Page 70 - bne Magazine August 2022

70 I Eurasia bne August 2022
“When I was young, I always used to go to Gandantegchilen Monastery with my parents to pray and feed the doves there during the Naadam and Lunar New Year”
shows us how we are lucky to identify ourselves as an independent country. There are many countries that are not able to call themselves independent countries, as we know. When I watch the opening ceremony of Naadam, it makes me cry, proud of the history for a very short time.”
The author, Dr. Antonio Graceffo PhD China-MBA, worked as an economics researcher and university professor in China, but is now living in Ulaanbaatar, writing about the Mongolian and Chinese economies. He holds a PhD from Shanghai University of Sport Wushu Department where he wrote his dissertation “A Cross Cultural Comparison of Chinese and Western Wrestling” in Chinese. He is
the author of 11 books, including A Deeper Look at the Chinese Economy,
The Wrestler’s Dissertation, and Warrior Odyssey. He completed post-doctoral studies in economics at Shanghai University, specialising in US-China Trade, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Trump-China economics. His China economic reports are featured regularly in The Foreign Policy Journal and published in Chinese at The Shanghai Institute of American Studies, a Chinese government think tank.
From left to right: A Naadam ceremony at the National Sports Stadium in Ulaabaatar (Vidor, wiki). For Mongolians, Naadam draws its strength from tapping into ancient tradition (Thomas Voekler, cc-by-3.0).
Independence is an important issue for Mongolians who do not like the fact
that many westerners do not distinguish between the independent Republic of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, a province of China. Additionally, the partition of Mongolia, with the southern half being co-opted by China, is a sore spot for many.
Twenty-two-year-old-accountant Nandinsuvd Batchimeg who works in Ulaanbaatar remarked: “Naadam shows the world that we are an independent country. When I watch the opening ceremony of Naadam at 9 am, it really makes me proud of our culture, history, and tradition. Even though there are many issues in Mongolia, I will always love my country. Because this place gives me a place to live, a place to express my own opinions freely without government interference.” Mongolians are aware
of the cultural crackdown in Inner Mongolia carried out by the Chinese
Communist Party to align everyone to Han Chinese culture, and many are grateful to live in Mongolia where the language and culture continue to flourish.
Several of the interviewees also mentioned the fact that Naadam was a way of showing Mongolia to tourists and to the outside world.
A twenty-eight-year-old monk from Gandagchilen Monastery named Rinchenpuntsag Odjugder remembered the religious significance he and his parents attached to Naadam when he was a child. "When I was young, I always used to go to Gandantegchilen Monastery with my parents to pray and feed the doves there during the Naadam and Lunar New Year. It’s one of the cultural significances that I feel strongly about." But he also stressed the importance of Mongolia being a free country. “Moreover, Naadam
www.bne.eu