Page 62 - Mongolia & the Gobi Desert

the throne in battle, and eventually married him when he turned 19. They had 10 children
together despite her tendency to go to war while pregnant.) The constant shifts in power only
ended with the conquest of Mongolia by the Chinese Qing Dynasty in the 17th century.

Modern History

In many ways, the Qing simply added new layers to the existing Mongol hierarchy. The
Mongol nobles still attended on the Mongol emperor, who in turn was a vassal of the Qing
emperor. The biggest change was at the bottom level of society—the Chinese assigned
OTʬP]PY_ WPaPW^ ZQ ^P]QOZX _Z _SP 8ZYRZW [PL^LY_^ ?SP .STYP^P LW^Z OTaTOPO 8ZYRZWTL TY_Z
OTʬP]PY_ L]PL^ ZQ LOXTYT^_]L_TaP NZY_]ZW& _ST^ T^ bSP]P _SP _P]X^ ɭ4YYP] 8ZYRZWTLɮ LYO ɭ:`_P]
Mongolia” come from.

When the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911, Mongolia turned to Imperial Russia for protection
and recognition as an independent state. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, China
reasserted its claim; ultimately Outer Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet
backing. A communist regime was installed in 1924, and remained in power until a peaceful
democratic revolution in 1990. (Inner Mongolia remained a part of China. Today Inner
8ZYRZWTL T^ ^_TWW NZY^TOP]PO LY ZʯNTLW [L]_ ZQ .STYL M`_ YZ_ \`T_P .STYP^PɨWTVP ?TMP_ Z]
Hong Kong.)

China

Facts & Figures
• Area: 3,705,407 square miles

• Capital: Beijing

• Languages: >_LYOL]O .STYP^P 8LYOL]TY T^ _SP ZʯNTLW WLYR`LRP& D`P .LY_ZYP^P B`
(Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese) are also spoken, along
with various Chinese dialects

• Ethnicity: Han Chinese 91.6%, Zhuang 1.3%, other (includes Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao,
Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai and other
nationalities) 7.1%

• Location: China is bordered by Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North
Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam.

• Geography: The geography of China must be viewed in terms of its grand proportions.
China’s vast area of nearly 4 million square miles ranks third behind Russia and Canada.
The Himalayas on China’s border with India are the world’s tallest mountains. More than
two-thirds of China’s land area is mountainous or desert.

• Population: 1,367,485,388 (estimate)

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