Every time we mention Mongolia, what do you think of? Endless grassland? The story of Genghis Khan? Jin Yong's novel? Cattle and sheep everywhere? I went to Mongolia in July 2014 and did a 5-day tour. In addition to the common facts that were published in the newspapers, I also had some unique insights and understandings. I might as well talk about them here and share them with you:

1. The country with the longest border with China. When it comes to the border with China, the country with the longest border with China is Russia. In fact, the longest border with China is Mongolia. The border between Russia and China is divided into eastern and western sections across Mongolia. The total length is 3645 kilometers. The border between China and Mongolia is 4,710 kilometers. The China-Mongolia border is more than 1,000 kilometers longer than the China-Russia border.

2. The second largest landlocked country in the world. Mongolia covers an area of ??1.56 million square kilometers. China and Russia embrace Outer Mongolia like two arms, or in other words, like two huge pliers sandwiching Outer Mongolia from the north to the south. Looking at the map, I felt depressed. It was so far away from the sea and I couldn't get out. In fact, there is no need to be so anxious. There are more than 40 landlocked countries in the world. By the way, the largest landlocked country in the world is Kazakhstan, with an area of ??more than 3 million square kilometers.

3. Is there only one city in Outer Mongolia? Friends in Outer Mongolia told us that there is only one city in Mongolia, and that is the capital Ulaanbaatar. It sounds a little strange to us. Entering Mongolia from Erlianhot, there is a city in Mongolia called Zamyn-Uud next to the border of Erlian. How do you say there is no market? Mongolian friends said that those cities are so small that they can be called towns, or they can be ignored. The only one that can be called listed is Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia has a population of nearly 3 million, and the proportion of people living in Ulaanbaatar is close to 40%. It is no wonder that there are very few people in other places.

The administrative divisions of Outer Mongolia are as follows: there are 21 leagues in the country, which are equivalent to provinces in China. Below is "sumu", which is equivalent to counties, and below that is Baga, which is equivalent to villages in China. . Think about it, there are 3 million people, more than 1 million live in Ulaanbaatar, and more than 1 million live in the other 21 provinces. A province with less than 100,000 people should not have a city.

4. The most sparsely populated country in the world. Mongolia has an area of ??1.56 million square kilometers and a population of 2.95 million. There are nearly 1.9 people per square kilometer. This ratio is lower than that of Tibet, China's most sparsely populated region, and Australia and Canada, the two most populous countries in the world. At the beginning of this century, their population was even smaller. At the time of independence, the population was less than 800,000. Let's look at the specific figures. We know that Tibet is the provincial unit with the smallest population in China. There are many mountains there, and you won’t see many people when traveling by car. But Tibet’s area is 1.22 million square kilometers, which is smaller than Mongolia. In 2013, the census counted 3.1 million people, slightly more than the population of Mongolia. Australia and Canada both have about 10 times the population of Outer Mongolia, but their area is not 10 times larger than Mongolia. When I was in Australia, I thought that in such a big country, the population is not as large as that of Chongqing in China, and even the supervising people cannot manage it. And when I went to Outer Mongolia and sat on the ground in Outer Mongolia, I thought that the ratio of their population to land area was smaller than that of Australia.

5. How many Mongolians are there in the world? There are approximately 10 million Mongolians. The distribution is roughly like this: 3 million in Outer Mongolia, 6 million in China, and 1 million in Russia. Chinese Mongolians rank sixth among the ethnic minorities in China. (As for the mention of ethnic minorities, I remember that only China has it. Taiwan is called aborigines. Other countries do not seem to have the concept of ethnic minorities. For example, Scotland, which just held a referendum, only has the concept of different ethnic groups and no concept of ethnic minorities. Taiwan was originally called Ethnic minority (later changed to aboriginal in order to avoid sensitive words) In China, the largest area where Mongolian people live is called Inner Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia, the population is more than 25 million, including more than 20 million Han and more than 4 million Mongolian. In Erenhot, I chatted with a Mongolian guy. He said that some companies with Mongolian brands actually do not have Mongolians, and some companies would even be good if they had one Mongolian. There are even fewer nomadic Mongolians, and most Mongolians also live in settlements. It is already very difficult to find a Mongolian who is migrating from grass to grass. The same is true in Outer Mongolia. Consider that in the city of Ulaanbaatar, the population of Outer Mongolia already accounts for 40% of the total population. If you want to find a true nomad, you have to go to the depths, depths, depths of the grassland.

