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CRACKDOWN IN INNER MONGOLIA
July 1991
An Asia Watch Report
© 1991 by Human Rights Watch
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of
America
ISBN 1-56432-035-9
THE ASIA WATCH COMMITTEE
The Asia Watch Committee was
established in 1985 to monitor and promote in Asia observance
of internationally recognized human rights. The Chair is Jack
Greenberg; Vice-Chairs, Harriet Rabb and Orville Schell;
Executive Director, Sidney Jones; Washington Director, Mike
Jendrzejczyk. Patricia Gossman, Robin Munro and Ji Won Park
are Research Associates. Jeannine Guthrie, Lydia Lobenth and
Mary McCoy are Associates.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Asia Watch is a component of
Human Rights Watch, which includes Africa Watch, Americas
Watch, Helsinki Watch, Middle East Watch and the Fund for Free
Expression. The Chair is Robert L. Bernstein and the Vice
Chair is Adrian DeWind. Aryeh Neier is Executive Director;
Kenneth Roth, Deputy Director; Holly J. Burkhalter, Washington
Director; Ellen Lutz, California Director; Susan Osnos, Press
Director; Jemera Rone, Counsel; Stephanie Steele, Business
Manager; Dorothy Q. Thomas, Women's Rights Project Director;
Joanna Weschler, Prison Project Director.
Executive Directors
Africa Watch
Americas Watch Asia
Watch
Rakiya Omaar
Juan Mendez
Sidney Jones
Helsinki Watch Middle East
Watch
Jeri Laber
Andrew Whitley
Crackdown in Inner
Mongolia.............................................................................1
Introduction........................................................................................1
Brief History of the Mongols to
1949 ..................................................2
Inner Mongolia under
Communism......................................................3
Protest Movements in Inner
Mongolia since 1981 ...............................5
Circular on the Unearthing of
Two Illegal
Organizations.......................................8
Appeal and Statement of the
Inner Mongolian
League for the Defense of Human
Rights...........................................................15
Founders of the Ih Ju League
National Culture Society
.....................................15
Other Mongolian Student Leaders
...................................................................16
The History of Inner Mongolia
and the Present Situation
...................................17
Composition of the Provisional
Council
............................................................22
Document of the Central
Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party
Central/Issue [1981] No-28
............................................................................27
Outline of the Report on Work
of the Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Region
........................................................................................29
CRACKDOWN IN INNER MONGOLIA
Introduction1
On May 11, 1991, the top
Communist Party authorities in China’s Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Region ( IMAR ) ordered a major crackdown on two
small organizations which had been recently formed by ethnic
Mongolian intellectuals and Party cadres in the region. The
organizations were called the Ih Ju League National Culture
Society and the Bayannur League National Modernization
Society.2 On May 15, Huchuntegus and
Wang Manglai, two leaders of the Ih Ju League National
Culture Society were arrested, and 26 other members of the
society’s provisional council were placed under the house
arrest. As of late May, they were being investigated by the
security police. Details of the crackdown against the
National Modernization Society are not yet known, but the
authorities have depicted the group as being more radical in
its demands than its Ih Ju counterpart, so official repression
may have been more severe.
The two organizations, which
had tried to register legally with the authorities, were
dedicated to researching and promoting national Mongolian
culture and identity. In an internal document, however the
authorities branded them as “splittist” and “subversive”
groups whose real aim was to promote the secession of the
Mongolian ethnic minority areas of China and to bring about
the disintegration of China.
Asia Watch has obtained a copy,
marked “top secret”, of the internal Party directive ordering
this crackdown, together with the handwritten text of an
appeal issued 10 day after the crackdown, on May 21,1991, by a
group called the Inner Mongolian League for the Defense of
Human Rights. Full translation of both this document are
presented below, along with a name list of 26 people placed
under house arrest. Also included are extracts from another
key internal Party document ( Document No.28 ) on Inner
Mongolia, dated August 5, 1981, which assesses the appalling
damage inflicted on the region during the Cultural Revolution.
According to this document, 790,000 people from throughout the
region “ were directly incarcerated, struggled against or kept
incommunicado under investigation… Of these 22,900 people died
and 120,000 were maimed. During the period of “unearthing and
ferreting out”, close to 1000 herdsmen families were forced to
move from the frontiers to the interior. As a result, some
1,000 people died…”
This document is significant
because its release by central government authorities sparked
a major protest movement in late 1981 by Mongolian students
opposed to the dominant Han Chinese presence in the region.
The 1981 protest in Inner Mongolia were succeeded by the
others during the 1980s, culminating in large-scale
demonstrations there during May-June 1989, at the height of
the Tiananmen Square demonstration in Beijing. The formation
and the suppression of the two unofficial research groups in
Ih Ju and Bayannur Leagues marks the latest phase in an
apparently fast-developing pro-Mongolian ethnic identity
movement in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.
These documents reveal in
remarkable detail a previously unknown history of Mongolian
ethnic struggle against Han domination of the region from the
time of the Cultural Revolution ( 1966-76) onwards. Observers
in the West have long been aware of the independence struggle
in Tibet, as evidenced by the demonstrations since 1987 in the
streets of Lhasa by Tibetan monks, nuns and others and the
subsequent bloody repression of these protests.
Similarly, ethnic unrest among China’s Muslim
minority peoples, especially in the vast north western region
of Xinjiang, has also been known for some time. An uprising in
April 1990 by Muslim in Baren, near Kashgar in the far west of
Xinjiang, led to armed clashes with the People’s Liberation
Army ( PLA ) and several dozen deaths. Another major clash was
reported in northern Xinjiang in May-June 1991 between Muslim
separatists and pro-democracy forces on the one hand and the
PLA on the other, which is said to have resulted in several
hundreds deaths. 3
Almost no information, however,
has been available hitherto concerning ethnic unrest among
China’s Mongolian minority. Aside from reports of massive
abuses inflicted during the Cultural Revolution, the dominated
image of the region in the West has tended to be one of
smiling herdspeople, colorful ethnic costumes and festival
displays of wrestling, horseriding and archery. The documents
contained in this report afford an unusual insight into the
darker side of contemporary Inner Mongolia. They also reveal
the uncompromising determination of Chinese authorities to
crush ethnic Mongolian dissent.
Asia Watch is concerned that
Huchuntegus and Wang Manglai, the two leaders of the Ih Ju
League National Culture Society have been arrested for
their peaceful efforts to promote Mongolian culture and calls
for their immediate and unconditional release. It also calls
on the Chinese government to allow organizations such as Ih
Ju League National Culture Society and the Bayannur
League National Modernization Society to function openly,
in accordance with the internationally recognized right to
freedom of association.
Brief History of the Mongols to 1949
In the late 12th and
early 13th century, the Mongol leader Temujin,
later known as Ghengis Khan, used force and diplomacy to unite
all the disparate nomadic tribes of the central Asian steppes,
including the region now known as Inner Mongolia. By 1280, the
legendary Mongol cavalry had created an empire stretching from
west of the Caucasus to the Pacific Ocean, including most of
present-day China. With the swift collapse of this empire in
the mid-14th century came a long period of
intertribal conflict and disunity sometimes known as the
Mongol Dark Ages.
In the late 16th
century, the Mongols converted to Tibetan-style Buddhism, and
the title Dalai Lama was first conferred by the Mongol leader
of the day. But the Mongolian state continued to disintegrate,
and its final collapse in 1635 brought the Khans or warlords
of northern and eastern Mongolia increasingly under the
control of the Manchu state, which went on to conquer China.
The western Mongols, also known as the Oirat, who lived in the
present-day northern Xinjiang, were not finally conquered by
the Manchu Qing Dynasty until 1759.
By the 19th century, Inner Mongolia
was becoming increasingly sinicized, while Outer Mongolia, the
vast, sparsely populated region north of the Gobi Desert,
become a focus of intense diplomatic and trading rivalry
between China and Tsarist Russia. 1911, the Qing Dynasty had
collapsed, and the following year Outer Mongolia declared it
effective independence of China’s new warlord regime. At that
time, apparently, “Chinese troops forcibly stopped Eastern [
Inner ] Mongolia from joining the new state.”
4
In 1921, Outer Mongolia established itself as
the Mongolian People’s Republic ( MPR ). The second Communist
state in the world, it quickly fell into the Soviet sphere of
influence. Inner Mongolia, meanwhile, had from the 1910s
onwards, fallen increasingly under Japanese domination. In
response to this threat, “ The warlord government which ruled
northern China from 1911 to 1927 vigorously promoted Chinese
colonization of the region. Their main purpose was presumably
to assimilate the Mongols of Inner Mongolia…. The Nationalist
government of Chiang Kai Shek pursued the same policies and
thereby alienated the local people.”
5
After Japan’s occupation of
Manchuria and its creation of an autonomous Mongol province in
western Manchuria, Chiang Kai Shek redouble his efforts to
boost the Han Chinese population of Inner Mongolia and control
its economy. This in turn prompted the emergence of an Inner
Mongolian nationalist movement led by Prince De ( De Wang or
Demcukdongrub in Mongolian ), a Mongol noble who claimed to be
a direct descendent of Ghengig Khan. Prince De was actively
supported by the Japanese, who gave him money and weapons. In
1936, Prince De launched an armed uprising against Chinese
authority, but it was crushed by the troops of local Chinese
warlords.
With the Allied defeat of Japan in 1945, the
Chinese Communist with their well-developed system of “base
areas” in the northwest were best placed to fill the political
vacuum in Inner Mongolia. By May 1, 1947, they had established
the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, with a large number of
Mongols in key governmental positions. In 1949, the Mongol
nationalists under Price De made one last attempt to set up an
independent Inner Mongolian government. It failed, and Prince
De fled to the Mongolian People’s Republic. Under pressure
from Stalin, the MPR extradited Prince De back to China in
1950, and he was imprisoned, together with China’s last
emperor, Fu Yi, in Fushun Prison. Some accounts say Prince De
was pardoned and released in 1963.
6According
to others, he died in prison around that time.
7
Inner Mongolia Under Communism
After 1949, Inner Mongolia
became the showcase of the Communist Party’s “ minority
nationalities” policy. Although the Han Chinese by then
outnumbered the Mongols in the region of some six million
people by roughly five to one, the majority of government
leadership position were in fact held by Mongols. 8
Ulanhu, a sinicized Mongol who speaks no Mongolian, had been
recruited into the Party in the early 1920’s, and a strong
leadership core of ethnic Mongolian Communists had emerged in
subsequent decades. Under Ulanhu’s leadership, moderate
policies prevailed in the region, at least until Mao’s Great
Leap Forward of 1958, when leftist zealots arrived from
Beijing to impose radical collectivization and pressure the
pastoral Mongols to become sedentary farmers. As in other part
of China, the excesses of the Great Leap were quickly
reversed, as a desperate, largely manmade famine hit the
country in the early 1960’s, claiming upwards of 15 million
lives nationwide.
With the onset of the Cultural
Revolution in 1966,Inner Mongolia entered what was probably
its darkest period for centuries. Mao’s Red Guards directed
their attack against Ulanhu, accusing him of “inciting discord
between the Han and Mongol peoples”, promoting “national
splittism” and advocating a chauvinist policy of “ Mongolia
for the Mongols”. In January 1967, pitched battles between
opposing Red Guard factions and others took place in Huhhot,
the regional capital, and the army was sent to the following
month to quell the disorder, with devastating effect. This
military suppression, known as the “ February
counter-current”, was later cited by the Central Committee in
Document No.28 [ 1981] as one of the three “major and unjust
cases” perpetrated upon the Inner Mongolians during the
Cultural Revolution. In addition, what little remained of
Buddhist culture in the region was suppressed.
The second major injustice was
the so-called “ case of the Ulanhu anti-Party and the
treasonous clique.” The ultra-leftist attacks on Ulanhu
culminated, in the summer and autumn of 1967, in public
accusations that he had planned to carry out a
“counterrevolutionary group” on the twentieth anniversary (
May 1, 1967 ) of the founding of the Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Region ( IMAR ) and that he had “plotted a reunite
Inner and Outer Mongolia as an independent kingdom with
himself as ruler.” ( The fact that “Ulanhu” means “Red Sun” in
Mongolian did not help matters; for the Beijing radicals,
there was room for only one “Red Sun” in China, and that was
Chairman Mao.) The entire Mongol Communist elite of the region
was overthrown, and when, in November 1967, a new ruling body
– the IMAR Revolutionary Committee – was formed, it “contained
no Mongols among its top leaders, and there were apparently
only two Mongols on the Committee was a whole.” 9 (
Ulanhu was rehabilitated in 1973 and restored as leader of the
IMAR. He died in 1988.)
The third of the “major unjust cases” cited by
the Party in document No.28, their 1981 apologia for the
horrors of the Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia, was a
ferocious campaign waged by Maoist radicals and the army
between 1968 and 1969 to “unearth” members of a so-called “New
Inner Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party” ( NIMPRP ). The
authorities were later to acknowledge that this alleged
insurrectionary Mongol nationalist organization had never in
fact existed. But at the time, Maoist radicals insisted that
the NIMPRP had penetrated every corner of Inner Mongolian
society, and a massive purge ensued. The fictitious NIMPRP was
said to be the reincarnation of a shadowy organization which
had been active in the 1920’s and 1940’s.
10
According to the official
indictment brought against the “Gang of Four” at their trial
in December 1980, 346,000 persons were wrongfully accused in
Inner Mongolia in connection with the fabricated case of the
NIMPRP; of these 16,222 were persecuted to death. 11
By one writer’s estimate,
If the Mongolian component of the population of
Inner Mongolia was 1.45 million in 1965, then more than 20
percent of the Mongolian population was persecuted in
connection with this affair, and more than one percent killed…
In Inner Mongolia, it was said that the Cultural Revolution
had claimed more lives among the Mongols than the massacres of
the famed ‘Slayer of the Mongols’ ( a famous Han general ) of
the Ming Dynasty. 12
According to the dissident
appeal of May 21,1991 ( see translation below ), as many as
50,000 people may actually have died in Inner Mongolia during
Cultural Revolution. In 1969, moreover, more than half of the
territory of Inner Mongolia was annexed by the authorities to
adjacent, predominantly non-Mongol provinces. It was not
restored to Inner Mongolia until 1979. Finally, the serious
question of wholesale environmental destruction in Inner
Mongolia since 1949 should also be considered. Unchecked Han
colonization, the conversion of grasslands to grainfields,
overgrazing and indiscriminate tree felling have greatly
accelerated desertification process in the region. 13
Protest Movement in Inner Mongolia since
1981
In 1980, Party leader Hu
Yaobang went to Tibet on an inspection tour; he was horrified
at the damage caused there by the Cultural Revolution and
ordered a thorough investigation to be carries out. As a
result, a period of relative liberalization followed in the
region. Similarly, Hu ordered an investigation into the
situation in Inner Mongolia. The result was the Central
Committee’s Document No.28 [ 1981 ]. Appalling though the
details in that report were of what transpired in Inner
Mongolia between 1967 and 1969, many Mongols evidently
regarded the report as a whitewash. They also strongly
objected to its failure to place firm restrictions on further
Han immigration into the region. According to the May 21,1991
appeal by the Inner Mongolian League for the Defense of Human
Rights.:
In the fall of 1981, all
Mongolian students of the universities and secondary
professional schools in Huhhot, the capital, boycotted
classes. Thousands demonstrated in the streets again and
again, demanding that the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party recall its Document No.28. That student
movement lasted more than two months. It was the largest
student movement in all the years since the Communist came to
power, prior to the June 4 pro-democracy movement of 1989.
A forthcoming book on the
Mongolians contains new information on the 1981 protest.
14 According to journalist from the MPR recently
interviewed in Ulan Bator, the student demonstrators were
joined by workers and by Han Chinese opposed to the
government. The police tried to suppress the demonstrations
with water cannon but did not arrest any of student leaders
until considerably later. A number of student representatives
went to Beijing to plead their case with Hu Yaobang, and Hu
apparently agreed to meet their demands. These were 1) respect
for human rights and full rehabilitation of all those
persecuted during the Cultural Revolution; 2) restructuring of
the economy to prevent and reverse the turning over of
pastureland to agriculture; and 3) an end to resettlement in
Inner Mongolia of thousands of Han Chinese who left Tibet on
Hu Yaobang’s orders. 15 About 10 student
demonstrators were reportedly arrested and sentenced to two or
three years in labor camps.
In 1984, a pro-independent flyer was circulated
to foreign students at Beijing University. It was entitled, “
Proclamation of Committee for Formation of Asian Republics’
Confederation.” Among other things, it said, “ You must know
that the Chinese national systematically oppresses national
minorities, tried to assimilate them, destroy their culture,
tradition, rob them of their historical territories and
exhaust all natural resources… Despite the fact that we, the
inhabitants of non-Chinese nationalities [sic], count several
tens of millions in the territory of the People’s Republic of
China, it has been simple for the Chinese nation to suppress
us because we have not been united, our actions have not been
coordinated. In August 1984, however, an event occurred which
will make a new page in world history. The representatives of
non-Chinese nations in the territory of the People’s Republic
of China agreed on [a] joint course of action in the struggle
for the liberation from Chinese oppression and adopted their
first program of action… The final objective of our struggle
is the elimination for the existing solution of the question
of nationalities and forming an independent Confederation of
Asian Republics, independent of the People’s Republic of
China…”16
In 1986, exiled ethnic leaders
from the territory of the PRC joined forces to publish a new
journal called Common Voice ( “ Journal of the allied
Committee of Peoples of Eastern Turkestan, Mongol, Manchuria
and Tibet presently under China”). In early August 1987, a
Party secretary in Inner Mongolia named Bater and an engineer
named Bao Hunagguang drove across the border to Sukhbator
Aimak in the Mongolian People’s Republic. After four days, MPR
leaders were forced to extradite them, and they were
reportedly sentenced to eight years in prison. Both Bater and
Bao, according to one report, had been leaders of the 1981
student protest movement.
In May and June 1989, there
were major protests in Inner Mongolia. According to an
official "internal circulation" account of the nationwide
pro-democracy movement of 1989, more than 10,000 people
demonstrated in Hohhot in late May. 17 More than 30
policemen were reportedly injured in the unrest.
The unrest in Inner Mongolia
was not, however, halted by the June 4 massacre in Beijing.
According to an article by Wang Qun» secretary of the Inner
Mongolian Autonomous Regional Chinese Communist Party
Committee, which appeared in Renmin Ribao or People’s Daily on
May 14, 1990, "Since last spring and summer, there have been
two incidents in the Inner Mongolia region in which a small
number of people started up trouble. At first a small number
of people exploited ethnic issues to stir things up in a vain
attempt to destroy nationality solidarity and the unity of the
motherland. Then came troubles stirred up by a very small
number of people stubbornly adhering to a bourgeois
liberalized stand; political turmoil was fomented..." 18.
Between December 1989 and April 1990, according
to a report in the Hong Kong newspaper Cheng Ming, some 20
rallies and demonstrations demanding democracy and
independence had taken place in Inner Mongolia. In early
February, according to the article, about 80,000 nomads,
students and workers demonstrated in the streets. Two
organizations, the Inner Mongolia National Autonomous
Committee" and the Asia-Mongolian Front for Freedom were named
in the article as leading the drive for independence. Between
May 26 and 28, 1990, according to the same article, more than
40,000 people demonstrated in Hohhot. Armed police opened
fire, clashes with demonstrators ensured, and more than 200
people were injured. Seven people were reportedly killed.
