The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan is a temple dedicated to

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

, where he is worshipped as ancestor, dynastic founder, and deity. The temple is better called the Lord's Enclosure (i.e. shrine), the traditional name among 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 ...

, as it has never truly contained the Khan's body. It is the main centre of the worship of Genghis Khan, a growing practice in the

Mongolian shamanism Mongolian shamanism ( mn, Бөө мөргөл — ''Böö mörgöl''), more broadly called the Mongolian folk religion, or occasionally Tengerism, refers to the animistic and shamanic ethnic religion that has been practiced in Mongolia and it ...

of both

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

, where the temple is located, and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. The temple is located in the Kandehuo Enclosure in the town of Xinjie, in the

Ejin Horo Banner The Ejin Horo Banner, also known as Ejin Horo Qi or Yijinhuoluo County, is a banner in Ordos City in southwestern Inner Mongolia, China. It borders Shaanxi Province to the southeast. As of 2009, the Ejin Horo Banner covers an area of almost , w ...

in the

Ordos Prefecture Ordos ( Mongolian: ''Ordos''; ), also known as Ih Ju, is one of the twelve major subdivisions of Inner Mongolia, China. It lies within the Ordos Plateau of the Yellow River. Although mainly rural, Ordos is administered as a prefecture-level c ...

of Inner Mongolia, in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The main hall is actually a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

where the

coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...

contains no body (only headdresses and accessories), because the actual

tomb of Genghis Khan The location of the burial place of Genghis Khan (died August 18, 1227) has been the object of much speculation and research. The site remains undiscovered, although it is strongly implied that the most likely location is somewhere in the vicin ...

has never been discovered. The present structure was built between 1954 and 1956 by the government of the People's Republic of China in the traditional Mongol style. It was desecrated and its relics destroyed during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, but it was restored with replicas in the 1980s and remains the center of Genghis Khan worship. It was named a AAAAA-rated tourist attraction by China's

National Tourism Administration The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA; ) was a Chinese government authority responsible for the development of tourism in the country. The CNTA was subordinate to the State Council. Its headquarters are in Beijing, with regional branche ...

in 2011.

Location

1995 Mausoleum of Genghis Khan, Inner Mongolia

The cenotaph is located at an elevation of on the Gandeli or Gande'er Prairie about southeast of Xilian and about south of the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

. It is the namesake of its surrounding banner, whose name translates from Mongolian as "the Lord's Enclosure". The site is north of Yulin; south of

Dongsheng Dongsheng District ( Mongolian: ''Düŋšėŋ toɣoriɣ''; ; alternate spelling English: Koshang; Turkic: Košang) is a District and the seat of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It has a district population of 574,242. Th ...

; and from

Baotou Baotou (; mn, Buɣutu qota, Бугат хот) is the largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, as of the 2020 census, its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of its 5 urban districts is h ...

. There is a new interchange on highway 210 leading directly to the site.

History

Early sites

After

died in or around

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

on 12 July AD1227, his remains were supposedly carried back to central Mongolia and buried secretly and without markings, in accordance with his personal directions. His actual burial site remains unknown but was almost certainly not in Ejin Horo, which had only recently been conquered from the

Tangut Empire The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...

. Without a body, the Mongols honored the khan's memory and spirit through his personal effects. These ceremonies allegedly date to the same year as his death.

Kublai Khan Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...

built temples for his grandfather's cult in

Daidu Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly adminis ...

and

Shangdu Shangdu (, ), also known as Xanadu (; Mongolian: ''Šandu''), was the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty of China before Kublai decided to move his throne to the former Jin dynasty capital of Zhōngdū () which was renamed Khanbaliq ( presen ...

. Nine "palaces" for rituals concerning his cult were maintained by an imperial official in

Karakorum Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the ...

.. After the fall of the Yuan in 1368, these permanent structures were replaced by portable mausoleums called the "eight white

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...

s" (''naiman tsagaan ger''). These had originally been palaces where the khan had lived, but were altered to mausoleums by

Ögedei Khan Ögedei Khagan (also Ogodei;, Mongolian: ''Ögedei'', ''Ögüdei''; – 11 December 1241) was second khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun. ...

