of the Genghis name for promotional purposes rankles with some who consider themselves stewards of the Khan's legacy.
D. Enkhtaivan, a former member of parliament, wants such things regulated.
"We should have a law on the use of Genghis Khan's name," he said.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
STILL AFLOAT: Satellite images show that a Chinese ship damaged in a collision earlier this month was under repair on Hainan, but Beijing has not commented on the incident Australia, Canada and the Philippines on Wednesday deployed three warships and aircraft for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships. The Philippine military said the naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with China’s coast guard, navy or suspected militia ships, which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off northwestern Philippines for years. Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills, but they
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight on several Russian power and energy facilities forced capacity reduction at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and set a fuel export terminal in Ust-Luga on fire, Russian officials said yesterday. A drone attack on the Kursk nuclear plant, not far from the border with Ukraine, damaged an auxiliary transformer and led to 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at unit three of the plant, the plant’s press service said. There were no injuries and a fire sparked by the attack was promptly extinguished, the plant said. Radiation levels at the site and in the surrounding