19
The catalogue of serious abuses
committed by the central authorities in Inner Mongolia since
the Cultural Revolution provides, then, the social and
political backdrop against which the evident resurgence in the
1980*s of ethnic Mongol culturalist and nationalist trends
should be viewed. Given the scale of those past abuses, the
authorities' suppression in the Ih Ju and Bayannur Leagues of
two small study groups formed to promote Mongol culture seems
to provide fresh evidence of a government that knows no
remorse.
Document of the Office of the
Inner Mongolia
Communist Party
Committee/Inner/Party/Office/Issue (1991)
No. 13
Circular on the Unearthing of
Two Illegal Organizations
in Ih Ju and Bayannur Leagues
TOP SECRET
To the Communist Party
committees of the various leagues and municipalities, the
various departments and commissions of the Communist Party
committee of the [Inner Mongolian] Autonomous Region, and the
party groups of the various departments, commissions, offices,
agencies and bureaus of the [Inner Mongolian] Autonomous
Region and the people's organizations:
During the recent period, some elements of
social instability reappeared in specific areas of our region-
In order to call attention of the organizations at various
levels and the broad masses of the cadres and people to this
fact and arouse their vigilance, and in accordance with the
opinion of the Communist Party committee of the region, we now
issue the following circular on the recent unearthing of two
illegal
organizations in Ih Ju and
Bayannur Leagues.
I. INFORMATION ABOUT THE TWO ILLEGAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Recently, the departments
concerned of the autonomous region, working closely with (the
authorities of) Ih Ju and Bayannur Leagues, uncovered two
illegal organizations: the "Ih Ju League National Culture
Society" and the "Modern Nation Association" (also known as
"National Modernization Society"), Preliminary investigations
show that in March 1991, a preparatory group of eight people
was formed on the initiative of several cadres ofIhJu League
to found the "IhJu League National Culture Society." They
contacted many units and successively applied to the
Association of Societies, Association of Literature and the
Arts and the Department of Civil Affairs of the league in a
vain attempt to gain legal status. They organized, without
authorization, a series of activities in the name of the
"preparatory Group of the Society." They remained active for
more than a year before they were unearthed. Eight backbone
members regularly took part in those activities. There were 26
members. Quite a few are party and government cadres; some are
members of the Communist Party or the Communist Youth League;
most are young cadres.
The major activities of this
illegal organization were:
(1) Organizing family meetings
and lectures. According to our preliminary record, they bad
organized 12 small-scale family meetings known as "family
teas" since last year. They discussed mainly matters related
to the founding of the "society." They exchanged reading
materials and discussed their understanding of those
materials, and talked about "malady of the times." They also
organized speeches on specific topics. They termed that period
one for "self improvement." Since 1990, they had started
organizing lectures on fairly large scale. So far, six of
these are known to us.
(2) They drafted, printed and
distributed all kinds of illegal propaganda materials. We have
so far collected the following: "An Open Letter to Mr. 'Man',"
"An Appeal to All Mongolians South of the Desert for the
Renewal of Mongolian Culture," "The Past, Present and Future
of Mongolian Culture," etc. Materials distributed in tandem
include: foreword to the reprinted articles by B. Bagbar (?),
member of the Central Executive Committee of the Mongolian
Democratic Party [in Mongolian People's Republic - tr] Eight
articles by Bagbar were reprinted under the general title of
"Do not Forget. Forgetting Means Destruction — On the
Threshold of the 21st Century." The eight articles are :
"Greater Russia," "Stalin," Mongolia of Tsedenbar, "
"Political Power of the People," "Cholbasan, the Puppet," "On
Subjective Initiative," "Political Power," and "More."
(3) They established contacts
in and outside of the region to extend their influence. In Ih
Ju League, they distributed propaganda materials, established
contacts and extended their influence primarily through their
schoolmates, fellow villagers and acquaintances. They went to
Hohhot [capital city of Inner Mongolia]and through their
former teacher-student relationship invited college teachers
to give "scholarly lectures" on five occasions. They also got
in touch with students from Ih Ju League who were studying
elsewhere to distribute their illegal propaganda materials in
other leagues and cities as well as outside the region.
According to our information, they had contacts with students
at Xinjiang University and several universities and colleges
in Inner Mongolia. They discussed with these students such
issues as “The New Mongolian Cultural Movement Emerging in
Ordos." In certain areas, their materials were reprinted and
distributed. They had also raised funds to the tune of 1,000
yuan since the second half of last year.
In addition, some members of
the Ih Ju League "National Culture Society," working in
collusion with a handful of people in Hohhot, tried in vain to
stir up trouble during the "two meetings" [of the people's
Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference.3 It was discovered on April 16 that they concocted
the statement "Why We Advocate the Renewal of Traditional
Mongolian Culture" in the name of the society. Usurping the
name of the cadres and people working in Hohhot, they wrote a
letter to the People's Congress of the Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Region to be printed in Hohhot and presented or
distributed during the "two meetings" of the autonomous
region.
The "National Modernization
Association" [the name given earlier in the document was
"National Modernization Society - the inconsistency is in the
original document] in Bayannur League was discovered in April
of this year. Most of the members of the "Association" are
cadres and teachers of the Rear Ulat Banner. Its major
activities included the drafting of a programmatic document
"The Tasks of the Mongolian Nation in the Near Term." It was
distributed in the banner and several sumus in the vicinity.
The two illegal organizations
ostensibly used the discussion of "national culture" and
"national modernization" in public. But in fact their
erroneous stand and reactionary views and the many illegal
activities they engaged in clearly show that their real aim
was to oppose the leadership of the Communist Party, the
socialist system, to incite a national split and undermine the
unification of the motherland.
Following are some of their
major problems:
(1) Opposition to the Communist
Party and the party's leadership and opposition to the
socialist system. These illegal organizations directed the
spearhead of their attack at the party's leadership and the
socialist system. They claimed that the Mongolian people "had
started to lose massively, or had already lost their national
culture," and that this was primarily due to the "tremendous
impact of the backward agricultural culture." They talked such
nonsense as "In this century, we were forced to accept an
alien political culture, and that dealt a heavy blow at our
traditional culture, and finally brought on a crisis of the
Mongolian culture." As a result of the "serious trampling and
aggression by the red communist culture," the "Mongolian
culture finally became distorted beyond recognition. . . and
was turned into an appendage of the Han culture." They
proposed to "renew culture, and that means to renew the social
ideology, the social system and
the political system." The essence of the above-mentioned
views is to abolish Marxism, change the character of socialism
and overthrow the leadership of the communist party. In the
article "The Tasks of the Mongolian Nation in the Near Term,"
they put forward the so-called major tasks in the three phases
that they visualized. In phase one, "it is planned that in
from two to four years, propaganda work will be done in a big
way, studies will be made of the strategy and tactics for
national prosperity, and the policy and target for national
reunification will be determined." In phase two, "it is
planned that in from three to five years," "a complete
organization will be established which will strive for the
prosperity and modernization of the nation;" it was
unequivocally proposed that a "Mongolian Democratic Party"
will be established. In phase three, "the foundation will be
laid for the prosperity of the nation," and "fifteen years of
hard work will bring about the reunification of the Mongolian
nation, and place it in the advanced ranks of the world's
nations."
In their view, "the party now
in power advocates the policy of ‘one country two systems’,"
and "East and West Germany with different systems have finally
become reunified as one country," "now that North and South
Korea will also bring about peaceful reunification through
negotiations, therefore the present offers "a very opportune
moment and favorable conditions for the reunification of the
Mongolian nation." "We must under no circumstances let this
opportune moment and favorable conditions slip away. This is a
key moment, a matter of life and death for our entire
nation."
They also formulated their most
important task as "energetic propaganda work with a long-term
target." "First of all, it is necessary to conduct extensive
and in-depth education, a national soul-searching." "It is
necessary to establish and perfect an all round systematic
program for the present and future prosperity of our Mongolian
nation." They declared: "If we don't see our own shortcomings,
we shall never be able to free ourselves from the oppression
and bullying by other nations."
Their so-called "strategic
principle and strategic method" is "not to miss any
opportunity," "and fully utilizing the right to autonomy and
the state policy toward the minority nationalities," "to
establish a staunch organization" (i.e., the Mongolian
Democratic Party). They also declared that "our tactic is to
place our backbone forces in the party and government offices,
the economic realm, the political and legal departments, and
especially the leading posts in every profession."
(2) They sowed dissension among
the various nationalities, incited nationalist sentiments,
created national splits and undermined the unity of the
motherland. One of the illegal organizations tried to stir up
trouble, saying "our own affairs can only be decided by
ourselves and not by the big-wigs or all sorts of isms." They
described the Han cadres and people as "presumptuous guests
usurping the host's role and occupiers." They incited (the
Mongolians) to fight for so-called national independence and
freedom.
(3) They slandered and hurled
invective at the broad masses of Mongolian cadres and people
who I supported the leadership of the party, upheld the
socialist orientation, and safeguarded national unity. They
negated the great contributions made by the Mongolian cadres
and people to the unprecedented development and progress of
their own nation in the course of the prolonged revolutionary
struggle and especially in the great cause of socialist
construction. In their articles, the illegal organizations
slandered the Mongolian nation as "resigning themselves to
their fate and attempting and accomplishing nothing," and
"having cultivated a servile mentality, relying on others,"
"disunited," "idle about" "self-important and vacillating now
to the left and now to the right." They vilified the Mongolian
cadres as "depending on their official position, becoming
vassals, walking slowly and talking in a subdued voice before
high officials, full of servility, but displaying an arrogance
and putting on bureaucratic airs in front of the common
people." They described the history of the Mongolian nation
since the 17th century, and especially since the beginning of
this century, as a complete mess- As human society progressed
continuously with the industrial revolution and the rapid
advance of science and technology, they asserted, "the
Mongolians, and especially those south of the desert, are
still using the lasso and the plow. They are wasting their
time, accomplishing nothing and getting intoxicated in the
life style of the Middle Ages."
II HOW TO LOOK AT THE TWO
ILLEGAL ORGANIZATIONS
As a result of great efforts
and meticulous work on the part of the comrades from the party
committees of In Ju and Bayannur Leagues and the league
offices as well as the public security and political and law
enforcement agencies at the two levels of the autonomous
region and the leagues and municipalities, the situation is
now under control. But the development itself should set
people thinking. Analyzing and summing up experience and
drawing the necessary lessons, we are of the opinion that:
(1) The two illegal
organizations did not surface by accident. They represented
the new development of an old problem, the concrete expression
of the ideological tendency of national splittism under
present conditions. From what they advocate, their arguments
and activities, it is clear that they came down in a
continuous line as the ideological trend and activities that
have undermined national unity and divided the nationalities
on several occasions in our region since 1981. There were four
similar developments of some significance in the last ten
years. The first took place in 1981. There were national
splittist activities centered round opposition to Document No.
28 issued by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist
Party. The second happened in 1987. Some national splittists
hijacked vehicles to escape across the border in betrayal of
their motherland. The third occurred in 1989 under the direct
influence of the ideological trend of bourgeois liberalism of
recent years- These were national splittist activities
centered around direct attacks on the Central Committee of the
Communist Party and the party committee and government of the
autonomous region. The national splittist activities of the
two illegal organizations that were recently unearthed
represented the latest of such developments, and these
centered on opposing the leadership of the Communist Party and
the socialist system. In addition, there were individual
splittists who wrote to the regional party committee
leadership, spreading reactionary views, and who openly
congratulated the Mongolian Democratic Party on its founding.
They did this by usurping the name of the people in Inner
Mongolia.
The above-mentioned illegal
activities occurred at different times and took different
forms. But the essence of the matter remained unchanged.
Looking at it in a more profound way, an important reason why
national splittist activities, including those of the recently
uncovered illegal organizations, took place in our region in
recent years, submerged again and emerged again and have still
not been rooted out is that they merged with the ideological
trend of bourgeois liberalism that has surfaced in our country
since 1979. The essence of the ideological trend of bourgeois
liberalism is the overthrow of the leadership of the Communist
Party and the socialist system, the introduction in China of a
multi-party system and eventually the capitalist system- As a
result of our deviation for a time when we played "one of our
hands hard and the other soft," that reactionary ideological
trend spread and for a fairly long period of time was not
brought to a halt. It clearly had a very harmful influence in
the region. The main thing was that it merged with national
splittism and abetted a handful of people who stubbornly
undermined national unity and engaged in national splittist
activities. Now that this reactionary political ideological
trend has long been recognized and spurned by people
throughout the country and lost its appeal to the masses, the
illegal organizations, in advertising their "national
modernization" and "national culture," still upheld the
bourgeois liberal view, and advocated "industrialization of
the economy, democracy and equality in the political realm,
and freedom of thought and independence in culture." They
wanted to introduce the so- called "advanced culture" of
Western capitalist countries to the Mongolian people. Those
who engaged in splittist activities talked about the "May
Fourth Movement" and the ideological trend of bourgeois
liberalism of recent years in the same breath, and attacked
the suppression of the rebellion of 1989 [the Tiananmen Square
crackdown] as "yet another attack on reform by tradition."
They embellished the ideological trend of bourgeois liberalism
as the "second new culture movement" after "May Fourth"
claiming that "if this cultural movement peaked with the [TV
series] 'River Elegy,' it ended in failure with the Beijing
Incident [the June 4, 1989 massacre]. They called the Lhasa
riots staged by the splittists "the independence movement of
the Tibetan people" and supported the activities of a few
Tibetan splitdsts to undermine the unity of the motherland.
These ideas and the ideological trend of bourgeois liberalism
belong to the same system of thought, only they exhibited some
local color.
(2) From what we already know,
the emergence of these two illegal organizations was not an
isolated event. It was closely linked with the activities of
hostile domestic and foreign forces trying to subvert,
infiltrate and split our country. Hostile international forces
have intensified their infiltration and disruptive activities
in our country and our region since 1988, and especially since
changes in the political situation in Eastern Europe, the
Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. In 1985, the
"Dalai clique, the "Isa clique"20 and "Mongolia"
met in Switzerland and formed a united front to overthrow the
Chinese Communist Party and the socialist system. Between the
end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990, the "Mongolian
Democratic League," the opposition party organization of the
Mongolian People's Republic, sent people disguised as traders
to our region to establish contacts and stir up trouble,
claiming that "the time has come for the reunification of the
'three Mongolians'." In July 1990, "International Alert," the
international human rights group, called a conference in
London, at which the various hostile international forces
colluded to take joint action against Inner Mongolia in the
international arena. 21 The infiltration and impact
of the above-mentioned word and deed of the hostile
international forces in our region are quite obvious. Most of
the large quantities of reactionary propaganda materials
reprinted by the two illegal organizations which we have
recently unearthed came from the Mongolian Democratic Party.
For example, the basic view expressed in the articles of B.
Bagbar, member of the Central Executive Committee of the
Mongolian Democratic Party, is the negation of the communist
party, socialism, the Marxist doctrine of scientific socialism
and the achievements of the Mongolian people in revolution and
construction. Those articles advocate changing the social
system and introducing a multi-party system. These ideas and
theories constituted an important ideological and theoretical
basis for the two illegal organizations in our region. They
played a role of reinforcing the national splittist activities
of a very few number of people in our region.
(3) The two illegal
organizations were characterized by disguise and deception in
the way they expressed their political views. Under the
signboard of "national modernization" and "renewal of national
culture", and in the name of academic organization" and
"academic activities," they tried to make their activities
legitimate. Many of their political views were expressed
disguised as cultural views. For example, they held that the
decline of the traditional stock breeding culture of the
Mongolian people was the result of the impact of the
agricultural culture of the Han people, and that led to
dependency and stagnation of the entire Mongolian nation. They
therefore held that "maintaining the characteristics and
independence of (its) national culture" was of the utmost
importance for the independence, freedom and prosperity of a
nation. On the surface, these views appear to be of only
cultural significance, whereas in fact they were expressing in
a roundabout way their political stand of undermining national
unity, splitting the motherland, and breaking away from the
socialist system led by the communist party. Again for
example, in describing the history of the development of the
Mongolian people and their culture under different social
systems, the illegal organizations blurred class alignments,
ignored class contents and distorted the antagonism and
conflict between the reactionary ruling class and working
people of the various nationalities as the cultural antagonism
and conflict between one nation and another, in an attempt to
show that the estrangement and conflict between the Mongolian
and the Han people were of long standing. The holders of these
views in fact harbored malicious intent to undermine the
relations between nationalities, sow dissension among
nationalities in order to split the unification of the
motherland. Compared with previous national splittist
activities, they disguised their political stand as "renewal
of national culture." They were more tactful in formulating
their views. This gave them a certain duplicity and
deceptiveness.
From our analysis above, it is
clear that our struggle against these illegal organizations is
in fact the continuation of our struggle against bourgeois
liberalism. It is the concrete expression of the struggle
between subversion and anti-subversion, infiltration and
anti-infiltration, peaceful evolution and anti-peaceful
evolution in our region. From the characteristics of the
activities of these two illegal organizations, we can clearly
see the prolonged nature, complexity and difficulty of this
political struggle. The unearthing of these two illegal
organizations once again sounded the alarm for us. Speaking of
our Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, the present political
and economic situation is good, the foundation of the party,
the cadres and national unity is also good. But the fact that
we are located on the northern frontier of our motherland and
that ours is a region of minority nationality, all kinds of
objective factors have placed us in a forward position in the
fight against subversion, infiltration and peaceful evolution
staged by hostile international and domestic forces.
Therefore, we must not lower our guard against the activities
of hostile international and domestic forces to infiltrate,
subvert and split our country.
III. HANDLING THE ILLEGAL
ORGANIZATIONS AND THE MAJOR TASKS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED
The party committee and
government of the autonomous region and the party committees
and governments of Ih Ju and Bayannur Leagues have attached
great importance to the matter since the surfacing of the two
illegal organizations. They called many meetings to hear
reports from the departments concerned in the leagues and the
autonomous region, carefully analyzed the cases, and made
timely arrangements for investigation and handling. The party
committee of the autonomous region also promptly reported the
cases, together with its suggestions for handling the matter,
to the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
(1) Immediately announce the
outlawing of the two illegal organizations, the "Ih Ju League
National Culture Society" and the "Modern Nation Association,"
confiscate all their propaganda materials, end all their
activities, make a thorough study of the background of their
emergence and all their activities from the very beginning to
the very end and especially of their links with forces outside
the region and outside the country, so as to nip the problem
in the bud and stabilize the overall situation.
(2) Handle the illegal
organizations and their members properly in accordance with
the party's principle of seeking truth from the facts, and
policy of strictly distinguishing between the two different
types of contradictions, and educating and uniting with the
greatest majority. As long as they admit their mistakes, the
rank and file members will not be prosecuted. The very few
backbone members who have previous records and refuse to
recant shall be dealt with according to law and on the basis
of the facts. At the same time, those backbone bourgeois
liberal elements who had escaped punishment must be ferreted
out so as to continuously purify our ranks.
(3) A restricted circular
should be issued on these two illegal organizations, using
them as a negative example in educating the broad masses of
the cadres and people in patriotism, socialism, nationalities
theory and the policy toward the nationalities. It is
especially important to organize cadres at various levels to
study seriously the ninth of the twelve basic experiences of
socialism expounded in the proposals on the Eighth Five-Year
Plan and the Ten-year Program adopted by the Seventh Plenary
Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee, so that they can
carry out the party's policies toward the minority
nationalities completely and accurately.
