Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0244/02449.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 31KB | 495 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02449}
$Pretitle{276}
$Title{Mongolia
Chapter 8A.   Artistic and Intellectual Expression}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Trevor N. Dupuy, Wendell Blanchard}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{mongolian
committee
writers
academy
intellectual
sciences
literature
party
scientific
cultural}
$Date{1973}
$Log{Stone Lions*0244901.scf
}
Country:     Mongolia
Book:        Mongolia, A Country Study
Author:      Trevor N. Dupuy, Wendell Blanchard
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1973

Chapter 8A.   Artistic and Intellectual Expression

[See Stone Lions: Courtesy Embassy of Mongolia, Washington DC.]

     The stormy nature of much of Mongolia's history and the nomadic nature
of the life of many of the Mongol people have destroyed or blurred the records
of the cultural heritage of the country. Genghis Khan, in the 13th century,
learned from the Western Mongols of the alphabet long in use by the Uighur
Turks-and perhaps by the Western Mongols themselves-and adopted it for the
writing of the Mongol language. Whether this was the first alphabet so used
is not known, but nothing in the Mongol language dating from earlier than the
13th century has been discovered.

     The nature of the Mongol language indicates that it developed from a
vehicle for nomads and herdsmen into a sophisticated tool adapted to many
styles and many types of intellectual expression. Although much of what may
be supposed or is known to have been written in it has perished, there is a
sizeable body of epic poetry, folklore and proverbs. The close relationship
between Mongolia and China resulted in translations of Chinese classics and
consequent intellectual influence from China to Mongolia, and through China
from the Western world as far back as the early 19th century. By the end of
the century information was also flowing to Mongolia from Russia.

     Little remains of early Mongolian painting and sculpture which was
primarily religious or decorative in purpose. Art as a form of self expression
seems to have been unknown. The great stone tortoises of the destroyed and
deserted city of Karakorum are the best known examples of early sculpture.
Existing examples of manuscript illuminations from the 14th century show a
style which is uniquely Mongol although it has roots in Chinese and Persian
culture. The succeeding centuries yield few surviving objects of art and
fewer, if any, of a purely monumental or decorative nature.

     Music and literature were less confined to religious themes and purposes
than was art, and were passed orally by bards or written. Written works,
however, though considerable in quantity, were largely confined to, and known
to, monks and nobles. Epic and lyric poetry, history, myth and folk-tales
were sometimes written and often recited or sung. Plays similar to
medieval miracle plays were written, usually based on old legends. Commoners,
too, had their legends, hero-tales, and love-songs, in the manner of oral
tradition, passed down from father to son or from master to pupil. Dances,
both popular and religious, were performed. Certainly, in the Western sense,
plays, operas, orchestras and ballet did not exist. Still it is clear that
communism and its attendant influence on and direction of intellectual and
cultural life in Mongolia were not introduced into a cultural wasteland, but
to a people with a long-established potential which had been afforded only
limited opportunity for development.

     In Communist thinking the fundamental requirement is to build up the
material and technical resources of a country. At the same time Communist
ideology takes over the dominant place in intellectual life. This typical
Communist procedure has been imposed upon a nation in which intellectual and
cultural achievements historically had at times been considerable but which
had been confined to the religious or ruling classes. It has resulted in the
stifling of creative, indigenous art as all production is forced to follow
the Communist rules.

     The transformation of Mongolia to a Communist political and economic
society has been accompanied by impressive cultural developments by Western
standards and within Communist-imposed limits. Modernization in the cultural
area has resulted from technological advance, widespread education, and
Russification. Almost every Mongol family has a battery-powered radio
receiver. Education is centrally directed and well financed. Although it is
rather narrowly specialized and utilitarian, for it is primarily oriented
to train workers and technicians rather than intellectuals, it has promoted
and benefited from significant cultural advances. Together with the many new
school buildings that attest to the spread of education is the monopoly
position of the Marxist-Leninist ideology, which requires orthodoxy in art and
literature. A new small class of Mongolian functionaries and bureaucrats has
been a major beneficiary of the new system. Most of them wear European
clothes, speak Russian fluently, have traveled abroad to Communist states,
have university educations, often own automobiles, and live in apartments.
This small group of Mongol intellectuals provides indigenous leadership,
organization, and coordination for what were often inarticulate and illiterate
nomads.

Russification

     The treaty of friendship signed by the USSR and the MPR on 5 November
1921 recognized the independence of both countries and established the
promise on the one hand and the acceptance on the other of economic and
cultural aid. Since then, the MPR has been almost entirely dependent on that
assistance, although since 1950, and particularly in the 1960s, "The cultural
cooperation between our country and the European socialist countries," as a
newspaper article put it, "is expanding with every year" in the fields of
science, culture, health, and education.

     Russian influence in language, education, and literature is dominant-as
seen by the adoption of the Cyrillic script in 1941 and the influx of
scientific and technical terminology into the language-and it requires
conformity with ideology and socialist programs.

     These Russian cultural specialists have followed the policy of showing
themselves only as experts and teachers. Sharing the lives of those they
teach, they assume no social prominence and at least ostensibly leave
administrative functions and decisions to their Mongolian counterparts in
local organizations, particularly the MPRP.

     Education and technical training have opened a vastly expanded range of
career possibilities to the Mongols, and illiteracy is reported to have been
largely eliminated. Ideological control over the content and form of
intellectual and artistic endeavors has become more insistent and
far-reaching. Although this policy has been somewhat liberalized within recent
years, orthodoxy is required for work and recognition. No organization or
institutional opening exists to express opposition to communism or to the
USSR. The result is a more sophisticated and better educated populace, but the
price is orthodoxy and close control. Some of the brightest and best-educated
intellectuals chafe under restrictions placed on the individual who works in
intellectual and artistic areas.

Intellectual and Artistic Goals

     The whole apparatus of the Communist state requires all the inter-meshed
cultural elements to contribute to specific goals outlined in 5-year plans,
supervised by party and government, one buttressing the other. In 1963 the
following were reported as being in existence: 20 palaces of culture (a sort
of community center); 200 clubs (smaller community halls), 1,100 libraries.
700 reading rooms, and 500 mobile units of one sort or another, such as cinema
projection teams, art exhibit groups, dance troupes, musicians' ensembles. In
addition, each province had at least one graphic arts section, at least one
photographic studio for professional and amateur photographers, and at least
one study center; and the same facilities and