In addition to the 10 million "authentic" Mongolians mentioned above, there are also mixed descendants of Mongolians and other Central Asian ethnic groups in Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. For example: the Hazara people, and there are 4 million Hazara people, who are considered to be mixed descendants of Mongolia. According to statistics from a British research institute, there are more than 16 million people in the world who are descendants of Genghis Khan's genes, and some are blond and blue-eyed.

6. Do Mongolians have a tough character? It is often mentioned in the media that Outer Mongolians are alcoholic, aggressive and have bold personalities. After spending a few days in Outer Mongolia and not having much contact with Outer Mongolians, it is difficult to feel these things. No matter in Ulaanbaatar, Zamyn-Uud or nearby resorts, the first impression is that there are few people. Because there are few people, the chance of conflicts is much lower. In China, on the other hand, urban business districts are crowded with people, and the chances of bumping into each other are much higher, and quarrels often occur.

However, several things happened to Mongolia in the past few days. First, as soon as our tour group arrived in Ulaanbaatar, a group member lost 4 cards, 3 bank cards, and an ID card. Among them, the bank card was stolen at that time. The next day, when we were still at the train station and waiting in the waiting room, a drunken middle-aged man surrounded us and kept observing us. Later, he even came over to ask me, but I refused. Because I couldn't understand what he said, I didn't know why. Third, some time ago, a self-driving tour group went to Outer Mongolia and their car plate was stolen. It is said that this is a move against Chinese cars.

So what is the character of the entire Mongolian people? From my contacts and chats with Mongolians from both inside and outside, I learned that the general character of Mongolians is indeed enthusiastic and unrestrained. They like wrestling, drinking, and being aggressive. But depending on the place, Mongolian character is also different. The eastern part of China's Inner Mongolia is close to the northeast. This group of people is relatively wealthy and has a more flexible character among Mongolians. They are not only hospitable but also thoughtful and good at doing business among Mongolians. The Mongolians in the western region of Inner Mongolia, including the Qinghai region of Xinjiang, are relatively straightforward and simple. The Mongolians in Outer Mongolia are relatively Russian and Westernized, and have an independent personality. When Mongolians in Outer Mongolia go to a bar or eat, they all pay for themselves. Unlike the Chinese, who all compete to pay the bill. Look at the Mongolian people who follow the local customs.

7. "Bayi Si Tai" language and Mongolian. In order to facilitate communication and show friendship, I learned a few simple Mongolian sentences when I was in Mongolia. For example: Bayi Si Tai, Zai Yin Bu, Satsuma You, that is: Hello, thank you and so on. Mongolian belongs to the Altaic language family and is not related to Chinese. Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family. On the surface, it is not an academic discussion, but the characteristic of their language is that it has a grunt sound. This is similar to Korean and Japanese. The ethnic minorities in northern my country basically belong to the Altaic language family, which belongs to the Mongolian language family and the Tungus language family under the Altaic language family. When I was in Mongolia, there was a sculpture of a Mongolian linguist in Genghis Khan Square. It is said that he standardized the grammar of the Mongolian language. I can't remember the specific name. At the same time, it is said that he also played a very important role in the grammatical standards of Korean. It is known from this that Chinese and Japanese are more closely related to Mongolian than to Chinese. There is still international controversy over whether Korean and Japanese also belong to the Altaic language family. In terms of language umbilical cord relationship, our Chinese language is closer to Tibetan, Burmese, Yi, Miao, etc. They all belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family and have obvious umbilical cord relationships.

