The Lord Of Asia

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22387, 28 April 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Lord Of Asia

For as long as; they cap remember; the Monger people have dwelt on the steppes of central and western Asia, a poor and barren land, windswept inVsuntmer and: bitterly cold in Winter; - To-day they are nothing more than starving herdsmen, but they toiow of altime in th£ twelfth century when one at their" chiefs made himself lord Q* all Asia within 50 years. " . . In those days ;the Mongols lived much as, they do "now.; Their houses were round, skin . huts, mounted on carts, and drawn.by Oxen. If you had* looked inside one of these huts, or yurts, you.would have seen the skin, garments of the family, the cooking weapons of the menfolk—scimitars, spears, and round, hide-covered shields! ."There would have been treasure, too,' looted from the.merchant caravans that followed the long and dangerous journeys from

Europe to China—gold, ivory, rich Bokhara carpets, and Chinese silk. Temuchin was the son of a small chief among these gypsy tribes,-and was at an early age noted for his height, strength, and violent temper. It was not long before ,the. onus of chieftainship fell upon his shoulders, for when he was 13 his father died; Immediately the tribe was rent with" quarrels, many of the fighting men refusing to acknowledge such a. young, lad as their leader. But Temuchin (the name means "finest: steel") calibre greater than ■ theirs, and - . he ; won back to his standard not only them, but many of/the neighbouring tribes. As he grew older the Mon-

(By Jean Ingram)

gols flocked to him, until they were at last a united people of many thousand strong. It became Temuchin's ambition to unite all the Asian peoples under one leader. . • ■ ' In the middle of the twelfth century Temuchin met his people and their chieftains ,bn a riverbank in Siberia, and he • was proclaimed their leader. He then took the name by which we know him today—Ghenghis (or Jengis) Khan, which means "perfect warrior.'' • Then commenced that irresistible march of. conquest that nearly overthrew the. 'civilised world. Ghenghis .'Khan looked first, at China, the rich merchant nation, lying prosperous and secure behind her Great Wall. • Clad in leatherthonged iron plates, and mounted on shaggy ponies,- he and his slanteyed warriors poured across Asia, broke through the Great Wall, and

i overran northern China. You can imagine those fierce, half-starved wanderers feasting their eyes on the lush.; paddy-fields and prosperous gardens of ■ the forbidden empire! But Ghenghis Khan had other plans. While the spirit of victory was on ■him. he turned westwards and invaded Turkestan and Persia, laying them both waste. He returned to China, marched on the thickly-populated and fertile south, and established his capital at Peking.. The CHmese were at that time among the most cultured people in the world." They were philosophers, doctors, astronomers, and inventors, as well as shrewd and fearless merchants. Ghenghis Khan was as far seeing an emperor as he was a brilliant warrior. He commanded peace, -and set his savage,- ignorant -Mongols, who dressed in dried skins and ate raw meat, to learn from the clever I Chinese. They learned how to plough and reap, how to write, how to speak in a language other than their own gutteral and limited tongue. More than that they learned the use of gunpowder, the mariner's compass, the production

of paper, and the earliest form of printing. Ghenghis Khan set up service posts < right across the Asian highways. Methods of communication were better than they had ever been, and altogether China became a more progressive nation under the great Khan's leadership. Meanwhile his sons had taken up the march of conquest. One of them with his men swept on Russia like a tidal wave, subdued her people and established himself so strongly that she was under Mongol rule for more than 250 years. During this time she lost all Christian culture, and lapsed into the darkness and paganism and complete isolation from the rest of the world. Another Khan, recei. ing no strong resistance, actually penetrated into Poland, and it would have been a matter of months* before Europe was enslaved if it had not been for his sudden death. The straggling army turned back into Asia, conquered Mesopotamia, and sacked the historic city of Bagdad. Korea was added to the list of conquered, and Ghenghis Khan could say that his empire stretched from the China

Sea to the Caspian. It is almost unbelievable to think that one man's ambition could thus influence the world's history. This Mongol chieftain was directly responsible for the Renaissance, His invasion of the Ottoman , Empire sent the Turks westward; they captured Constantinople, thus exiling from the city the learned Greeks and Romans who carried their new learning to the west European countries, and started that movement known as the Renairsance. i In 1227, Ghenghis Khan died, 'From his son the reins of the wonderful empire went to a grandson, who became the famous Kublai Khan, noted for his wisdom and culture. His court was one of the wonders of the world. We hear all about ifc in the chronicles of that Venetian adventurer, Messer Marco Polo, who came across half the world, in a caravan .and remained at the Khan's court for many years. After the death of Kublai Khan the vast empire began to crumble, and by 1368 it was only,a memory. The Mongol warriors wandered

away from China and Tartary an| Persia to the lonely steppes of tnes ancestors. They .lost all trace a learning, and you may find', thai to-day living in the ox-drawn:yura herding scrawny cattle, living P r » cariously on those bitter, blizzar'} swept plains. The purer Monga tribes are found 4n the Gobi desen a peaceful, unwarlike folk whoi°» low the teachings of Buddha. Tn«l are very.,different from the.nero hordes, who, 700 years ago, I»" duced Ghengbis Khan, the perfw warriot,