Khong Tayiji ( mn, , хун тайж; ), also spelled Qong Tayiji, was a title of the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

, derived from the Chinese term ''Huangtaizi'' (皇太子; "

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

"). At first it also meant crown prince in the

Mongolian language Mongolian is the official language of Mongolia and both the most widely spoken and best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residen ...

. It was originally given only to descendants of Genghis Khan. In the Mongol tradition, a khan was unable to appoint the successor, instead the successor was elected in the '' kurultai'' after the khan's death. However Kublai Khan (who founded the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

) broke this tradition, and installed his second son

Zhenjin Zhenjin ( , ; 1240 – 1285 or January 5, 1286), also rendered as Jingim, Chinkim, or Chingkim, was a crown prince of the Yuan dynasty of China. He was the son of Kublai Khan and grandson of Tolui. Life He was born as second son to Kublai Khan ...

(Chingem) as Crown Prince. After Chingem died in 1286, the seal of Crown prince was passed to Chingem's third son Temür in 1293. However, Temür was never formally appointed as the Crown Prince and still not the definite successor. He was only confirmed as successor in a ''kurultai'' held after Kublai's death. The Khong Tayiji became sub- Khan when Altan Khan of the Tümed tümen installed the Khong Tayiji as assistant khan. In 1630s the head of the Dzungars was given the title of Baatur Khong Tayiji by the

5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

. Thereafter the style "Khong Tayiji" was adopted by Dzungar leader Tsewang Dorji Namjal, son of Galdan Tseren. As the Dzungars got stronger, the title rose in importance. By the mid-18th century it was ranked higher than that of khan among the Oirats.

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