1. 20 Aug


    Hohhot, China — Hohhot is the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.  However, there are almost no Mongols living there.  Almost everyone is Han Chinese.  Even in the province as a whole, Mongolians constitute something less than 20 percent of the population.  In the Mongol home where I stayed a tapestry of Genghis Khan hung on the wall, and a Tibetan monk performed rituals of benediction.  It was a large, almost luxurious home.  The growth of the Chinese economy had brought them material prosperity.  But they seemed unhappy.  We feel like guests in our own land, they said.  And they told me stories of the grasslands from where they came.  In their native area the Chinese government recently banned the herding of animals — to leave the land open for mining.

    Hohhot, China — Hohhot is the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.  However, there are almost no Mongols living there.  Almost everyone is Han Chinese.  Even in the province as a whole, Mongolians constitute something less than 20 percent of the population.  In the Mongol home where I stayed a tapestry of Genghis Khan hung on the wall, and a Tibetan monk performed rituals of benediction.  It was a large, almost luxurious home.  The growth of the Chinese economy had brought them material prosperity.  But they seemed unhappy.  We feel like guests in our own land, they said.  And they told me stories of the grasslands from where they came.  In their native area the Chinese government recently banned the herding of animals — to leave the land open for mining.