(4) Focus on educating students
of the various types of schools in patriotism, national unity
and the policy toward the nationalities. Educate the children
and young adults so that they would love the party, socialism,
the great motherland and become socialist successors loyal to
the party, the people and the motherland. At the very heart of
the matter is the building of a teacher corps, and the key to
this is the successful building of the party organizations in
the schools, so that they can embody the firm leadership of
the party.
The above circular may be
communicated orally to party members of the rank of department
chief and above by the party committees of the various leagues
and municipalities, the party groups and committees of the
offices directly under the autonomous region. Studies and
discussions should be organized in accordance with point three
of the above suggestions. How the circular is communicated and
discussions carried out should be promptly reported to the
office of the party committee of the region.
Office of the Inner Mongolia
Communist Party Committee
Printed and issued by the
Secretariat of the Office of the Inner Mongolia Communist
Party Committee
on May 11, 1991.
(total printing: 470 copies)
July 28, 1991 14
Asia Watch
Appeal and Statement of the
Inner Mongolian
League for the Defense of Human Rights
May 21. 1991
In accordance with the
instructions issued by Li Peng and others that "harsh methods
and even extreme measures may be taken" in dealing with the
Mongolians, the Chinese Communist Party Committee of Inner
Mongolia issued a top secret document on May 11, 1991, which
declared that two Mongolian "illegal organizations" have been
"unearthed." The leaders of these two organizations have now
been arrested and thrown into prison. The Preparatory Group
for the founding of the Ih Ju League National Culture Society,
which has been declared an "illegal organization" in the
document, was in fact an open learned society of Mongolian
intellectuals, college students and cadres. Between September
1990 and March 1991, they sponsored several scholarly
conferences and academic lectures in the Dongsheng area of Ih
Ju League. These were warmly greeted by the local intellectual
and educational circles, and as many as hundreds attended
them. Huchuntegus and Wang Manglai, leaders of the Preparatory
Group were arrested at their homes on the evening of May
15.1991. The freedom of 26 other members is being strictly
restricted. They were ordered by the authorities not to keep
in touch with the outside world, not to leave the places where
they live, and be ready at all times to be subpoenaed and
questioned. It is said that some of them will also be
arrested.
According to reliable sources,
the authorities suspect that there are also "illegal
organizations" and "national splittist cliques" organized by
the Mongolians in Hohhot, the capital city and other leagues
and municipalities in Inner Mongolia. The authorities believe
that they are working in collusion with the Outer Mongolian
Democratic Party and other "reactionary international forces."
More people have now been blacklisted throughout the Inner
Mongolian Autonomous Region. Many are under surveillance and
being followed or have been secretly investigated and
questioned- Certain learned societies also face the fate of
being banned or forcibly disbanded because most of their
members are Mongolians.
Wang Qun, the present secretary
of the communist party in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous
Region, is using high-handed methods to intimidate and
threaten Mongolian intellectuals and cadres. Many Mongolians
fear this incident may evolve into a campaign of political
persecution. It has not only effectively silenced the
Mongolian intellectuals but also caused great unease among
certain high-level Mongolian officials. This is because their
memory of the massacre known as "unearthing the new Inner
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party" in which tens of
thousands of people were killed 22 years ago is still fresh.
Mongolians hope that their plight will cause concern on the
pan of the international community. Under the present
circumstances, any voice of concern and any form of practical
assistance from the democratic countries and the various human
rights organizations will inspire and encourage the people
here.
HUCHUNTEGUS AND WANG MANGLAI
FOUNDERS OF THE IH JU LEAGUE
NATIONAL CULTURE SOCIETY
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Huchuntegus
Male, born in Taoli Sumu,
Wushen Banner, IhJu League, Inner Mongolia, in 1956.
1974: studied at the Inner
Mongolian College for Professional Training in the Mongolian
Language.
1976: taught at the Wushen
Banner Middle School for the Nationalities in IhJu League.
1978-1987: studied in the
department of political education of the Inner Mongolian
Normal College. In 1981, he was one of the major leaders of
the student movement against "Document No. 28" (issued by the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on August
5,1981, see excerpts below).
1982: returned to teach at the
Wushen Banner Middle School for the Nationalities after
graduation.
1982-1984: imprisoned for two
years for arousing and organizing the herdsmen to fight
against mining and factory construction on the grassland by
the authorities.
1985-1986: returned to work at
the Wushen Banner Middle School for the Nationalities after
release from prison.
1986-1991: worked for the
research office of the IhJu League Department of Education.
May 15, 1991: once again thrown
into prison for making preparations for the founding of the Ih
Ju League National Culture Society.
Wang Manglai
Male, 30 years old.
1985: graduated from the
department of Mongolian language and literature of the Inner
Mongolian Normal College. Became graduate student after
successfully passing entrance examination. Graduated in 1988
and earned the master's degree in literature- Assigned to work
for the Department of education of IhJu League that same year.
May 15, 1991: arrested at the
same time as Huchuntegus.
OTHER MONGOLIAN STUDENT LEADERS
STILL BEING PERSECUTED AND
INCARCERATED
Xi Haiming (alias
Temuchiletu)
Male, born 1956 in Hohhot, but
a native ofSenaiman Banner, Zhelimu League, Inner Mongolia.
1977: entered department of
history of the University of Inner Mongolia after successfully
passing entrance examination. He was not assigned work after
graduation in 1982 because he took part in the student
movement of 1981. In the nine years since then he has been
under constant surveillance and followed. He started a small
bookstore in 1988, trying to make a living. But in the summer
of the following year, the bookstore was closed by the
authorities under the pretext of "no stores in the vicinity of
a school." The authorities also persecuted his family members.
In 1983, his girlfriend (whom he later married), Tao Li,
graduated from the department of foreign languages of the
University of Inner Mongolia. She could have stayed on to
teach at the university. But instead she was assigned to work
elsewhere on account of her boy friend. In 1987, Tao Li passed
the examination for overseas study in Japan, but was
disqualified because she was Xi Haiming's wife. Even Xi
Haiming's thrce-year-old daughter was questioned and harassed
by the police because of her father.
Bater
Male, born 1956 in HohhoL
1978: entered the department of
economics of the University of Inner Mongolia. Was a student
leader in 1981. Assigned to work for the government planning
commission ofSilingol League in 1982 upon graduation. In the
summer of 1987, he escaped to Outer Mongolia to seek political
asylum, but was extradited back to China and was sentenced to
eight years' imprisonment. He is still in prison.
Bao Hongguang
Male, born 1956 in Hohhot-
1982:graduated from the
Engineering College of Inner Mongolia. He was a student leader
in 1981. In 1987, he escaped to Outer Mongolia together with
Bater, and was extradited back to China. He was sentenced to
eight years' imprisonment and is still incarcerated.
THE HISTORY OF INNER MONGOLIA
AND THE PRESENT SITUATION:
SOME BACKGROUND MATERIAL
The Independence of Outer Mongolia and the
Rule of Inner Mongolia by China
The division between Outer and
Inner Mongolia began only when the Ching Dynasty began ruling
the Mongolians. In 1911, Outer Mongolia launched an
independence movement, to which many leagues and banners of
Inner Mongolia responded. They were brutally suppressed and
massacred by the Chinese. In 1921, Outer Mongolia again became
independent. There were several attempts by the Inner
Mongolians to achieve independence, but all failed. The
government of the Republic of China carried out colonial rule
over this region between 1912 and 1949. After the founding of
the People's Republic of China in 1949, Inner Mongolia became
an autonomous region of China.
The Founding of the Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Region
In their fight for
independence, the Mongolian people of Inner Mongolia have
since the very beginning made autonomy for all of Inner
Mongolia the political goal of their nation and fought long
and hard for its realization. In 1933, the famous Mongol
Prince Demchukdonggrub (known in short as Prince De) led the
Mongolian people in launching a "movement for a high degree of
autonomy for Mongolia." That was a movement for autonomy of
the largest scale and the most far-reaching influence in Inner
Mongolia. In 1945, after the conclusion of World War II, a
large-scale movement was launched to merge (unify) Inner and
Outer Mongolia, and the people demanded to join a unified
Monghol state. But Outer Mongolia, at the bidding of the
Soviet Union, rejected the demand of Inner Mongolia, so the
latter turned to fight for autonomy. At the beginning of 1946,
the Eastern Mongolian Autonomous Government was founded under
the leadership of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary
Party (better known in its abbreviated form the Neirendang).
At the same time, movements and organizations for autonomy of
varying sizes emerged in other parts of Inner Mongolia. Then
Inner Mongolia became involved in the civil war between the
Nationalists and the Communists. The then National government
refused to recognize the legitimacy of these autonomous
organizations and rejected the Mongolian people's demand for
autonomy- The various movements for autonomy in Inner Mongolia
came under the control of the Chinese Communist Party one
after another.
In May 1947, the Inner
Mongolian Autonomous Government was founded in eastern Inner
Mongolia under the guidance of the Chinese Communists, and
Ulanfu, a veteran Chinese Communist, became its president. At
the end of the '40s, most of eastern Inner Mongolia came under
its jurisdiction. During the ‘50s, Mao Zedong gradually placed
the western part of Inner Mongolia under the jurisdiction of
the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region out of his consideration
for Outer Mongolia and other political needs. The capital city
of the autonomous region was moved to Hohhot, The present area
of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region is 1.18 million
square kilometers, with a population of 21.6 million, of whom
3.6 million are Mongolians.
History of the Han Migration to Inner
Mongolia
Up until the end of the 17th
century, almost all residents in Inner Mongolia were
Mongolians. The law of the Ching Dynasty prohibited the Han
people to enter Mongolia. By the mid-lSth century, a few Han
peasants were employed by Mongolians in the border areas to
engage in farming. Han migration had gradually increased since
the 19th century. The Han population, however, was still
smaller than that of the Mongolians and was concentrated in a
few southern leagues and banners. With the advent of the 20th
century, the central government encouraged Han migration to
Mongolia and forced some Mongolians to give up their land. Han
migration increased rapidly, and its total number soon became
twice the size of the Mongolian population. However, up until
the 1940s, the Han people were still concentrated in the
southern agricultural areas, and there were very few Han
people in the other parts of Mongolia.
In the forty years since the
communists came to power, Han migration has been the largest
and most rapid. After mid-50s, the Chinese Government began
large-scale migration into Inner Mongolia in a planned way.
The proportion of the Han people rose steadily. In 1949, the
ratio between Mongolian and Han population in Inner Mongolia
was 1:5 (it was 1:1 in eastern Inner Mongolia in the area
under the jurisdiction of the former Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Government). By 1962, that ratio became 1:7.
According China's fourth census, the present Inner Mongolian
population was 21.6 million, of which 3.6 million were
Mongolians, and among these were hundreds of thousands of Hans
who were re-classified as Mongolians. That figure, therefore,
does not reflect the real number of the Mongolians.
China's Policy Toward the Minority
Nationalities
Since the founding of the
People's Republic of China, the Chinese communists have
pursued a policy of "regional national autonomy." Over the
years, however, the people of Mongolia, XinJiang and Tibet
never enjoyed political, economic or cultural autonomy for a
single day. All the decisions were made in Beijing. The
autonomous power of these autonomous regions is actually
smaller than that of the various inland provinces and regions.
History of the past forty years and more shows that China's
policy toward the minority nationalities only serves one
single purpose: to occupy the land and resources of these
nationalities, and move the surplus population in the inland
areas to those nationalities areas as much as possible, and to
assimilate the real masters of these land and resources — the
Mongolians, Uighurs, Tibetans and other non-Han people. The
so-called policy of "national regional autonomy" is simply a
hoax. China's policy toward the minority nationalities is
essentially a most despicable mixture of authoritarian ism and
colonialism. For forty years, the people of Inner Mongolia.
XinJiang and Tibet have been the victims of that policy. They
experienced great hardship and suffered untold losses.
Inner Mongolia Before the Cultural
Revolution
During the 50s and the
beginning of the 60s. Inner Mongolia was China's "model
autonomous region," a window to display its policy of
"national regional autonomy" to the outside world and to the
other minority nation all ties. Ulanfu, the president of the
autonomous region, was a Mongolian. Mongolians also made up a
certain percentage of the cadres of the various government
offices of the autonomous region. But they could not do
anything before asking Beijing for instructions and receiving
permission from communist Han officials. Their status and role
were in fact no different from those of the officials of the
inland provinces. And this is not all. The proportion of
Mongolians in governments at the various levels actually
declined year after year. In 1950, Mongolians made up more
than 80 per cent of the autonomous region's high-ranking
officials. By mid-50s, that proportion fell to about 60 per
cent. By mid-60s, it fell to about 50 per cent. Even so, the
Mongolians were still considered unreliable. In the late '50s,
a number of Mongolian intellectuals and cadres were labeled
"national splittist elements" or "national rightists" and
purged and punished. In 1965, the Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party began purging Ulanfu and some other
high-ranking Mongolian officials.
The "Massacre" of "Unearthing the New Inner
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party"
After the Cultural Revolution
got under way in 1966, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and the ultra
leftists hoped to take advantage of that opportunity to solve
the "Inner Mongolian Problem" once and for all. In 1966,
Ulanfu and a large number of Mongolian officials were labeled
a "reactionary gang" and deprived of their jobs and freedom.
In the spring of 1967, a large number of People's Liberation
Army troops marched into Inner Mongolia. General Teng Haiqing,
commander of that Han army, became the chairman of the newly
established Inner Mongolian Revolutionary Committee. At the
instruction of Beijing, Teng Haiqing launched in 1968 a
campaign to "unearth Ulanfu's sinister line and liquidate
Ulanfu's pernicious influence." That winter, the campaign
evolved into one for unearthing the non-existent "New Inner
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party." With Beijing's
support. General Teng Haiqing used army troops, ultra leftists
and hoodlums in a large-scale persecution and massacre of the
Mongolian people.
During the high tide of
unearthing the "New Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary
Party" campaign between the end of 1968 and May 1969, the
Mongolians were thrown into extreme terror. Thousands of
Mongolian men and women, even teen-age boys and girls were
taken from their homes or work places, imprisoned, insulted
and tortured. The activists of the campaign to unearth the
"New Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party" forced
their victims to admit that they were members of that party
and name others. Many people, who suffered indescribable
torture, and were still-unwilling to drag in the others, or
who could not stand the humiliation and torture any more, took
their own lives.
Several months later, the
intensity and absurdity of that national persecution — one
seldom seen in the entire history of mankind, made even the
despots uncomfortable. In late May of 1969, Mao Zedong issued
a directive to Teng Haiqing, telling him the political
campaign had gotten out of hand. That mad persecution began to
moderate. Some people were allowed to go home to their loved
ones. But others remained in prison, many of them until the
mid-70s.
According to the official
figures released in 1981, in that persecution, more than half
a million people were incarcerated, more than 16,000 people
died, and tens of thousands were injured and crippled. Other
unofficial statistics show that as many as 50,000 people might
have died, and that does not include those injured and
crippled people who returned home and died later, and those
children and the old and the weak who died because of lack of
care. As a point of reference, the Mongolian population in
Inner Mongolia at that time was only 2 million.
That catastrophe caused
permanent damage to the Mongolian nation. Many people died.
Many were injured and crippled, and the injury to people's
hearts may never be healed. The damage to those children who
lost their parents or other loved ones, or were separated from
them, was unmeasurable.
But those Chinese communists
who were responsible for all this never apologized, nor even
showed a trace of compunction. They also never reviewed their
policy toward the nationalities. At that time, Mao Zedong only
casually described it as having gotten out of control. Zhou
Enlai later said that the campaign to "unearth the New Inner
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party" was not a mistake;
only it went too far. During the last stage of the Cultural
Revolution, the Chinese communists rehabilitated the victims
of the campaign to "unearth the New Inner Mongolian People's
Revolutionary Party," but still blamed it on Lin Biao and the
"Gang of Four." who had fallen from power. Even though the
Mongolians have time and again asked that Teng Haiqing, the
culprit directly responsible for the catastrophe, be put on
trial and more than 10,000 people signed the petition for it,
he remains scot-free. He is carefully protected and continues
to enjoy all the privileges of a high communist official.
After the high tide of the
frenzied campaign to "unearth the New Inner Mongolian People's
Revolutionary Party" was over, Beijing again took a series of
political measures to deal with Inner Mongolia- In the summer
of 1969, it placed Inner Mongolia under military control-
Inner Mongolia was dismembered. Most of its territory was
incorporated into the neighboring provinces.
To fill the vacancies left by
the departure of many Mongolian officials, the Chinese
communists sent many Han cadres from the inland provinces to
occupy virtually all the important positions in Inner
Mongolia. At the same time, Beijing started production and
construction corps and used the garrison troops to open up
waste land and grow food grain. In order to grab land for the
troops and new immigrants from the inland provinces, the
military control authorities forced the Mongolian herdsmen in
the border areas to move away and forcibly purchased their
livestock at unreasonably low prices. Many families thus lost
their pastures, property or even loved ones.
Document No. 28 Issued by the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the
Mongolian Student Movement
In the latter part of the '70s,
Beijing started to rehabilitate the victims of the Cultural
Revolution. Many Mongolian officials regained their positions.
Things were also getting better for the Mongolians in other
ways. For example, more Mongolians were admitted to schools,
etc. But the relatively lenient policy was opposed by the
greater Han chauvinists in the Beijing government and by those
Han officials who were the beneficiaries of the Cultural
Revolution- In accordance with their demand, the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued its document
No. 28 in 1981. It demanded that people's representatives at
various levels be elected and local officials appointed
according to the population ratio in Inner Mongolia. This
means that Hans would occupy all the key positions in most
places in Inner Mongolia. This is so because in the thirty
years and more of "national regional autonomy" and the
Mongolians as the "masters exercising autonomy," large-scale
Han migration changed the population ratio in most of the
banners and counties in Inner Mongolia. In all 70-odd banners
and counties, only a very few remained, where Mongolians
outnumbered the Hans. Yet in that same document, it was
instructed that no restraining measure should be taken to keep
the migrants from coming to Inner Mongolia from the provinces.
That document No.28 of the
Beijing authorities aroused the indignation and protest of the
Mongolians. In the fall of 1981, all Mongolian students of the
universities and secondary professional schools in Hohhot, the
capital, boycotted the classes. Thousands demonstrated in the
streets again and again, demanding that the Central Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party recall its document No.28. That
student movement lasted more than two months. It was the
largest student protest movement that took place before the
June 4 pro-democracy movement of 1989 in all the years after
the communists came to power.
Although that student movement
failed to force the Chinese communists to openly recall its
document No. 28, ..... (last three lines of MS illegible)
Composition of the Provisional Council for
the Establishment
of the Ih Ju League's National22
Cultural Association
1.
Name: Wang Buu Shan
Age: 57
Sex: male
Date and place of education:
Occupation/Place of employment:
assistant manager; League's Political Council's Committee on
Religion
Role within the Provisional
Council; Chairman
2.
Name: Manglai
Age: 30
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1982, Inner Mongolia University; 1985, Inner Mongolia Normal
University
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Office of Education Role within the Provisional
Council: Vice Chairman
3.
Name: Sechnebayar
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1984, Inner Mongolia Normal University Occupation/Place of
employment: League's Chinggis Khan Research Center
Role within the Provisional
Council: Vice Chairman
4.
Name: Huchuntegus
Age: 36
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1983, Inner Mongolia T. C.; Political Affairs Department
Occupation/Place of employment: League's Office of Education
Role within the Provisional
Council: Vice Chairman and First Secretary
5.
Name: Sechenbaatar
Age: 31
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1983, Inner Mongolia Normal University; History
Occupation/Place of employment: League's Mongolian High School
Role within the Provisional
Council:
6.
Name: Bayan
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1985, Inner Mongolia University
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Records Office
Role within the Provisional
Council:
7.
Name: Uljei
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1986, Inner Mongolia University
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Political Advisory Committee
Role within the Provisional
Council:
8.
Name: Altan
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1983, Inner Mongolia University; Language
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Party school
Role within the Provisional
Council:
9.
Name: Batuchinggel
Age: 27
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1985, Inner Mongolia University; Philosophy
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Party school; Philosophy section
Role within the Provisional
Council:
10.
Name:
Udhaochir
Age: 32
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1983, Inner Mongolia University; Language
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Party school; Scientific Socialism section
Role within the Provisional
Council:
11.
Name: Sarangua23
Age: 25
Sex: Female
Date and place of education:
1985, Inner Mongolia University; Mongolian Language
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Party school
Role within the Provisional
Council:
12.
Name:
Amurheshig
Age: 39
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1969, Uyushin Banner's 1st High School
Occupation/Place of employment:
Marin caidam unit, cooperative of Tonegchi, of Toli commune
Role within the Provisional
Council:
13.
Name:
Sechennorbu
Age: 30
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1991 Central Committee's Party school; Economic management
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Office of Investigation
Role within the Provisional
Council:
14.
Name:
Hasachingge
Age: 30
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1983, Inner Mongolia Normal University; History;
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Mongolian High School
Role within the Provisional
Council:
15.
Name: Nasun
Age: 39
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1976, Inner Mongolia Special School for Mongolian Language;
Translation;
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's News Bureau
Role within the Provisional
Council:
16.
Name: Wang
Hasbayar
Age: 34
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1983, League's Health Welfare school
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's 3rd woolen textile factory
Role within the Provisional
Council:
17.
Name:
Haschuluu
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1982, Inner Mongolian Special School for Mongolian Language
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Ordos News Bureau
Role within the Provisional
Council:
18.
Name:
Haserdeni
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1986, League's Special Teacher's School
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Mongolian School
Role within the Provisional
Council:
19.
Name:
Sechentu
Age: 27
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1989, Inner Mongolian Normal University
Occupation/Place of employment;
League's Office of Education
Role within the Provisional
Council: Assistant First Secretary
20.
Name: Jiang
Peng
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1989, Inner Mongolia Normal University
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's College of Education
Role within the Provisional
Council:
21.
Name:
Oyunbaatar
Age: 24
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1990, Inner Mongolia Special Mongolian Language School
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Second light industry factory
Role within the Provisional
Council: Recording secretary
22.
Name: B.
Jorigtu
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1990, Inner Mongolia Normal University; History
Occupation/Place of employment:
Recording secretary
Role within the Provisional
Council:
23.
Name: Jiyang
Hung
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Date and place of education:
1990, Inner Mongolia University; Law
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Party school
Role within the Provisional
Council:
24.
Name:
Mandula
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1990, Xinjiang College of Commerce and Economy
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Bank for Commerce and Industry; Dungshiang City
Branch
Role within the Provisional
Council: Assistant First Secretary
25.
Name:
Sechenbaatar
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
1990, Inner Mongolia School for Industry and Marketing
Occupation/Place of employment:
Dungshiang City's Office for Commerce and Industry
Role within the Provisional
Council:
26.
Name:
Hasbayar
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Date and place ofeducadon:
1990, Xinjiang University; Law
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's People's District Court
Role within the Provisional
Council; Treasurer
27.
Name: Oula
Age: 27
Sex: Male
Date and place ofeducadon:
1985, League's Mongolian Teacher's School
Occupation/Place of employment:
Mongolian Kindergarten
Role within the Provisional
Council: Treasurer
28.
Name:
Hashuyag
Age:
Sex: Male
Date and place of education:
Inner Mongolia University
Occupation/Place of employment:
League's Propaganda Bureau
Role within the Provisional
Council:
Document of the Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party
Central/Issue [1981] No.28
Secret
Circular of the Central
Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party on Transmitting
the "Summary of Minutes
of the Discussions of the
Secretariat of the Central
Committee on Work of the Inner
Mongolian Autonomous Region"
(This document was only transmitted to the
provincial and army levels, which was more restricted than
most other documents. In Inner Mongolia, however, it was
transmitted to the county and regimental levels. The
discussions were held on July 16. 1981, at the 111th meeting
of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, chaired by Hu
Yaobang. The meeting heard a report by Thou Hui on the work of
the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region—see outline of the
report below. The letter of transmittal was dated August 3.
1981. The document-was issued on August 5, 1981. A total of
10,750 copies were printed. Excerpts follow:)
The meeting unanimously
approves Comrade Zhou Hui's report, and draws the following
conclusions:
1. During the '50s and '60s,
the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region was an advanced region
in the country. It was a model autonomous region, where a
minority nationality autonomous region practiced national
regional autonomy, firmly implemented the party's policy
toward the nationalities, and correctly handled the relations
among the nationalities, thereby exerting a favorable impact
both at home and abroad. Later it took a roundabout course in
its work as a result of the influence of the leftist guiding
ideology. The heavy industries grew too rapidly and stock
breeding suffered; production in the entire region was
adversely affected. During the Cultural Revolution, Lin Biao
and the "Gang of Four" fabricated three major unjust cases and
persecuted people on trumped up charges. The three cases were:
the so-called "Ulanfu
anti-party treason clique," the "February counter current in
Inner Mongolia" and (unearthing) the "New Inner Mongolian
People's Revolutionary Party." Many cadres and people, and
especially Mongolian cadres and people, were devastated. Many
people were killed, crippled or injured. Inner Mongolia was
one of the country's "disaster areas". . . .
2. The Inner Mongolian
Autonomous Region should have the courage to compete
politically and economically with the Mongolian People's
Republic. . . . The Central Committee holds that this
competition is of great political significance. It is a matter
of competition between the Chinese Communist Party and Soviet
hegemonism, a matter of who really advocates Marxism and who
is a sham Marxist, a matter of consolidating the frontline of
national defense. . . .
3. The party, cadres and people
of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region should have
sufficient confidence in successfully building Inner Mongolia.
....
4. The guiding principles of
building Inner Mongolia. ....
5. The principle for solving
the population problem suggested in the "Outline of the Report
on the Work in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region" is a
correct one. The principle of not encouraging people to
migrate to Inner Mongolia is a correct one. But Inner Mongolia
should not adopt a policy of trying to block natural migration
from the other provinces to Inner Mongolia. One should realize
that it is impossible to block natural population flows. In
the future, as work in Inner Mongolia proves successful and
people become more affluent, more people from the other
provinces will move to Inner Mongolia. It is expected that the
Inner Mongolian population will exceed 20 million in ten
years. Those who have moved to Inner Mongolia on their own
should be properly settled and well taken care of. They should
be allowed to engage in farming, forestry or stock breeding,
but must not try to open up virgin soil. They should be
educated in the policy toward the nationalities so as to
improve the relations among the nationalities.
6. Continue to stress the
importance of solidifying national unity. It is necessary to
give consideration not only to the 2 million Mongolians who
make up the "main body," but also to the 16 million Hans and
other nationalities. For the Han cadres in Inner Mongolia,
they must realize that work cannot be successful without the
minority cadres. For the minority cadres in Inner Mongolia,
they also must realize that work in Inner Mongolia cannot be
successful without the Han cadres. Han and minority cadres
must continue to solidify their unity so as to become as close
to one another as brothers and sisters and depend on one
another for survival. In appointing cadres, minority cadres
must make up a certain percentage at the autonomous region
level. They must make up the main body where the minorities
live in a compact community. Han cadres should make up the
main body where Hans live in a compact community. In a word,
solidifying national unity is the key to success in the
construction of Inner Mongolia; it is also the key to
consolidating frontier defense to protect the motherland.
7. Importance must be attached
to scientific research and the development of education. . . .
8. This Summary of minutes
should be issued, together with the report on work in Inner
Mongolia, to the various provinces, municipalities and
autonomous regions as well as the various ministries and
commissions of the central government for reference.
Outline of the Report on Work of the Inner
Mongolian
Autonomous Region
(Report by Comrade Zhou Hui in the morning of
July 16, 1981 to the Secretariat of the Central Committee)
In my report to the Central Committee, I would
like to deal with two issues, one concerning political
matters, and the other deal with economic construction. The
two are interrelated, and both are closely connected with the
nationalities question. ....
(I)
Even though construction and work in Inner
Mongolia suffered tremendous losses and faced difficulties as
a result of the impact of the "left" errors and mistakes in
work, and especially the ten-year catastrophe of Lin Biao and
the "Gang of Four," work as a whole has progressed in the past
thirty years and more. . . .
(II)
Since the Third Plenum of the Central
Committee, we have...accomplished three major tasks:
1. We have thoroughly redressed the three major
unjust and mishandled cases: the case of "Ulanfu anti-party
and treasonous clique," "the February countercurrent in Inner
Mongolia" and the "New Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary
Party". (Throughout the region, 790,000 people were directly
incarcerated, struggled against, or kept incommunicado under
investigation mainly as a result of these three major cases.
Of these, 22,900 had died and 120,000 were crippled. During
the period of "unearthing and ferreting out," close to 1,000
herdsmen families were forced to move from the frontiers to
the interior. As a result, some 1,000 people died.). . . .
In accordance with the written instruction on
properly handling the case of unearthing the "New Inner
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party" issued by the Central
Committee and the spirit of Document No. 48 issued in 1978 by
the Central Committee, we investigated and dealt with "four
categories of people" (criminal offenders who had committed
murder; former landlords and rich peasants,
counterrevolutionaries and evil elements who had engaged in
class vengeance; elements who engaged in personal vendetta
with serious consequences and must be punished to satisfy
popular demand). In all 1,102 people were investigated and
dealt with, of these 416 were convicted on criminal charges.
2. We have begun readjusting our principles and
policies for economic construction. ....
3. We have reshuffled the leading groups at the
various levels in an initial way, appointed some younger
cadres who support the party line, and we have paid special
attention to selecting many minority cadres. At the present
time, 37.5 per cent of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the
standing committee of the people's congress of the autonomous
region are minority cadres; 45 per cent of the president and
vice-presidents of the government are minority cadres; and 50
per cent of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the people's
political consultative conference are minority cadres; they
also make up 52 per cent of the leaders of the people's
organizations. Minorities make up 44.8 per cent and 47.4 per
cent respectively of the leaders of the party committees of
the leagues and municipalities and the banners and counties.
They make up 51.7 per cent and 44.2 per cent respectively of
the leaders of governments of the leagues and municipalities
and banners and counties. The overwhelming majority of the
leaders of the leagues and banners in the stock breeding,
forestry and hunting areas are minorities. Among the leaders
of the various departments, commissions and offices of the
communist party committee of the autonomous region, 28.2 per
cent are minority cadres. Minorities constitute 36.8 per cent
of the leaders of the commissions, offices, departments and
bureaus of the autonomous region government.
……But……work is still in progress……and much
remains to be done……
(III)
As the situation develops, old contradictions
are resolved in the main, but new ones stand out. At the
present time, there are five problems:
1. The population problem. The rate of growth
of the Inner Mongolian population far exceeds the rate of
economic growth. Total population increased to 18.7 million
from 6 million at the time of liberation. Among them, the
number of people depending on the supply of commodity grains
rose from 750,000 to some 6 million; the number of people who
have moved in from the other provinces plus the natural growth
within the region also come to some 6 million. This
intensifies the contradiction between the growing population
and the limited supply of goods; it also gives rise to certain
new contradictions among the nationalities. It is especially
acute in the stock breeding and forestry areas. But the
important thing is whether the leadership can look at things
in an all-round way. Last year, in a few places, those who had
moved in from the other provinces, were forced to move out,
and that complicated the problem. That was stopped, but the
matter is not over. It is a matter that affects both the
higher and the lower levels. It remains a major problem that
the entire region follows with great interest.
In the opinion of the communist party committee
of the region, the general principle for resolving that
problem should be one that promotes stability and unity and
production growth. Therefore, those migrants who have already
moved in, should basically be "digested" on the spot.
Arrangements should be made to enable them to engage in
production and get on with their lives.
As for those few people who have Just arrived,
who have no residence cards and no sources of income, and must
be persuaded to return to where they came from, their native
place should be consulted, and their cases handled with great
care. Assistance should be solicited from the relevant
ministries and commissions of the central government and the
provinces and autonomous regions.
Those few people who committed mistakes in the
campaigns should be criticized and educated so that
estrangement could be ended and unity strengthened. As for the
very few people who had violated the law and discipline, and
engaged in beating, smashing and looting, they should be dealt
with according to policy and the law.
From now on, the movement of rural population
both within and outside the region into cities and towns,
stock breeding, forestry or hunting areas should be strictly
controlled.
Personnel needed by the industrial and mining
enterprises built by the state should strictly be hired from
among the local population, with the exception of the
specialized technical personnel not locally available. We are
formulating the "Regulations for the Management of the
Population in Inner Mongolia." With production growth, those
personnel that must be hired from outside should be employed
strictly according to those regulations.
The Han population must practice family
planning. As for the minorities, they should also practice
family planning, but with greater flexibility. No limit should
be imposed on those minorities who live in compact communities
in the forestry, stock breeding and hunting areas. Assistance
should be given if they themselves want to practice birth
control.
2. The problem of the principle
of economic construction. . . .
3. The problem of the system of
production responsibility. . . .
4. The problem of education. .
. .
In recruiting students for the
universities and colleges in the region, the percentage of
minority students accepted should be higher than their
population ratio, but not too much higher. Minorities now make
up 12 per cent of the population. This year, minorities should
make up 20-25 per cent of the new students accepted.
Han students should be
encouraged to learn minority languages and vice versa. . . .
Various nationalities should be
guided to organize joint activities, and especially activities
of young people. Generally speaking, new minority
organizations and activities should not proliferate.
5. The cadre problem. The
conditions of the cadre corps in Inner Mongolia improved
considerably in the past two years. But there are still quite
a few problems. For example, there is the problem of the
so-called "three sides" (east and west Mongolians and the Han
people) and "two factions" (conservatives and rebels) formed
in the history of Inner Mongolia and during the Cultural
Revolution. The existence of these sides and factions is
reflected in many places and units from time to time and has
been the talk of the region. This is a problem of the unity of
the cadres; it is also a problem of national unity, a factor
that affects the four modernizations construction.
The contradictions among the
nationalities and the regional differences between east and
west Mongolia have been formed over a long period of time and
are relics of history. They can only be resolved gradually
with economic and cultural growth……
At the present time and for a
considerable period hereafter, we must continue energetically
to propagandize and educate the people in the policy toward
the nationalities, with special emphasis on national unity.
Cadres of the various nationalities must be guided to work
hard to overcome their limitations, exercise self-criticism,
do away with factionalism, strengthen their party character
and solidify unity.
In all this, the key is the
core of the party committee of the region. They must have a
high degree of tolerance and magnanimity, a high degree of
consciousness, constantly guard against their own limitations,
and take the whole situation into account in their decision
making, so as to rally the cadres and people around themselves
and build Inner Mongolia with one mind and one heart.
Hereafter, it is necessary to
continue to cultivate, select and promote minority cadres in
accordance with the cadres policy of the Central Committee of
the party to select cadres who are loyal to the revolution,
who are young, well educated and professionally competent- . .
. Leading posts of the standing committee of the people's
congress, the government, the people's political consultative
conference and people's organizations in the autonomous region
and areas where minorities live in compact communities should
be occupied, as much as possible, by minority cadres. The same
spirit applies to the leading organs and cadres of the party,
but must not be mechanically overemphasized. The ratio of
Mongolian and other minority cadres should be higher than that
of their population. But it is important to have a sense of
proportion, and everyone should be included.
To sum up, the problem of
correctly handling the relations among the nationalities,
i.e., the relations between the "main body" (2.02 million) and
the "great majority" (16 million), figures in the handling of
either the political or economic problem. We made "left"
errors in the past few years,
1.
 Asia
Watch is grateful to the Tibetan Information Network and
Jasper Becker for providing valuable background materials for
this introduction.
2.
Ih Ju and Bayannur are places in Inner Mongolia.
“League” is an administrative unit; there are eight leagues in
Inner Mongolia, each subdivided into “banners”.
3.
Cheng Ming,
July 1, 1991; See translation in the BBC’s Summary of World
Broadcasts (SWB), July 3, 1991.
4.
Jasper Becker, The Lost Country, Hodder and
Stoughton ( forthcoming ).
5.
Morris Rossabi, China and Inner Asia: From 1368 to
the Present Day ( London: 1975 ), p.246-47.
6.
June Teufel Dreyer, China’s Forty Millions,
Harvard University Press ( Cambridge: 1976 ), p.82.
7.
Becker, op.cit.
8.
“ On the eve of the Great Leap, four out of five Party
secretaries and deputies in the IMAR were Mongols. At the
time, the Han population of Inner Mongolia was estimated to
have outnumbered the Mongol population by a ration of
approximately seven to one.” Dreyer, op.cit.p.161. The
current population of Inner Mongolia is 21.5 million of which
17.3 are Han and 3.3 millions are Mongols.
9.
Dreyer, op.cit. pp.212-213.
10.
For an account of this latter organization, see Dreyer,
op.cit. p. 66-67. For its activities in 1940’s, see
below, p.17 and Becker, op.cit.
11.
see A Great Trial in China’s history, Beijing
1981. A comparison of death tolls indicated that 5,678 people
died, according to the authorities, in the course of the other
two “ major and unjust cases.”
12.
Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities:
Autonomy or Assimilation ? ( Armonk, NY: 1989), pp.27-28.
13.
See Vaclav Smil, The Bad Earth ( Armonk, NY:
1984 ).
14.
Jasper Becker, The Lost Country, Hodder and
Stoughton ( forthcoming ).
15.
These instruction from Hu Yaobang were intended as a
friendly gesture toward the Tibetans. Figures vary wildly on
the number who left. According to one unconfirmed report, as
many as 400,000 Han came to the Inner Mongolia in the early
1980’s; official Chinese figures are 15,000.
16.
This flyer was kindly made available to Asia Watch by
the Tibetan Information Network in London.
17.
Jingxin Dongpo De 56 Tian
("56 Soul-Stirring Days'), State Education Commission
(Beijing: 1989).
18.
See Summary of World Broadcasts (SWB), June 6,
1989 and May 17, 1990.
19.
Summary of World Broadcasts
(SWB), July 4, 1990 citing a report from Cheng Ming,
July 1, 1990.
20.
The reference is to Isa Yusuf Alptekin, elderly exiled
leader of the Uighur nationalists. He now lives in Ankara,
Turkey, and is one of the organizers of Common Voice (sec
Introduction, above.).
21.
The International Alert conference was sponsored by
British and other European parliamentarians and by the U.S.
Congressional Human Rights Foundation, among others.
22.
National should be understood as Mongolian.
23.
" Unclear copy; name may not be spelled correctly.
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Changing
Inner Mongolia: Pastoral Mongolian Society and the Chinese State (Oxford
Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)