. These yurts were first encamped at Avraga site at the base of the

Khentii Mountains The Khentii Mountains ( mn, Хэнтийн нуруу) are a mountain range in the Töv and Khentii Provinces in North Eastern Mongolia. Geography The mountain chain overlaps the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and includes Mongolia's sa ...

in Delgerkhaan in

Khentii Province Khentii ( mn, Хэнтий) is one of the 21 Aimags of Mongolia, aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, located in the east of the country. Its capital is Chinggis City. The aimag is named after the Khentii Mountains. It is best known as the birthplace ...

Ordos

The shrine was entrusted to caretakers known as the

Darkhad The Darkhad, Darqads,. Dalhut, or Darhut ( Mongolian for "Untouchables", "Protected Ones", or "Workmen of Darkhan"; Chinese: 达尔扈特, pinyin: Dá'ěrhùtè) are a subgroup of Mongol people living mainly in northern Mongolia, in the Bayanz� ...

. Their leader was chosen from the

Borjigin A Borjigin, ; ; russian: Борджигин, Bordžigin; English plural: Borjigins or Borjigid (from Middle Mongolian);''Histoire des campagnes de Gengis Khan'', p. 119. Manchu plural: is a member of the Mongol sub-clan, which started with Bo ...

clan and was known as the

Jinong Jinong () was a title of the Mongols. It was derived from Chinese ''Jinwang'' (, a title for crown prince, similar to Prince of Wales) although some historians have suggested it originates from ''Qinwang'' (). Whatever its relation with the Chines ...

since the first, Kamala, had been appointed King of Jin. The Darkhad moved from the

Kherlen River Kherlen River (also known as Kern or Kerülen; ; ) is a 1,254 km river in Mongolia and China. Course The river originates in the south slopes of the Khentii mountains, near the Burkhan Khaldun mountain in the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected ...

to the

Ordos Ordos may refer to: Inner Mongolia * Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China **Ordos Ejin Horo Airport * Ordos Loop of the Yellow River, a region of China **Ordos Plateau or "the Ordos", land enclosed by Ordos Loop *Ordos Desert, in Inner Mongolia *Ordos ...

, which took its name ( Mongolian for "palaces") from the mausoleum's presence there. The caretakers oversaw commemorative and religious rituals and were visited by pilgrims. Mongol khans were also crowned at the yurts. Under the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

, 500 Darkhad were exempted from military service and taxation; the shrine also received 500

tael Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

. The Mongolian prince Toghtakhutörü and the Darkhad built a permanent mausoleum in Setsen Khan Aimag in 1864. This traditional Chinese structure was described by a Belgian missionary in 1875. but was destroyed at the

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he ...

's suggestion in order to end an outbreak of

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

among the Darkhad in early 20th century. Around the fall of the Qing, the mausoleum became notable as a symbol for Mongolian nationalists. The Buryat scholar Tsyben Zhamtsarano advocated a removal of the shrine to northern Mongolia . After the Mongolian Revolution, a sacrificial rite was held for Genghis Khan to "bring peace and safety to... human beings and other creatures" and to "drive out bandits, thieves, illness, and other internal and external malefactions" in 1912.. Some Mongolians planned to remove some of the ritual objects—particularly the Black Sülde, an allegedly magical

heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

-sent

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

—to the independent northern Mongolian territory from the Inner Mongolian shrine; in 1914, a letter from the Beijing office overseeing Mongolia and Tibet ordered Arbinbayar, the head of the Ihe Juu League, that In 1915,

Zhang Xiangwen Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Zha ...

( t s p''Zhāng Xiāngwén'', wChang Hsiang-wen) began the scholarly controversy over the site of Genghis Khan's tomb by publishing an article claiming that it was in Ejin Horo. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Prince Demchugdongrub, the notional leader of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

puppet government in Mongolia, ordered that the mobile tomb and its relics be moved to avoid a supposed "Chinese plot to plunder it".. This was rebuffed by the local leader Shagdarjab, who claimed that the shrines could never be moved and locals would resist any attempt to do so. When he accepted Japanese weaponry to defend it, however, the Nationalist government became alarmed at the possibility of Japan using the cult of Genghis Khan to lead a Mongolian separatist movement. The yurts and their relics were to be removed to

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

either at their armed insistence or at Shagdarjab's invitation. (Accounts differ.) The Japanese still attempted to use the cult of Genghis Khan to fan Mongolian nationalism; from 1941–4,. the IJA colonel Kanagawa Kosaku constructed a separate mausoleum in Ulan Hot consisting of 3 main buildings in a estate.

Gansu

Once in Chinese hands, the relics did not go to Qinghai as planned. On 17 May 1939, 200 specially-selected Nationalist troops conveyed the relics to

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an ...

, then the principal base of the

Chinese Communists The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

. Upon their arrival on 21 June 1939, the Communists held a large public sacrifice to Genghis Khan with a crowd of about ten thousand spectators; the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

presented memorial

wreath A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a circle . In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and Chri ...

es; and

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

produced a new

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

for it in his

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, reading "Genghis Khan

Memorial Hall A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''. History of the Memorial Hall In the aft ...

" ( t s ''Chéngjísī Hán Jìniàntáng''). As part of the

Second United Front The Second United Front ( zh, t=第二次國共合作 , s=第二次国共合作 , first=t ) was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to resist the Japanese invasion of China during the Seco ...

, it was allowed to pass out of the Communist controlled area to

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

, where Shaanxi governor

Jiang Dingwen Jiang Dingwen (; December 30, 1895–2 January 1974), courtesy name Mingsan (銘三), was a KMT general from Zhuji, Zhejiang. He was a recipient of the China War Memorial Medal This China War Memorial Medal, also known as the Medal in Commem ...

officiated another religious ritual before a crowd of tens of thousands on 25 June. (Accounts vary from thirty to 200,000.)

Li Yiyan Li Yiyan (李義琰) (died 688) was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. Background It is not known when Li Yiyan was born. His family was from Wei Prefecture (魏州, part of mo ...

, a member of the Nationalists' provincial committee, wrote the booklet ''China's National Hero Genghis Khan'' ( t s ''Zhōnghuá Mínzú Yīngxióng Chéngjísī Hán'') to commemorate the event, listing the khan as a great Chinese leader in the mold of the

First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...

, Emperor Wu, and Emperor Taizong. A few days later, the Gansu governor

Zhu Shaoliang Zhu Shaoliang or Chu Shao-liang () (1891 – 1963) was a general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. In 1935, he was hand-picked by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander-in-chief of the Th ...

held a similar ritual. before enshrining the khan's relics at the Dongshan Dafo Dian on Xinglong Mountain in

Yuzhong County Yuzhong County () is a county of Gansu Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, one of 58 counties of Gansu. Its postal code is 730100, and its population in 2019 was 560,000 ...

. The Gansu government sent soldiers and a chief official for the shrine and brought the remaining Darkhad onto the provincial government's payroll; the original 500 Darkhad were reduced to a mere seven or eight. Following this journey, the shrine remained there for ten years.

Qinghai

At the conclusion of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, the Nationalist guard at the temple fled before the Communist advance into Gansu in the summer of 1949. Plans were put forward to move the khan's shrine to the

Alxa League Alxa League or Ālāshàn League (; mn, , Mongolian Cyrillic. Алшаа аймаг) is one of 12 prefecture level divisions and 3 extant leagues of Inner Mongolia. The league borders Mongolia to the north, Bayan Nur to the northeast, Wuhai ...

in western

or to

Mount Emei Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. Ultimately, Qinghai's local warlord

Ma Pufang Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general. General Ma started an industrialization pr ...

intervened and moved it west to

Kumbum Monastery Kumbum Monastery (, THL ''Kumbum Jampa Ling''), also called Ta'er Temple, is a Tibetan gompa in Lusar, Huangzhong County, Xining, Qinghai, China. It was founded in 1583 in a narrow valley close to the village of Lusar in the historical Tibeta ...

near his capital Xining, consecrating it with the help of local and Mongolian lamas under Ulaan Gegen. Following the Communist conquest of Xining a few months later, the Communist general He Banyan sacrificed three sheep to the khan and offered ceremonial scarves (''hadag'') and a banner reading "National Hero" ( ''Mínzú Yīngxióng'') to the temple housing his shrine..

Present-day mausoleum

Ejin Horo fell to the Communists at the end of 1949 and was controlled by their Northwest Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, Northwest Bureau until the establishment of Suiyuan Province the next year. The district's Communists set up rituals honouring Genghis Khan in the early 1950s, but abolished the traditional religious offices surrounding them like the

and controlled the cult through local committees with loyal Party cadres. Without the relics, they relied largely on singing and dancing groups. In 1953, the PRC's central government approved the recently-formed Inner Mongolian provincial government's request for 800,000 to create the present permanent structures. Early the next year, the central government permitted the return of the objects at Kumbum to the site being constructed at Ejin Horo. The region's chairman Ulanhu officiated at the first ritual after their return, decrying the Nationalists for having "stolen" them. After this ritual, he immediately held a second ceremony to ground breaking ceremony, break ground on a permanent temple to house the objects and the khan's cult, again approved and paid for by China's central government. By 1956, this new temple was completed, greatly expanding the purview of the original shrine. Rather than having eight separate shrines throughout Ejin Horo for the Great Khan, his wives, and his children, all were placed together; a further 20 sacred and venerated objects from around the Ordos were also brought to the new site. The government also mandated that the main ritual would be held in the summer rather than in the third lunar month, in order to make it more convenient for the headers to maintain their spring work schedules. With the Darkhads no longer liable for personally paying for maintenance of the shrine, most accepted these changes. An especially large celebration was held in 1962 to mark the 800th anniversary of Genghis Khan's birth. In 1968, the

's Red Guards (People's Republic of China), Red Guards destroyed almost everything of value at the shrine. For 10 years, the buildings themselves were turned into a salt depot as part of preparations for a potential war with the Soviet Union. Following Deng Xiaoping's Opening Up Policy, the site was restored by 1982 and sanctioned for "Chinese nationalism, patriotic education" as a AAAA-rated tourist attraction. Replicas of the former relics were made, and a great marble statue of Genghis was completed in 1989. Priests at the museum now claim that all of the Red Guards who desecrated the tomb have died in abnormal ways, suffering a kind of curse. Inner Mongolians continued to complain about the poor state of the mausoleum. A 2001 proposal for its refurbishment was finally approved in 2004. Unrelated houses, stores, and hotels were removed from the area of the mausoleum to a separate area away and replaced with new structures in the same style as the mausoleum. The 150-million- (about USD, $20 million) improvement plan was carried out from 2005 to 2006, improving the site's infrastructure, expanding its courtyard, and decorating and repairing its existing buildings and walls. The China National Tourism Administration named the site a AAAAA-rated tourist attractions of the PRC, AAAAA-rated tourist attraction in 2011.. On 10 July 2015, 20 tourists aged 33 to 74—10 South Africans, 9 United Kingdom, Britons, and an Indian—were detained at Ordos Ejin Horo Airport, arrested on Terrorism in the People's Republic of China, terrorism-related charges the next day, and ultimately deportation, deported from China after they watched a British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC documentary about Genghis Khan in their hotel rooms prior to visiting the mausoleum. Authorities had considered it "watching and spreading violent terrorist videos". In 2017, the Genghis Khan Mausoleum averaged about 8000 visitors a day during its peak season and about 200 visitors a day at other times.

Administration

The site is overseen by the Genghis Khan Mausoleum Administration Bureau. It was headed by Chageder and then Mengkeduren in the early 2000s.

