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Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Galsanpuntsug says that the Qing court originally permitted the Ejine Torghuts to live in a place called Anxi Gobi outside of the Jiayuguan Pass. Repeatedly, however, the Ejine Torghuts tried to return to Kalmykia but the Qing dynasty held Arabjur as a hostage. Caught between the Jungar Khanate and the Qing dynasty, some Torghuts, such as Mergen Tsorj, a commander under Danzan Noyan, joined the Jungar Khanate against the Qing dynasty while they were in Gasin Aman. Danzan then parted company with Mergen Tsorj and moved to Shar Tal with permission from the Qing. The Ejine Torghuts made their final migration in 1958 when the Chinese army took their land for military use. That winter, hundreds of military trucks were sent in to ship Torghut herders deep into the Gobi desert. A new banner centre was built at the Dalaihöv town. They have been suffering from ecological problems ever since. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

This video shows Wang Yanhong explaining the Dashdawa Mongol history to the representatives of five Dashdawa Mongol surname groups. He says that initially, about 1,000 Ööld people arrived at Chengde in 1757, followed by another group two years later, the same year when the Anyuan monastery in Chengde was built. Some years later, however, about 500 people were dispatched to Xinjiang to protect the Qing-Russian border areas. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

This video contains some interesting details about the history of the Ejine Torghuts. After their settlement in Ejine almost 300 years ago, Torghut nobles took wives mostly from the Halh Mongols. Yonghong says that although traditional Torghut clothes have been preserved very well, the Torghuts in Ejine have lost many of their culture, for instance, the Jangar epic and the Savardan dance. Torghuts used to herd horses, cattle and sheep, but today camels and goats predominate. In everyday life, once can see some differences between the Torghuts and the Halh. The Torghut yurt, for example, is taller than the Halh version. The Torghuts are mostly Buddhist, though some also believe in shamanism. There are three monasteries in Ejine: Dashchoilin, Janchinamjil, and Dambadarjia, the last of which being a Halh monastery built in the 1930s. Today, lamas can marry and have children, and they live in their own homes, only coming to monasteries for chanting on certain days. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sanjiin Khand is an urtiin duu singer and deputy head of the Ejine Torghut Urtiin Duu Association. She says that her father often sang in the toorai (diversifolious poplar) forest of Ejine when he herded sheep and locals called him toorain duuchin. Her mother was also an urtiin duu singer who learned singing from Boov who was once the official urtiin duu singer of Prince Lhavangjav. Kand remembers her mother as someone who could sing for three nights and nights without repeating, and she helped her mother record about 100 songs which will be published soon. She regrets, however, that she only remembers 3 of the 13 special songs her mother liked to sing that praise Ejine Torghuts' thirteen light bay (13 heer) horses, which is a great cultural loss. The Ejine Urtiin Duu Association was established in 2002 as a branch of the Alasha League Urtiin Duu Association. Since its establishment, the Association published a series of Alsha folksong books. In 2012, the Ejine branch officially became an independent urtiin duu association in Ejine with about 100 members who were predominantly local elders. The new association has since been organising local Torghut urtiin duu singers to participate in the competitions in Alsha League and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. And Kand also keeps in touch with other Torghut singers in Xinjiang through Wechat. The association periodically teaches in primary schools in Ejine. Despite these successes, Kand has some worries as well. She is concerned that the younger generations now find the Torghut urtiin duu melodies too long and too difficult to sing, and they are more attracted to Halh Mongolian short songs.Kand sang three songs in this interview. The first song is called Shar Talin Burgas (Bushes in Shar Tal) which she believes was composed in Shar Tal where Ejine Torghuts temporarily lived before settling in Ejine. In her view, the song expresses the Torghuts’ aspiration to return to Kalmykia as soon as possible. The second one is Ejine Tuuliin Us, which sings about the Ejine river, the Bayanbogd mountains and Torghut leaders. Composed after their settlement in Ejine, the song celebrates their comfortable life along the Ejine river. The last one is Örgön Ih Ijil Zai, which she learned from her mother. She says this song was composed when the Torghuts were still in the Volga region. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin Erdni talks about the history of Kalmyk literature

In this interview Konstantin talks about the history and composition of the Bagud clan.Konstantin: Our clan, Bagud, descends from the younger brother of Ayuka Khan. Ayuka Khan had many sons, and his youngest son was Galdan Danzhin who contested with his older brother for the throne. After an unsuccessful assassination attempt on his older brother, Galdan Danzhin fled to a place near Saratov. He ordered his subjects not to reveal their affiliation but to say that they simply were people ‘of the youngest brother’. Bagud means ‘youngest’ in Kalmyk. In fact, we belong to the larger clan of Keryad which consists of Iki Keryad, Bag Keryad, Keryad and Bagud. Galdan Danzhin had three sons: his oldest son was Batla, the middle son was Doida, and the youngest was Erdni. When half of the Kalmyks returned to Dzungaria in 1771, Erdni was among them. Today his descendants live in a place called Xing in Xinjiang. In Kalmykia the Batla people lived in Batlayevskaya stanitsa. Doida, who moved to Lagan, had two sons, namely Khavtkha and Sharsa. Sharsa’s mother was a Tatar woman. When his two sons started to quarrel to inherit their father’s title, Doida, an old man by then, divided his people into three groups. The descendants of these three groups came to be known as Ik Bagud, Shars Bagud and Doida Bagud. There is another group among us called Shine Bagud (meaning ‘New Bagud’) who joined us later, and worshipped our gods. Question: Which sub-group do you belong to? Konstantin: I am from Doida Bagud. Inside we divide into arvn groupings, including the Arshakhn, Manzhikhn, Khamrakhn and Chavgakhn. I am from the Khamrakhn arvn. In the past, the arvns lived together. Even today in Lagan our street is home to Khamrakhn people. The next street is where Arshakhn people live. We know each other from childhood. When we started school, I remember children asking each other: ‘Which arvn are you from?’ Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin