THE LAND OF THE CAMEL Tents and Temples of Inner Mongolia By
SCHUYLER CAMMANN THE RONALD PRESS COMPANY f NEW YORK Copyright,
1951, by THE RONALD PRESS COMPANY All Rights Reserved The text of
this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without permission in writing 1 from the
publisher. PRINTED IN THE XJNITED STATES OF AMERICA To Marcia WHO
WAITED FOREWORD This book describes western Inner Mongolia in 1945.
For almost nine years this region had been cut off by hostilities
with the Japa nese, which began there in 1936, and it will probably
be a very long time before any American can get there again. Even
before the war it was little known, as the distance from the China
coast had prevented foreign contacts, except for a handful of
missionaries. The war years had brought marked changes to Inner
Mongolia, accelerating the exploitation, terrorization, and
dispossession of the Mongols which the Chinese had begun some forty
years before. Enough Mongols were still living there, however, to
enable us to see and share their life in tents and temples, after
the end of the war brought us leisure from other activities. It
seemed important to write down what we saw of their strange customs
and complex religion, as well as to describe the forces that were
undermining their old traditions and their way of life. Thus this
is primarily an account of the Mongols we met, and their opponents
among the immigrant settlers and border officials. But it would not
present a complete picture of the region if it did not also
describe the semifeudal realm of the Belgian mission ary fathers, .
which has now passed into history. Most of Chapter 10 has
previously been published inthe Bulletin of the University Museum,
Philadelphia, while some of the passages dealing with Mongolian
chess have appeared in an article for Natural History. The writer
is especially grateful to Walter Hill and to Dr. William LaSor for
their kindness in allowing him to use their photographs. SCHUYLER
CAMMANN University of Pennsylvania September, 1950 CONTENTS CHAPTER
PAGE 1 First Impressions of Mongolia 3 2 Crossing the Ordos 9 3 The
Great Plain IS 4 Camp Life and Recreation 21 5 Farmers of the Great
Plain 28 6 The Victory in Shanpa 41 7 Our First Lamasery 48 8 The
Mongols at Home 57 9 Meeting Dunguerbo 66 10 The Living Buddha of
Shandagu 73 11 Chien-li Temple, Pride of the Oirats 85 12 More Lama
Personalities 96 13 Mongol Festival 101 14 Down the Range to Dabatu
Pass 106 1 5 Temple in the Gobi 1 14 16 Dunguerbo and His Family
121 17 The Journey to Ago-in Sume 130 18 Temple of the Antelope
Cave 137 19 Last Days in Shanpa 143 20 Lo-pei Chao 152 21 South by
Camel 163 22 Ninghsia Interlude 173 23 The Second Camel Trip 183 24
Leaving the Ordos 193 Index 199 vii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Getting the
truck aboard the Yellow River ferry 12 Ordos camels in summer, with
sagging humps 12 Chinese immigrant farmer ploughing up old Mongol
grazing land on Hou-tao Plain 13 Farmers harvesting soy beans on
Hou-tao Plain 13 The camp well 24 A Chinese mother rides into
Shanpa to market 24 A Provincial army caravan enters Shanpa 24
Typical Chinese tenant farmers homes on Hou-tao Plain 25 Tsong
Kapa, founder of the Reformed Sect, with episodes from his life 52
Tara, the Green Goddess. Gilded bronze image from a Mongol lamasery
53 Mongol woman milking goats 64 Yurts in the wasteland, Beilighe
Pass 64 Dunguerboturning a giant prayer wheel in a lamasery 65
Shandagu Miao at the base of the mountains. Author in foreground 80
Chortens at Shandagu Miao 80 Yamantaka and other demon-gods 80 The
Golden Image at Shandagu Miao 81 Main pieces from two Mongolian
chess sets 88 Playing Mongolian Chess 89 Peacock pawns and rabbit
pawns from two Mongolian chess sets 89 The Abbot, Lopon Dorje,
receives some guests 104 Two Oirat matrons in festival finery 105 A
Mongol woman brings her child to the Festival 105 A Temple in the
Gobi...
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
