Transcript for the Piece Audio version of RN Documentary: Modern Day Mongolia
MODERNDAY MONGOLIA:
BETWEEN TRADITION AND TOMORROW
Broadcast Date: Nov 29+Dec 1+3, 2006
Production Number: 1007689
Duration= 29?30?
MUSIC: ?Ayalgu? < CD ?Khugnu Khaan, perf. N. Jantsannorov, private recording, 45 sec
INTRO:Radio Netherlands Worldwide presents:
MODERNDAY MONGOLIA:
BETWEEN TRADITION AND TOMORROW
Presented by Marijke van der Meer
Mongolia is home to fewer than 3 million people who share their country with about 35 million horses, camels, yaks, sheep and goats. It is a vast, fenceless stretch of rolling steppe and desert in east-central Asia surrounded by Russia and China. Mongolia measures over l.5 million square kilometers, making it bigger than Germany, France and Britain combined.
FELT-MAKING
These Mongolians are building the walls of their new home.
Three women are kneeling on the grass beside the Orkhon river, flattening and stretching clumps of wet sheep?s wool and spread it out over a long rectangular area. (WATER) A male companion hauls water from the river and sprinkles it over the wool. (HORSES) Another man stands by with a team of four horses who will pull a roll of the wool over the grassland until the wool fibres bind into one big long mat of thick white felt. That will then be wrapped around a lattice framework to form the walls of a ger, or yurt, the round tent of the Mongolian Steppe nomad.
NOMAD FAMILY: Bring up from +/-11? to 35?
A group of curious Dutch travellers has been invited into the ger of a family in the Orkhon valley, and immediately the snuff and buttered tea and fermented mare?s milk are brought out and offered to the unannounced guests. With our guide interpreting for me, I spoke with the head of this family of man and wife and three children.
NOMAD FAMILY INTERVIEW: His name is?nomad herders?.schooling more. (1?27?-3?01?)
Almost no other people on earth have the skills to survive without machinery in such a harsh climate. Mongolian summers are scorching hot and winter temperatures can drop to a Siberian 50 degrees below zero. While in the eyes of western tourists, it may seem like an exotic and adventurous life, it is truly a tough existence. Many factors threaten to bring Mongolia?s nomad culture to an end.
TJALLING 6: It?s a very difficult?economy. (30?)
OR: I think?good future for Mongolia. (30?48?)
Tjalling Halbertsma is a Dutch journalist and author of several books on Mongolia who has served as an adviser to president Nambaryn Enkhbayar. Halbertsma helped Enkhbayar to run his successful election campaigns for both the premiership and the presidency of Mongolia.
ENKHBAYAR 1A: Of course..centuries. (23?)
President Enkhbayar upset quite a few people, especially in the west, when he suggested Mongolians might have to stop being nomads in order to survive the powerful market forces and global warming of the 21st century.
ENKHBAYAR 1B: It is inevitable?urban development (48?)
About one million Mongolians are still true nomads. And those who are not all have close relatives and friends who are/still lead a nomadic way of life. Nomadism is one of the unique identifying features of a nation that has remained independent in spite of being completely surrounded by two world giants: Russia and China.
MUSIC: ?Genghis Baatryyd?, from CD ?Knock on my Door?, perf. And comp. D. Jargalsaikhan and rock band Chingis Khan, PCD 118, Planc Ton, 1?30?
Throughout most of the 20th century, the independent Republic of Mongolia was a satellite of Soviet Russia. Communism came to an end in 1990. In that year, the rock band Genghis Khan recorded a hit that became a kind of theme song for the protest movement, by appealing to the collective memory of the national hero Genghis Khan.
BRING UP MUSIC at 1?00? (singing starts)
TJALLING 2: Although?extraordinary.. (46?)
OR: Mongolia?.[12 sec later]
Quite a few Mongolians feel their lives have improved. Young people are growing up in a world that gives them far more freedom of choice than their parents had, but which is dominated by market forces.
STUDENT 1B: My name is?depends on us. (45?)
STUDENT 1A: My name is?people?s minds. (52?)
BEGGAR BOYS
These two dirty little street urchins are literally singing for their supper. These boys belong to the hordes of homeless street children in Ulan Bator.
Mongolia?s economy is expected to grow once again by more than 5% this year and next, but not everyone will benefit. About one-third of the population lives below the poverty line. Nomads, whose herds have been depleted by natural disasters and market forces, have been moving to the towns at the rate of over one to two thousand a week. Some of them end up on the street.
TJALLING 5A : Unemployment?part of that. (44?)
OYUN 4A: Although?communist times. (33?)
Dr. Sanjaasurengin Oyun is a member of the parliametn of Mongolia and leader of the opposition Citizens or Civil Will Party. It is a progressive party that advocates higher standards of transparency and good governance.
OYUN 4B: (cont?d) : A lot of families?vouchers. (35?)
STUDENT 2B: My name is?our generation. (32?)
Most of Mongolia?s economic growth in the near future is expected to come from mining. Mongolia is believed to be sitting on the world?s tenth richest mineral deposits - including gold, coal, copper, oil, tin and uranium. Mining accounts for 18% of GDP and 40% of Mongolia?s foreign earnings.
OYUN 6: I actually?taking place. (30?)
President Enkhbayar says the old mining laws were drawn up before the present economic boom and he agrees that the laws must be reformed.
ENKHBAYAR 6: Now we have ?right balance. (42?)
OR: ?.thrown away. (49?)
Thanks to growing demand, from China, the price of copper has tripled since 2002. This has prompted investers to take a closer look at Mongolia. However, in May, 2006 Mongolia startled the mining world with an unexpected windfall profits tax on copper and gold
OYUN 6 : (cue 1-3) I think?for investment. (1?08?)
Mongolia?s mineral wealth has suddenly raised its status in the eyes of some of the world?s biggest powers. Mongolia?s location has also enhanced its geopolitical importanceGiven its geographical position it prefers not to align itself with any single bloc or country too one-sidedly and is pursuing a wide diversification of ties, ranging from participation in peace-keeping in Iraq to food aid for North Korea. . President Enkhbayar sees Mongolia as a bridge on the Eurasian continent.
ENKHBAYAR 4A: Well geographically?Central Asia. (1?00?)
OYON 10: Well the most important thing?politically or economically (57?)
GREAT WALL : (cue 3-4): Wow?(2?25?)
On the train from Mongolia to Beijing Western tourists catch their first glimpse of the Great Wall of China.
BRING UP SOUND: cue 1-2 (AT 2?25? ? ?Wow!??)
The wall was built to keep out the invading Mongols, but today it?s the Mongolians who are afraid of a Chinese invasion. Many Mongolians are a bit nervouse about China?s hunger for natural resources and space, and the influx of Chinese labor. China is the biggest investor in Mongolia, responsible for 38% of all foreign investment, and for one-third of Mongolia?s exports.
ENKHBAYAR 7A: (China) Well you know?development. (45?)
OYON 7: I myself?.. (32?)
ENKHBAYAR 7B: Now?.of others. (35?)
MUSIC: ?Dzhenggis Khan Praise Song?, from album ?Gone with the Wind, Songs of Mongolian Steppes?, Perf. Altai-Hangai, composer anonymous, Window WTE CD 002, 1998, C. 235.198, 1?30?
Genghis Khan poem, C. 235.198, 1?30?
The unique culture and language of Mongolians, with their great religious and musical traditions like overtone and throat singing, are vital components of Mongolian identity. These cultural traditions preserved from the past are, in fact, essential to the very survival of Mongolians as an independent people in the present.
BRING UP POEM
Since the end of communism, Mongolians have been free to revel in their past and to cultivate the memory of Genghis Khan, as in this song of praise for the great warrior statesman. Genghis is their Caesar, their Napoleon, their national icon. Genghis Khan has had a beer, a vodka, and the main airport named after him. And he is the subject of a new musical, a new opera, a comic book and several films and songs. On the more serious side, Genghis is also seen as an indication of Mongolia?s presentday potential.
OYUN 11: (800th anniversary) Generally?again. (31?)
MONASTERY of ERDENE ZU
Since 1990, Mongolians have revived old customs like the tsam dances and their old clan names, which were suppressed under Stalinism. Some traditions have been lost forever or almost completely eradicated. Buddhism in Mongolia, for example, has never completely recovered from the systematic attempt by the Stalinist leader Choibalsan to destroy it in the 1930?s. Tens of thousand of lamas were murdered, and most monasteries were demolished. Some are now being restored and are in full operation again, such as here at the great monastery of Erdene Zu.
MONASTERY: Erdene Zu
Mongolian Buddhism has strong links with Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama has visited the country several times. Tibet has been annexed by China and religious freedom is restricted there. That means that Mongolia could now assume a more important role in preserving the Tibetan Buddhist heritage.
TJALLING 7B: There?s a lot?fulfill. (56?-1?19?)
ENKHBAYAR 2A: We feel that? Mongolia. (39?)
TJALLING 7A: There?s a great?by the state. (36?)
President Enkhbayar himself became interested in Buddhism while translating anti-Buddhist tracts under communist rule in the 1980?s. He converted to Buddhism and is active in the Alliance for Religion and Conservation.
ENKHBAYAR 2B: There a lot of?to the world. (1?07?-2?03? =[56?])
MUSIC: ?Ayalgu?, As Mongolians make their way through the 21st century, they will face many choices about how best to be part of the modern world while at the same time preserving their own identity, how to learn from tradition while at the same time embracing the global age. OYUN 12: The nomadic way of life? based on the market. (44?) STUDENT 5: In some parts?yeah. (22?) STUDENT 7: I?m Batamaran?other foreign countries. (1?04?) OUTRO:
You?ve been listening to a documentary about mondernday Mongolia: ?Between Tradition and Tomorrow?. The program was produced and presented by Marijke van der Meer. This has been a Radio Netherlands Worldwide presentation.