8. What language is popular in Outer Mongolia now? The answer is English. We know that Russian is very popular in Outer Mongolia. But after Outer Mongolia was democratized in 1991, it got rid of the influence of the former Soviet Union and gradually integrated into the world, so the most popular language now is English. Due to business relationships, Korean and Chinese are also relatively gradually becoming popular. People born in the 1950s and before generally know some Russian, but generally speaking, Russian is gradually fading away in the daily lives of Mongolians.

9. Are there only three great men in Mongolian history? There are three huge statues in front of the Parliament Building in Genghis Khan Square, namely Genghis Khan, Ogedai and Kublai Khan. During my few days in Mongolia, statues of these three people were often seen in other places such as museums, art galleries, urban streets, etc. It’s strange how Mongolia picked out these three people alone. The history we are familiar with, even during the period of Genghis Khan, there were more than just these three people. For example, there are Tuo Lei, Gui You, Hulagu, Yuan Chengzong, etc. Imagine if all important symbols in China were hung with photos of Tang Zong and Song Zu, what would we think? There will be a lot of controversy. There are many famous people in Chinese history, not just two or three.

10. The Mongols didn’t know about Aobao’s meeting. Many new Mongolian songs have become popular recently, like Tengger's, but the oldest and most famous Mongolian song in China is Aobao Meeting. At the Mongolian Theater, we also watched a Mongolian song and dance performance. Strangely, none of the songs or tunes were familiar. After coming down, ask them, why don't they meet Aobao, whom they are most familiar with? Many of them don't know this song. After chatting with the tour guide from Inner Mongolia who also went there, I learned that Aobao Meeting in Outer Mongolia is not considered an authentic Mongolian song, but a "Chinese" Mongolian song. There may be other famous songs about Mongolian history, at least I'm not familiar with them. So are there so-called Chinese songs that are popular in Outer Mongolia? They told me it was the "Three Auspicious Treasures" and this song had been popular in Outer Mongolia for a year or two.

11. Mongolian income. Through contacts, I learned that the average monthly income in Mongolia is about more than 2,000 RMB, which is slightly lower than that in Inner Mongolia. In other words, people in Inner Mongolia are slightly wealthier than people in Outer Mongolia. The gap between rich and poor in Outer Mongolia is relatively large. Rich people can own many cattle and sheep. And some poor people who like to drink are penniless. In Mongolian supermarkets, there are many international products and they are very cheap. There are slightly more Korean, Russian and medium-sized products, as well as European and American products. This is different from us. It seems that the Chinese customs control is very good.

12. The most Mongolian food - stone barbecue. After a few days of travel, we had an authentic Mongolian meal - stone barbecue. The method is: put large pieces of mutton in a metal bucket, a layer of mutton, a layer of heated pebbles, supplemented by onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. Pour on the seasonings and simmer for half an hour. Mutton from Outer Mongolia costs 25 yuan per kilogram. The tour guide said that prices have increased in recent years. In the past, it only cost a few yuan per kilogram. I was really shocked when I ate it. The pieces were too big. I was already full after eating 2 pieces. I can usually eat more than a pound of mutton-boiled meat.

It's a pity that I didn't taste the authentic Mongolian hot pot. The current copper hot pot is said to be invented by the Mongols. In order to eat hot food when the Mongolian army was marching and fighting, they invented the copper hot pot, that is, mutton boiling.

13. The same Mongolian language is written differently in Inner and Inner Mongolia. In Outer Mongolia, I saw a lot of signs with written characters, which were very strange. Why did they look like Russian? Even if you don't understand Mongolian, you can still see that it is different from Chinese Mongolian characters. In fact, they are not Russian, but Mongolian, but the writing is different in Inner and Inner Mongolia. The Mongolian script used by the Mongolian people in my country was created in the 13th century. After Genghis Khan conquered the Naiman tribe, the locals used the Uighur alphabet to create and spell the Mongolian script. Outer Mongolia originally also used this script. Later, during the period of Soviet control, influenced by the spelling of the Russian alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet was used to spell Mongolian. The so-called Cyrillic alphabet originated from the Glagolitic alphabet of the Greek alphabet. These were widely used by Slavic peoples. letter. So now the surface of Mongolian looks the same as Russian, instead of being arranged in an up and down circle like the Mongolian in our country.