Architecture

The present Genghis Khan Mausoleum Scenic Area stretches about , covering about in total.. It consists of the Sulede Altar, the Sightseeing District for the Protection of Historic Relics, the Conservation District for Ecosystem Preservation, the Development-Restricted District of Visual Spectacles, the long Sacred Pathway of Genghis Khan between the entrance and the cenotaph, the long scenic pathway around the Bayinchanghuo Prairie, a Tourist Activity Centre, a Tourist Education Centre, the Sacrificial Sightseeing District, the Mongolian Folk Custom Village, the Shenquan Ecological Tourism Region, the Nadam Equestrian Sport Centre, and the Hot Air Balloon Club. The tomb complex consists of the Main Hall, the Imperial Burial Palace, the Western Hall, the Eastern Hall, the Western Corridor, and the Eastern Corridor. The Main Hall (正殿) is octagonal, high, and covers about . It is shaped like a flying eagle as a symbol of the khan's bravery and adventurousness. Its plaque, reading "Mausoleum of Genghis Khan", was written by Ulanhu in 1985. The site includes a high statue of Genghis Khan and two murals about his life, including a wall map of the extent of the Mongol Empire. The Imperial Burial Palace (寢宮) or Back Palace (後殿) is high and covers about . It has three

s with yellow silk roofs; the central yurt houses the coffins of Genghis Khan and one of his four. wives and the side yurts house the coffins of his brothers. Genghis Khan's coffin is silver decorated with engraved roses and a golden lock; weapons allegedly used by Genghis lie around it. There are also two other coffins for another two of his consorts. The site's main altar lies in front of this yurt. The cenotaph and its placement are highly unusual in China, which usually follows Han dynasty tomb architecture, Han principles like feng shui in the placement of tombs, employing mountains, rivers, and forests in the belief that this increases its spiritual power. The Eastern Hall or Palace (東殿) is high. It holds the coffin of Tolui (Genghis Khan's 4th and favourite son) and his wife Sorghaghtani. The Western Hall or Palace (西殿) is high. It holds nine banners with holy arrows thought to house or connect with the soul of the Great Khan. They also represent 9 of Genghis's generals. It also holds Genghis's saddle and reins, some weapons, and some other objects like the khan's milk barrel. All of the items currently displayed are replicas. The high Eastern (東廊) and Western Corridors (西廊) connecting these halls are decorated with of murals about the lives of Genghis Khan and his descendants. The site uses a five-colour scheme of blue, red, white, gold, and green to represent the multiethnic nature of Genghis Khan's empire and also the sky, sun and fire, milk, earth, and prairie.

Worship

Genghis Khan worship is a practice of

. There are other temples dedicated to this cult in Inner Mongolia and Northern China. The mausoleum is guarded by the

or Darqads ("Untouchables"), who also oversee its religious festivals, stop tourists from taking photographs, keep candles lit, and watch over the site's keys and books. The 30 or so official Darkhad at the mausoleum are paid about 4000 a month for their services. Mongols gather four times annually: * 21st day of the 3rd month of the Mongolian calendar, the most important * 15th day of the 5th lunar month * 12th day of the 9th lunar month * Goat Hide Stripes Ceremony on the 3rd day of the 10th lunar month There is also a major ceremony in honor of the Black Sülde on the 14th day of the 7th lunar month. They follow traditional ceremonies, such as offering flowers and food to Tengri, Heaven (''Tengri''). The ritual sacrifice to the spirit of Genghis Khan was listed as national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006, and the sacrifice to the Black Sülde was given similar status at the provincial level in 2007. After the ceremonies, there are Naadam competitions, primarily Mongolian wrestling, wrestling, horse-riding, and archery, but also singing.Almaz Khan, "Chinggis Khan, From Imperial Ancestor to Ethnic Hero," in Harrell, Stevan, ''Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers'', pp. 248–77.

Performance

The mausoleum complex is also hosts three plays concerning the khan and Mongolian culture: ''Proud Son of Heaven: Eternal Genghis Khan'' or ''The Mighty Genghis Khan'' (), ''The Grand Ceremony of Genghis Khan'' (), and ''An Ordos Wedding Ceremony'' (). There is also an annual Genghis Khan Mausoleum Tourism Cultural Week.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* . * . * . * * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * . * . * . *