Adherence to Faith
-- About the Core Concept of the Grassland Culture Ⅲ
Wu Tuanying
Deputy director of the Standing Committee of China’s Inner
Mongolia People's Congress, research fellow; president of China’s
Society of Mongolology
Zhongshan lu
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia,10010, People’s Republic of China
Ma Yongzhen
President of China’s Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences,
Research fellow;
Daxue Lu
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia,10010, People’s Republic of China
Wu En: vice president of China’s Inner Mongolia socialist college ,
Research fellow;
Wulanchabu Lu
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia,10010, People’s Republic of China
1
Abstract: Adherence to faith is one of the core concepts dominating the
Grassland
culture.
"Faith"
is
a
comprehensive
moral
concept
encompassing honesty, trustworthiness, integrity, honor, gallantry and a
strong sense of justice. Being opposed to dishonesty, hypocrisy,
cunningness, selfishness and shamelessness, “faith” is universally seen as
a virtue. “Faith” is like a foothold to everybody. Faith is an essential
element a government relies on in running a country. “Faith” is a
prerequisite for maintenance of social stability and benign social
relationships. Through the long years of cultural growth, faith has been
highlighted and taken root in the spiritual and cultural life of the
grassland nationalities. All people at the grassroots level have voluntarily
and persistently abided by it in their daily life so that a social atmosphere
is generated in which everyone voluntarily abides by faith. In Mongolian
history, Genghis Khan is a statesman who attached great importance to
the social function and ethical value of “faith”.
Political institutions, laws and ethics are the three supporting pillars
on which human civilization rests. While political institutions and laws
regulate people’s behaviors by way of external forces, moral code shapes
behavioral patterns through public opinions along with an actor’s
self-discipline. Therefore, in a sense, moral values are a better index to
the cultural quality and civility of a specific group of people.
2
In olden times, grassland inhabitants attached great importance to
the social function of ethics. This has a lot to do with the peculiar means
of production and social structure of the grassland culture. Compared
with
traditional
agricultural
societies,
individuals
of
nomadic
communities were obviously more mobile and therefore their cooperative
work teams were more loosely organized. This situation led to a lot of
vacuums in time and space in the implementation of laws and
establishment of powerful public opinions. As a result, it was hard for a
nomadic community to regulate its individual members’ behaviors solely
by enforcing laws or exerting pressure from public opinions. Thus public
order and social morality were maintained largely through each
individual’s conscious self-disciplinary efforts. Under such circumstances,
traditional grassland communities usually had a simple social hierarchy
and very briefly outlined statutes. Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand
Historian gives a description of the Hun society like this: “The longest
prison term is no more than ten days, and the whole country has only
several prisoners”①. On the other hand, the ethical function of society
became reinforced, and community members paid greater attention to the
construction and maintenance of a set of moral criteria. “Faith” has
always been the cornerstone of this system of moral values and become a
core concept of the grassland culture.
"Faith" is a comprehensive moral concept encompassing honesty,
3
trustworthiness, integrity, honor, gallantry and a strong sense of justice.
Being opposed to dishonesty, hypocrisy, cunningness, selfishness and
shamelessness, “faith” is universally seen as a virtue. Through the long
years of cultural growth, faith has been highlighted and taken root in the
spiritual and cultural life of the grassland nationalities. All people at the
grassroots level have voluntarily and persistently abided by it in their
daily life.
“Faith” is like a foothold to everybody. Grassland inhabitants give
priority to the shaping of an individual’s moral character. Their ultimate
criteria for judging a good person are related to the moral principles that
guide his/her acts rather than appearance, dress, property and political
power. There are many popular proverbs like “Wealth is like dirt while
moral integrity is worth a thousand pieces of gold,” “Honesty deserves
being stored in the treasure house,” “Talking of the five prairie livestock
types, we expect a good domestic animal to be as stout as possible
whereas a human character as honest as possible,” “Honesty and
faithfulness will prevail over a beautiful face,” “A dog without a tail is
less pleasant than a monkey, and a person without faith is less tolerable
than such a dog,” to name just a few. A major yardstick for measuring
moral character is whether an individual adheres to faith. In the moral
judgment system of grassland dwellers, honesty, trustworthiness and
rectitude are noble traits. “The chief strength of a horse lies in its
4
endurance while the main merit of a person is his/her honesty.” “Bravery
and loyalty are virtues of a noble character whereas betrayal out of fear
for death is the nature of a coward.” “A good horse will not slow down its
walking pace after a while, and a moral person will not go back on his/her
promises.” In contrast to the denounced things in the proverbs, grassland
inhabitants show disgust toward anybody who is treacherous. They make
these comments about those individuals: “Those who backbite are more
dangerous than thieves,” “Anything that does not eat green grass is no
livestock, and anyone who does not keep his/her word is not a reliable
contact.” In their mind’s eye, such people will eventually be outcast by
society, because they never doubt that “Lies are like a belt which can only
strangle the wearer,” “Liars are notorious among their fellow
countrymen,” and “Honesty and generosity will prevail while treachery
and cunningness will soon fail.”②
People living on the grassland believe that the most important thing
in life is a good reputation: “Reputation is the second life of a person,”
and “Honor is more valuable than gold while a good reputation is more
precious than treasures.” Only faith can enable people to keep honor and
a good reputation. Although faith is as valuable as life, an honorable
person is supposed to stick to faith and uphold honor at all cost when
faced with the alternatives of life and honor as well as material gain and
justice. The Mongolians have a large number of proverbs concerning this
5
including “It is much better to be an honest loser than an underhand
winner,” and “We would rather be penniless and upright than wealthy and
deceptive.” There are also proverbs to show their commitment to keeping
one’s promises. What’s eaten should be digested and what’s promised
should be carried out.” “One should keep the appointed time even though
that would mean to travel in pouring rain, and one should keep one’s
promise even though one has to fight a terrible snow storm.” They are
willing to give up material interest to uphold honor. “I would sooner give
up a priceless horse than go back on my word.” “To me losing a cow is
trifle, but losing the reputation of trustworthiness is trouble.” “Neither life
nor honor can be lost twice.” They think that a person shouldn’t hesitate
to dedicate his/her life, however precious, in order to hold on to faith. As
they believe that “A noble death is better than a dirty period of life,” they
“would rather have their backbones broken than have their reputation
damaged.” They “would rather die gloriously than live in disgrace.” They
“would rather die standing than live on their knees.” They “would rather
endure a broken bone than bend their proud spinal column.” They “would
rather be poverty-stricken but respectable than be wealthy but
disgraceful.” They would rather become the bow of a rebel hero than a
dog of a coercive local chieftain.”③An official of the Ming Dynasty
truthfully recorded the moral values of the Mongolians at the time like
this: “The most respectable people are those honest to the core; the most
6
admired people are those who have exceptional courage and physical
power; the most trusted people are those who have never gone back on
their promises; and the most revered people are those who have taken a
vow. They will never take an oath without faith in it. Once they have
taken it, they will never go back on their word even at the cost of their
lives.”
④
According to him, in the Mongolian society at that time the
most respected people were those who were honest and reliable. For this
reason Mongolian people were most careful about making promises and
taking vows, for they would have to carry it out even if it cost their lives
once they have taken an oath. As is known to all, heroism occupies a
central position in the grassland culture. Most grassland nationalities have
their own respective epics. The three great epics of China – Jangar, King
Gesar and Manas -- were all born of the grassland culture. The
Mongolian people have more reasons to be proud, for there are more than
500 epics produced by their own minstrels. They have sang the epics
from generation to generation not merely because they are touched by the
heroes’ chivalry and physical power, more important, they are awed by
the heroes’ serious attitude toward promises, honesty, moral integrity,
commitment to justice and readiness to fight in the name of honor. The
numerous heroes their bards have created are actually embodiments of
faith. It is exactly due to this inclination of literary appreciation that many
famous literary works from Central China have become popular on the
7
grassland. These are Romance of Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the
Marshes, Xue Gang Revolting against the Tang Dynasty, and Three
Warriors and Five Principles. And fictional characters such as Lord
Guan Yu have held out an enormous appeal among the grassland peoples
for the same reason. His statue was erected in Mongolian and Manchu
temples, enshrined as a deity to be worshipped.
Faithful people were highly regarded and widely respected in society.
One example is Murong Wei, the Xianbei King of a northern dynasty,
who was praised by his subjects as being “loyal, impartial, devoted,
honest”, and “so generous and earnest that even heaven and earth were
impressed.”
⑤
For this reason all the tribes ardently stood by him.
According to History of the Liao Kingdom, there was a Khitan general
named Yelü Tanggu. He was reverently nick named Invincible Tanggu
because “he was straightforward with a strong sense of good and evil.
Whenever he encountered an evil conduct, he would criticize it without
mincing words.”
⑥
Thus we can see that people show respect for those
who are frank and refuse to tolerate unfairness. When Genghis Khan
praised his two famous generals, he laid more emphasis on their moral
character than on their chivalry and tactics in battles. He recognized
Zhelemie, one of his major generals, in this way:
While hunting game,
8
You were a master.
While charging toward the enemy,
You were the foremost.
While I was in need of a horse to ride,
You helped me snatch a steed.
While I was thirsty,
You brought me sweet milk.
To keep danger away from me,
You kept vigil at night without dozing off.
You are straightforward and honest,
Always loyal to me without calculation.
Whenever I ran short of supplies,
You were the first to come to my aid:
Lending me a hand in battles,
And serving me in miscellaneous efforts.
Zhelemie, my rare, faithful brother indeed!
Genghis Khan’s compliments of Boho’erchu go like this:
In peaceful time you were my shadow,
Always found either on my left or on my right.
While wrestling with the enemies,
9
You were like a rock of white jade,
Always standing firm between me and the enemies.
When it came to secret keeping,
You were like a knot that could never be unfastened.
During the hard times at the start of our venture,
You persisted stoically and exerted yourself nonstop.
You acted like an ox hauling a heavy cartload.
Boho’erchu, my cherished brother indeed!
Those two generals were straightforward, honest, credible, allegiant,
perseverant, and chivalrous. These qualities sent their fame on wings all
over the Mongolian prairies in the 13th century. Together with them were
a number of men of praiseworthy character from Central China who were
also admired by the diverse populations on the grassland. For instance, in
Western Han Dynasty, “Li Ling was a man serious about family
obligations and filial duties. He won trust and allegiance from his soldiers.
More often than not he risked his own life to safeguard his country at
critical times. He thus accumulated a good reputation and rose in the
army. He seemed to evince elements of a national hero.” For these
reasons, he became a favorite of the Hun chieftain and was chosen as
bridegroom of a Hun princess, so he could took part in discussions of
important political affairs. Another example: when Su Wu was
10
imprisoned, he wanted to commit suicide to show his loyalty to the
emperor of the Han Dynasty and to his homeland. The Hun chieftain was
deeply touched by his allegiance and unyielding spirit, so he sent his
courtiers to check the well being of Su Wu every dawn and dusk.”
⑦
In
187 A.D., the fourth year into the Zhongping Reign of the Eastern Han
Dynasty, the Qiang and Hu tribes from a town of Jin Kingdom laid siege
to the city of Hanyang. The mayor of Hanyang was Fu Xie, who was
widely known for his moral integrity. As he had been kind enough toward
the Qiang tribe in the past, “out of gratitude, several thousand Qiang
cavaliers in the raiding army from the north kowtowed at the foot of the
city wall, begging to be allowed to escort Fu Xie to his hometown”
⑧
for
the sake of his personal safety. A further example is that in Southern
Song Dynasty, Hong Hao visited the Jin Kingdom as an envoy but was
kept from his return trip. The Jin rulers asked him to work as an official
for the puppet government of a region which they named Da Qi. A
history book says, “Hong Hao replied, ‘I undertook a task and traveled
five thousand kilometers here not to return with a record of serving two
different rulers. I regret that I don’t have the power to get the anti-Han
scheme smashed yet have to witness the evil growing rampant! Since
neither staying here nor defying your command can keep me from dying,
I won’t choose to live like a rat or a dog. I won’t regret for being boiled in
a cauldron right now.’ Being vexed, Khan Zhan thought of putting him to
11
immediate death. A chieftain standing by the side of the khan sighed,
‘This minister is a real incarnate of loyalty.’ So he eyed the killer to
suspend his ax stroke and knelt down on the floor to beg the khan for the
life of Hong Hao. As a result, the khan decided to send Hong Hao on
exile to an ice-capped mountain.”
⑨
It was the loyalty and fearlessness of
Hong Hao that touched a Jin military officer to the point of kneeling in
front of the khan to beg for mercy on his behalf. It was his admirable
personality that saved himself from the killer’s ax. For the same reason
rulers of the Yuan Dynasty officially recognized a number of historical
figures famous for their commitment to faith in Central China. Among
those were Bo Yi, Shu Qi, Bi Gan, Qi Zi, Qu Yuan, Ge Liangzhong,
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Yan Zhenqing and Di Renjie, to name just a few.
The Yuan authorities required the local officials of each acknowledged
personage to hold memorial rituals in their name in the fourth period of
the day. The above examples all indicate that the ancient nomadic groups
living on the grassland admired and worshiped noble deeds marked by
strong faith even of their antagonists in spite of their ethnic pride and
material interests. This further proves that in the grassland culture, faith
has become a highly conscious and voluntary guideline, functioning as a
universal measurement of social morality in every aspect of community
life.
Faith is an essential element a government relies on in running a
12
country. Every member of the grassland communities showed reverence
and a passion for faith. In this setting, many eminent historical figures
born of the grassland tribes not only kept improving their own personal
moral character, but also enlisted ethical doctrines as an instrument for
their political administration. A great number of statesmen and military
commanders were very popular with their tribesmen and soldiers because
of their faithful personal character. For instance, in the Han Dynasty, the
tribe of Western Qiang “had followed a slash-and-burn agricultural way
of life in Dayungu north of the Yellow River up to the time when
Dianliang ruled the tribe. The tribe was small and the people
poverty-stricken. At that time, there were two other tribes named
Xianling and Beinan, which were very prosperous and raided Western
Qiang several times. Repeatedly witnessing the tribe’s graveyard
vandalized by other tribes, the Dianliang father and son were indignant.
As they had done much favor to the general public of the tribe in the past,
they called a meeting, bringing together all the neighboring tribes that had
vowed allegiance as well as their own kith and kin, including Western
Qiang descendents through intermarriage, to fight back. The army
approached Xiangling and Beinan via Dayu, ambushed the two tribes and
won an overwhelming victory. The raiding troops killed 3,000 enemies,
got a lot of treasures as well as livestock, and captured their village
named Dayuzhong. From then on the Western Qiang tribe has been
13
thriving.”
⑩
The same tribe had once been ruled by a female ruler who
“had arms as strong as metal pliers. Being over 100 years old, she was
full of wisdom and foresight. The tribesmen all looked up to her and
asked her advice when having an important matter to deal with.”
11
During the historical period of Southern and Northern Dynasties, a Hun
chieftain named “Huibaozu appointed Liu Yuanhai commander of the
left-route army, and in the Taikang Reign of Central China, Liu was
promoted to be magistrate of the northern territory. He reinforced the
legal system, punished lascivious and villainous conducts, was
openhanded to the needy and treated his inferiors kindly. As a result,
talents and sages from all lands occupied by populations of different
ethnic identities came to work for him. People like famous scholars in
present-day Beijing, Tianjin and Heibei Province and gifted descendents
of long-standing prominent families traveled thousands of miles from
Central China to visit the Hun region.”
12
A further example has to do
with “Huishamo Khan, the founder of Western Wei, who was also known
as King Wen. He left his crown prince behind to live in Luoyang, the
capital of Central China, as a token of friendship ties. The crown prince
was only next to the king of Northern Wei in social position, which fully
showed his sincerity. He frequently sent diplomats to Central China and
encouraged trade, so mutual exchanges were active and nonstop. As a
result, Northern Wei got an annual gift of gold, silk, satin and cotton cloth
14
worth a fortune. This founding father of Northern Wei was really honest,
reliable and responsible in his contact with neighboring kingdoms. He
never resorted to deception for momentary gains. He was always
generous, tolerant and earnest. People far and near all spoke highly of
him.”
13
An admirable character built on faith made these historical
figures popular among their people, secured their leading position in
society, and enabled them to win people’s trust and public recognition so
that they could forge ahead ceaselessly toward their final political goal.
In Mongolian history, Genghis Khan is a statesman who attached
great importance to the social function and ethical value of “faith”. He
pointed out that to run a country successfully, “loyalty”, “honesty” and
“credibility” are Yiheturi – “thoroughfare” in Mongolian – by which he
referred to the major strategies for a nation’s management, enlisted to
establish a positive image of the ruler, win trust of the public, maintain
social order and ultimately stabilize the power of the government. To him
faith was a behavioral code that should be adhered to by the whole
society. Whether faith was taken seriously or not was not only a matter of
personal moral character, but also something that determined the stability
and development of an ethnic group and a nation. He maintained that a
ruler must “keep his promises” to win trust from his subjects.
Trustworthy people could “be “befriended”, meaning to be regarded as
allies, and “appointed a leading official” to participate in the management
15
of the community. He said, “If a person goes back on his promise made in
the morning at nightfall and on his promise made at nightfall the next
morning, isn’t it a humiliation in the eyes of the public?”
14
To him,
relinquishing faith and betraying justice, or “Conforming to the Qin
Fiefdom in the morning while converting to the Chu Fiefdom at dusk” as
the Chinese saying goes, was something people loathed. Such an
individual at grassroots level would probably only be estranged by others,
but a ruler like this would tarnish his name and consequently tip the
balance of the entire political system. Even in the midst of fierce political
conflicts, a ruler was supposed to align his strategies with existing order
of the feudal society. He was on no account free to adopt whatever means
to expedite his personal ends. The law Genghis Khan made stipulated that
all family members of any traitor who sold his own liege lord would be
beheaded, and the reason is “How can we trust and associate with such a
person who brings his own khan as a captive to the enemy camp?”
15
There were some people who killed or put their own master in custody in
order to get the ransom offered by the enemy army, but they were all
killed by orders from Genghis Khan. Meanwhile there were also some
people who aided their defeated master to escape before they surrendered
themselves to Genghis Khan. To those people Genghis Khan showed his
appreciation and later appointed them to important office. He exhorted his
sons to rule a country by showing good faith and always keeping
16
promises. He wanted his sons to regard “promise keeping” as noble
behavior whereas frivolous promises and betrayal as a disgrace. He
warned his sons to “avoid being looked down upon by their own subjects
and mocked at by their rivals and antagonists”.
16
Public trust is the
cornerstone on which a political system rests. To win public trust, a ruler
should be true to his words in the first place. Kublai Khan, the first
emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, inherited Genghis Khan’s political
doctrines. In 1264, he made his own philosophy clear in the “Edict
regarding the Founding of the Yuan Dynasty”: “To please heaven one
should be honest and faithful. To please the subjects one should take care
of their material interests.”
17
He goes further to claim that a ruler should
do more than sticking to faith in coping with management of his
community. He should “be faithful from the bottom of his heart” rather
than in appearance alone. He made faith an important element of his
guideline for political administration.
“Faith” is a prerequisite for maintenance of social stability and
benign social relationships. The grassland inhabitants know that there are
things in life beyond the hands of law, so they are fully aware of the
important role morality has played in sustaining social stability and
maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships. For example,
according to History of the North, in the tribes of Wuhuan and Xianbei,
“whenever their chieftain had an order, he would have a sign carved in a
17
piece of wood. Although such tribes didn’t have a written language, no
follower groups dared transgress the decree.”
18
With regard to the
correlation between faith and social stability, we can learn something
from the epitaphs engraved on two Uigur tombstones in the 7th century, of
which one was called “Headstone of Xinjia Khan” and the other
“Headstone of Queteqin”. The epitaphs survey the rise and fall of the
Uigur khanate from the viewpoint of the two rulers and these are some of
the words: “When I was 14 years old, I conferred the title of khan upon
Basaiboke and married my younger sister to him. However, he was a
cruel and treacherous man. As a result, his khanate was captured and his
subjects turned to slaves and chamber maids.”
19
“People of Central
China are good at complimenting people. They use beautiful words to
lure people from faraway places to contact them. Alas! The Turkic
peoples were susceptible to flattery and lost their self-control. Too many
of the Turkic tribes have been conquered in this way. … Alas! My fellow
Turkic tribesmen, if you try to relocate and live near Central China, you
are going to sink under. If you stick to the region of Wudejian Mountain
and develop trade on camel back, you will live comfortably free from
trouble. Only if you remain in Wudejian Mountain can the khanate
continue to exist from generation to generation. My fellow Turkic
tribesmen, … those who don’t listen to me and take the tribe on a
continual migrant journey will witness the tribe decline and eventually
18
fall to pieces. It was a decree from heaven that put me on the throne of the
khanate. Since I was given the divine right, I rounded up the
poverty-stricken population. I made destitute tribes well-to-do and small
tribes populous. Isn’t what I said true?”
20
So in their eyes, the internal
fissures and eventual decline of the khanate was caused by people’s
susceptibility to deceptive words, inability to distinguish between good
and evil, attempt to trap one another in politics, and the lack of faith. This
example effectively emphasizes the vital role faith plays in the
maintenance of social stability. When Yelü Deguang, founder of the Liao
kingdom of Khitans, was in power, he “invited outspoken intellectuals to
his court” to be his counselors.
21
While analyzing the correlation
between faith and social order, Genghis Khan said, “A nation may find
itself in a situation where a son doesn’t obey his father; a younger brother
doesn’t listen to his older brother; a husband is skeptical about his wife’s
chastity; a wife frequently revolts against her husband’s will; a
father-in-law
is
never
satisfied
with
his
daughter-in-law;
a
daughter-in-law shows no respect for her father-in-law; elders don’t
protect the young; the young flout the elders’ education and command;
people in high social position rely on their servants and distance
themselves from all others except a few associates whom they trust;
wealthy people refuse to offer anything to help out the nation’s needy,
disregard the norms and laws, or become so unreasonable that they find
19
themselves in confrontation with the rest of nation. When this happens,
thieves, liars, enemies and frauds will gather in such large swarms that
they may even darken the sun over the camps. That is to say, members of
the community will be robbed; their horses and herds will be threatened;
the steeds they ride to battles are very likely to tire out, collapse, decay
and decompose.”
22
Hypocrisy, suspicion, jealousy, deception to the
king and disloyalty tend to increasingly damage the harmonious social
relationships until every member loses his/her sense of security and be
watchful against everybody else. In this way the existing social order will
be disturbed and the nation may ultimately disintegrate. The Mongolian
people believe, “There are three most dangerous things in this world – a
knife in a baby’s hand, political power in the hand of a dupe, and stories
out of the mouth of a liar.” They also say, “A hypocritical friend is more
harmful than an open enemy.” “Lies are no better than thefts.” In ancient
Mongolian folk songs, people sang, “Team work in solidarity will surely
enable us to conquer all difficulties whereas listening to ill-intended lies
and getting divided with hostility certainly foreshadow failure and
defeat.”
23
One proverb states, “United, we are invincible throughout the
world, and divided, we are alienated from all supporters and even
relatives.”
24
All those examples draw our attention to the essential role
faith plays in the maintenance of social stability and the harm such
immoral behaviors as lies, deception and betrayal can do to social
20
harmony and stability.
Faith of the grassland residents underlies not only social transactions
and political events, but also all other aspects of social life. Take
commerce for example. While analyzing the success of Mongolian
merchants during the Qing Dynasty, many scholars paid greater attention
to the strategies and tactics of traders, but overlooked a more important
issue, that is, the trade-friendly social environment created by the
Mongolian culture centered round the concept of faith. In the past, barter
exchange was the invariable trading mode on the grassland. In order to
get more profits, traders from places south of the Mongol-inhabited
grassland chose to give Mongol herdsmen a credit. That is to say, they
would give commodities to the herdsmen first and then come back for the
livestock in return the next year. Although the transaction was generally
based on an oral contract, no herdsman was found to deny the contract on
any excuses. In 1906 Wu Luzhen, an official of the Qing Dynasty, wrote
an inspection report entitled Current Condition of the Four Eastern
Mongol Leagues, which gives us a picture of the power of faith among
the Mongol people. It says, “Litigations are based on oral presentations of
the two parties involved. When the official announces his verdict, no
record is made or kept, and neither the accuser nor the accused has ever
tried to appeal the case to a higher court. When Han merchants trade with
the Mongols, they leave commodities behind without anybody signing
21
any contract. They merely put down the number of commodity items in
Mongolian in a notebook, and when livestock is due, no Mongol
herdsman will ever fail to come up with the right quantity of livestock.
When a pregnant mare is to be traded, the baby horse inside it will also
count toward the transaction. Four or five years later, a pony will be ready
for the Han trader to take away. In case the foal is injured or born dead,
the herdsman will replace it with another one. … Sometimes a Taiji may
hire Han craftsmen to make felt fabric or carpets at his home. The Taiji
will always pay the craftsmen for their labor after the autumn harvest, and
nobody has ever failed to pay by that time.”
25
The nationalities of
Oroqen and Ewenki largely lived as hunters. They called their trading
partners “Anda” – a confederate or an ally. This name reflects their
expectation of faith and moral integrity. The culture built on faith formed
a sturdy superstructure which sustained several hundred years of
prosperous trade between the Mongol prairie and the part of China south
of it during the Qing Dynasty. However, Mongol herdsmen gradually
found cheating conducts of some traders who came to the grassland from
places south of it. Thus a new word came into the Mongolian vocabulary
to refer to merchants in general. The word is Hudulaqi, which means
“dishonest cheater” in Mongolian. The coinage of this word mirrors the
disgust Mongol herdsmen showed toward deceptive conducts in trade.
In sum, we believe that faith is not only a cornerstone of the ethical
22
value system of the grassland populations, but also one of the core
concepts that underlie the distinctive merits of the grassland culture. If we
remove the temporal and outdated contents but inherit and uphold its
positive core, the value of faith typical of the grassland inhabitants does
hold out some meaningful implications for us in our efforts to root the
socialist moral value system in the mind of the citizenry and thereby
construct a harmonious society. (Author: Wu’en)
23
Note:
1. Biography No. 50. Records of the Grand Historian. Vol. 110.
2 .Zhurong’a et al. The Best of Mongolian Epigrams and Proverbs. Inner
Mongolia People’s Press, 1988
3 .Zhurong’a et al. The Best of Mongolian Epigrams and Proverbs. Inner
Mongolia People’s Press, 1988.
4 .Xiao Daheng. Things Worth Knowing. Customs of the Northern
Barbarians. (Ming Dynasty).
5 .Murong Wei. Annual Record No. 8. History of Jin. Vol. 180.
6. Orthodox Accounts. History of the Liao Khitans.
7 .Biography No. 24. History of the Han Dynasty. Vol. 54.
8 .Biography No. 48. Post-Han History. Vol. 58.
9 .Biography No. 132. History of the Song Dynasty. Vol. 373.
10. Stories about Western Qiang No. 77. Post-Han History. Vol. 87.
11. Stories about Western Qiang No. 77. Post-Han History. Vol. 87.
12. Liu Yuanhai. Annual Record No. 1. History of Jin. Vol. 110.
13 .Xu Ji. Biography of Kings No. 1. History of Wei.
14.Daoruntimu. New Translation and Brief Notes of Secret History of the
Mongols. Huhhot: Inner Mongolia People’s Press, 1978. P. 279.
15. Daoruntimu. New Translation and Brief Notes of Secret History of the
Mongols. Huhhot: Inner Mongolia People’s Press, 1978. Pp. 246-247.
16 .Daoruntimu. New Translation and Brief Notes of Secret History of the
Mongols. Huhhot: Inner Mongolia People’s Press, 1978. P. 308.
17. Founding Emperor II. History of the Yuan Dynasty. Vol. 2.
18 .Biographies of Historical Figures from Wuhuan and Xianbei No. 80.
History of the North. Vol. 90.
19. Ma Changshou. Headstone of Xinjia Khan. Turks and the Turkic
24
Khanate. Nanning: Guanxi Normal University Press, 2006. P. 83.
20. Ma Changshou. Headstone of Queteqin Khan. Turks and the Turkic
Khanate. Nanning: Guanxi Normal University Press, 2006. P. 88.
21 .Orthodox Accounts No. 4. History of the Liao Khitans. Vol. 4.
22. Lashite (transliteration). Anthology of Historical Accounts. Vol. 1,
Book 2. Trans. Yu Dajun et al. Beijing: Commercial Press, 1983. P. 354.
23. Inner Mongolia Academy for the study of socio-historical evolution
of Mongolian philosophies and ideology. Boundless Sea (Mongolian Folk
Song) & Wulanjie. Philosophical Pearls Out of the Sea of Folk Songs.
Papers on the Socio-historical Evolution of Mongolian Philosophies and
Ideology. P. 388.
24. Zhurong’a et al. The Best of Mongolian Epigrams and Proverbs.
Inner Mongolia People’s Press, 1988.
25 .Wu Luzhen. Current Condition of the Four Eastern Mongol Leagues.
one in a series of books referred to as “Writings on Inner Mongolia”
Huhhot: Yuanfang Press, 2008. P. 192.
25
About the authors:
Bao Zhenxing: translator, student of Folklore in Sociology at China’s
Inner Mongolia Normal University;
Hou Xiaojuan: proofreader, teacher of Folklore in Sociology at China’s
Inner Mongolia Normal University.
Wang Ke: proofreader, professor of China’s Inner Mongolian Normal
University.
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