Home > Culture Rapper looks to put Mongolia on the international hip hop map

By William Yen, CNA staff reporter

For many people, "Mongolian music" brings to mind an image of a Mongolian elder playing a two-stringed fiddle called a morin khuur and singing a folk song, but 26-year-old rapper Ginjin has made it his mission to change people's ideas about music from his country.

"I want to show our tradition, our culture and history through our hip hop music, our modern music," said Ginjin, who has gained the moniker "Trap King of Mongolia."

In the lead up to his performance in Taipei on Friday at the 2019 Golden Melody Festival, -- a series of events preceding the Golden Melody Awards, otherwise known as Taiwan's Grammy Awards -- Gingin said he is looking forward to the event because his style of "representing" Mongolia will be different to others.

"Usually when Mongolians go to other countries to showcase their culture, they use folk songs or traditional songs, but I want to show our culture through hip hop," he said.

Even though he is one of five acts scheduled to perform at the festival that day, Ginjin's connection with Taiwan runs deeper than his 30 minutes on stage.

His bond with Taiwan stems from his 2011-2015 study of tourism and hospitality management at Kaohsiung's I-Shou University, during which time he wrote lyrics and recorded music.

"Before, I was making music only for the Mongolian public. But later, when I was studying in Taiwan, I realized that I had to make music for the whole world," Ginjin said.

The international perspective came to light in 2014 when he recorded "Kaohsiung Most Wanted," a compilation of 15 famous rap instrumentals laced with his lyrical rap skills in English.

In the mixtape, Ginjin tied elements of Kaoshiung into his tracks.

"You know we downtown, you know we gonna shine, Kaohsiung's most wanted in the house," he sang in one of the tracks.

In another track, Ginjin describes how the school holiday season is spent in the southern port city with the beach and the sun.

"Summer night in Kaohsiung, warmer than Taipei. Summer nights in Kaohsiung, every night is Friday," he sang.

"That album made me realize that I had to use English more and try to not only make songs for Mongolians," Ginjin said.

However, it was another track he wrote, "Ugzug Saihan Bol Zus Saihan," which translates to "As long as the ass is good, everything is fine," a trap party track that made him famous in his home country.

For a country of approximately three million, the number of online views of the track has already surpassed the number of Mongolia's population.

Ginjin describes the song's popularity as due to it being new and different to what was being circulated in the local hip hop community in Mongolia.

The hip hop topics currently dominating the Mongolian hip hop scene are mainly about the government, societal and political issues, with rappers calling out lies the government may have told, he said.

"But I did the opposite, I did a song about ass and that brought controversy," which ensured the track received wide circulation, Ginjin said.

"I was kinda like the pioneer on that one," Ginjin said.

Following his success, Ginjin dropped various other trap songs such as "Baiji," "Pretty Girls like Trap," and "Unuudur" in 2018, while in 2019, he started making songs that would cross over into neighboring countries.

In that year, Ginjin released the song "Arasso," meaning "alright?" in Korean and "Ganbei," which means "cheers!" in Mandarin.

The music video for "Arasso," which was in a slower relaxed mood, presented Ginjin in traditional Mongolian garb, sporting a similar Gucci headband, and carrying a traditional dagger by his side.

Ginjin's music not only connects with a wider international audience with much loved party tracks and trap beats, it also features popular trends and sayings among Mongolian youth, while making an attempt to showcase their traditional clothing.

Jakub Haidari, hip hop events organizer and Ginjin's collaborating partner, said Ginjin hopes to promote Mongolia to the world.

"By releasing the music video Ganbei on international platforms, American and European viewers can see Mongolia and learn about the country and see that there is good hip hop there," Haidari said.

Ginjin also hopes to connect with other Asian hip hop artists, Haidari said.

To date, Ginjin has recorded music with Taiwan rapper YZ and Hong Kong rapper Dough-boy, both of whom have a large fan following in Asia. Speaking about the collaborations, Haidari said they were more about Ginjin making music with someone who shares his values, as opposed to just making music with someone famous.

Ginjin is scheduled to hit the stage later Friday with YZ and another local rapper ThaEiht at the Syntrend Clapper Studio in Taipei. The Golden Music Festival kicked off June 26 and will run through Saturday, while the 30th Golden Melody Awards ceremony will be held at the Taipei Arena Saturday night. 

Source:Taiwan Central News Agency

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Taiwan is trusted partner in helping Mongolia on ICT infrastructure: NCC chief

Mongolian business delegation is visiting Taiwan seeking collaborations in the field of ICT, livestock farming, and waste management

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- A business delegation from Mongolia comprising 40 officials and professionals is visiting Taiwan to explore collaborations and business opportunities in the fields of information and communication technology (ICT), agriculture and livestock farming, as well as waste management.

Led by the newly-elected President of the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Amartuvshin Otgondavaa, the team of 78 had a joint meeting with their Taiwanese counterparts on Thursday in Taipei, reviewing the status of bilateral agricultural and livestock trade, ICT and cybersecurity policies, as well as waste management in both countries. A three-hour business matchup and networking event followed the meeting.

The event was co-hosted by the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association and the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In the opening ceremony, chairperson of Taiwan's National Communications Commission, Chan Ting-i (詹婷怡) spoke of the 9-year-old MOU with Mongolia's Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) in developing an information communication partnership. She said she was looking forward to a deepened collaboration between the two institutions in the era when the information technology and telecommunication regime is shifting and a cross-border, as well as cross-industry collaboration will be needed to catch up with the change.

Chan also explained why Taiwan is a trusted partner in developing ICT infrastructure: "Awareness of constructing a safe and trusted 5G communication network is mounting in the context of China's Huawei 5G security concerns, so a trusted partner does matter in their efforts to tap into the exponential growth of ICT business and to overcome the demand for a faster and a more stable 5G network."

"Taiwan has an edge in developing a safe and fast information communication and telecommunication network, and the country values data privacy and protection, which is evidenced by the passage of an act governing information communication security management last year," she added.

Chan said she was confident of the country's capability in safeguarding data security and is willing to share the know-how with the Mongolian partner in its digital transformation effort to become a "smart nation."

In addition to the partnership in the field of ICT, the delegation is also looking for expanded agricultural trade, including the nutritious sea buckthorn. President of Mongolian National Association of Fruits & Berries Nasanjargal Darjaa said at the event that he is hoping Taiwanese consumers will be able to enjoy more sea buckthorn products one day.

Taiwan imports mainly vegetarian oils from Mongolia and exports cereal/food products and wood products to the country.

According to data from the Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA, bilateral trade between Taiwan and Mongolia amounted to US$40.45 million in 2018, and exports from Taiwan increased by 154 percent from a year earlier.

The Mongolian delegation also visited the Smart City Summit & Expo, the largest of its kind in Asia, during the visit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Taiwan aims to disband Mongolia and Tibet Affairs Body, without transfer of duty

By Luo Tien-pin and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Taiwanese Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission is to be dissolved as part of a restructuring plan and its administrative businesses will not be transferred to the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), a draft bill submitted by the Executive Yuan said.

During former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration it was proposed that the commission be combined with the MAC, but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has disagreed.

A draft submitted to the Legislative Yuan made no mention of Mongolia or Tibet in outlining the administrative responsibilities of the MAC.

DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said there is a consensus within the government regarding the dissolution of the commission, adding that the bodies different responsibilities would be divided among various departments.

Lee said the commission’s cultural affairs should be handled by the Ministry of Culture, and exchanges with overseas Mongolians and Tibetans by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Overseas Community Affairs Council.

The dissolution of the commission was proposed by former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration, but it was never implemented, Lee said, adding that the Chen administration proposed establishing a cultural and tourism department that handled the commission’s cultural exchanges, while the foreign ministry would be responsible for Tibetan affairs.

The Ma administration in 2012 proposed merging the commission and the MAC, with a separate office for Tibetan affairs and Mongolian affairs within the council. That proposal was never passed.

Lee said that part of the restructuring involves issues concerning Tibetan political refugees and the likely establishment of a refugee act that would include provisions for Tibetans, adding that further discussions are also needed to clarify who would act as the representative for Mongolians and Tibetans living in Taiwan.

A government official said the dissolution of the commission is an established goal, adding that the government must now figure out whether Tibetan and Mongolian affairs should be handled in conjunction with Chinese affairs or separately.

Each administration has a different way of thinking about the issue, the official said, adding that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has rejected the idea of tying the commission’s responsibilities with those related to China.

Source:www.taipeitimes.com

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The Truth About Mongolia's Independence 70 Years Ago

A referendum in Mongolia seventy years ago sheds light on the country’s path since.

By Sergey Radchenko

Seventy years ago, on October 20, 1945, Mongolia held a referendum on independence from China. The Chinese had by then lost all effective control of what they then called “Outer Mongolia.” The last Chinese forces in Mongolia were chased out by the anti-Bolshevik general Roman von Ungern-Stenberg in 1921 (who was in turn defeated by the Bolsheviks later that year). Mongolia soon became the “People’s Republic of Mongolia” – the first Soviet satellite, even as it remained, de jure, a part of China. In February 1945, at Yalta, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin asked his wartime allies, the United States and the United Kingdom, to consent to Mongolia maintaining its “status quo” after the war, and obtained their agreement to this innocuous proposition.

It was only later, in the summer of 1945, that it became clear what Stalin meant by the “status quo,” when he told the Chinese – who had not participated in the Yalta conference and were not consulted about its decisions – to recognize Mongolia’s independence. In the course of drawn-out, bitter talks in Moscow between Stalin and the head of the Chinese Executive Yuan T.V. Soong, the Soviet leader raised the prospect of Mongolian nationalism: “If this [China’s recognition] does not happen Outer Mongolia will be rallying point for all Mongolians. It’s to the detriment of China and us.” Stalin pulled out a map to show how Mongolia was strategically important to the USSR. He cited Lenin’s parting with Poland and Finland in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution as an example for China. He referred to the Yalta agreements, arguing that China, in the end, simply had no choice. With northern and northeast China poised to be overrun by Soviet troops – who were on the verge of entry into war against Japan – the Chinese knew that this was not an idle threat.

Under pressure, China’s leader Chiang Kai-shek gave in, cabling Soong to make the “greatest sacrifice” on the condition that Stalin would abandon his support for the Chinese Communist Party and the Uighur independence movement in Xinjiang. Stalin agreed. With the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance on August 14, 1945, China promised to recognize Mongolia’s independence but only after a plebiscite. Both sides realized, of course, that the referendum was just a show but Chiang wanted it for domestic political reasons, and Stalin was happy to oblige.

Stalin’s insinuation to T.V. Soong concerning the power of Mongolian nationalism was not just talk. The Soviet leader knew that his Mongolian client Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan, was actively working with Mongolian tribes in Manchuria and what would later become China’s Inner Mongolia, advocating their accession to the Mongolian state. Soviet operatives in Ulaanbaatar reported to Moscow that Mongolian elites already imagined the creation of a Great Mongolia across much of northern China, extending as far south as the Great Wall and as far east as the sea. Choibalsan shared these sentiments. He also disagreed with some of the younger leaders, like his eventual successor Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, that Mongolia should itself become a part of the USSR. Despite being a Soviet client, Choibalsan attempted, within permissible limits, to maintain a degree of autonomy from the Soviet Union. As for his southern neighbor, Choibalsan privately vowed in July 1945 that “we will not have friendship and friendly cooperation with the Chinese. These are very, very bad people.”

October 20, 1945 gave Choibalsan an opportunity to prove how much Mongolia wanted independence. Preparatory work began a month beforehand. From October 3, the ruling Communist Party (the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party) held a total of 593 party cell meetings, 409 Youth Communist League meetings, and 295 meetings of party activists. Tens of thousands of participants in these meetings were treated to propaganda concerning the great achievements of socialist Mongolia and the importance of the referendum. Subsequent Soviet reports indicated that the Mongolian populace on the whole appreciated the significance of the vote, and only a few participants asked “provocative” questions, such as whether the Soviet Union planned to annex Mongolia after the plebiscite.

The actual day of voting became something of a great national celebration. Soviet observers reported:

From early morning the voters in large groups set out for the polling stations. The majority dressed up in festive clothes. Having arrived at polling stations, [they] presented the [referendum] commissions with letters, statements, greetings, well wishes, and also with valuable gifts. There were more than 85 thousand letters and statements of this type. Many of the polling stations witnessed spontaneous mass demonstrations, and the voters arrived at the stations with flags, banners, and portraits of comrade Stalin and the leaders of [Mongolia].

The official results of the referendum showed that 98.6 percent of eligible voters – 487285 people – took part in the voting. Soviet observers secretly informed Moscow of multiple voting irregularities, including instances of the local referendum commissions “without asking the voters, marked their opinions in the voting lists and even faked signatures to prove the 100% participation of the voters in the plebiscite.” It transpired that there were 1551 duplicate entries in the voting register, and that 2437 people were left out altogether. Among those who voted were 98 foreigners who were not supposed to vote and – oh, horror – two people who were eligible to vote, blatantly refused to do so. The central referendum commission, according to these Soviet reports, did not show the slightest interest in the numbers that were coming from below and “tried to write up the protocol on the results of the plebiscite without checking any documents.”

But all of these unsavory details were kept out of the public eye. According to the official results of the referendum, a full 100 percent of the voters voted for independence from China. Even the Soviets, for all their reservations about the methods of this referendum, commended the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party for their ability to “succeed in any political campaign.”

It is hard to imagine that even if an honest referendum was conducted in October 1945, the outcome for Mongolia would have been any different. The majority of the Mongolian population would still have voted for independence from China. But, skilled in the art of Communist political manipulation, then-rulers of Mongolia did not hesitate for a moment before trying to forge the results of the referendum, even when they did not have to.

True to Chiang’s earlier promise, the Republic of China recognized Mongolia’s independence in January 1946. This recognition was rescinded some years later when Chiang accused Stalin of violating the agreements of 1945 by supporting the Chinese Communists in the Civil War. For decades afterwards, the maps of the Republic of China, published in Taiwan, featured Mongolia as a part of the Chinese territory.
The Chinese Communists, who came to power in the Mainland in October 1949, also briefly hoped to regain Mongolia. Mao Zedong raised the issue with Stalin in February 1949 but the Soviet leader demurred, arguing that Mongolia had already “tasted independence” and would not let go of it. After Stalin’s death in 1953, which was followed by de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union, the Chinese probed Moscow again, suggesting that Mongolia’s independence had been one of Stalin’s mistakes. These probes were again rebuffed. As late as 1989 then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was still complaining to the Americans that Stalin had “severed” Mongolia from China. “Those over 50 in China remember that the shape of China was like a maple leaf,” Deng told then-President George H.W. Bush. “Now, if you look at a map, you see a huge chunk in the north cut away; the maple leaf has been nibbled away.”

In present-day Mongolia, the 1945 referendum is remembered as a case of self-assertion of national pride and patriotic spirit. Although for all intents and purposes Mongolia was a Soviet satellite then and did not become a fully independent country until the collapse of Communism in the late 1980s, the referendum forms an important part of the narrative of statehood rooted in the ancient exploits of Genghis Khan but expressed, as in 1945, in the collective outpouring of the nationalist sentiment.

But from the Chinese perspective, Mongolia’s independence was not so much a result of Mongolian nationalism as of Soviet manipulation. China’s is probably a fairer assessment, because no matter how much the Mongolians aspired towards independence, these aspirations would probably come to nothing were it not for Stalin’s dogged insistence – for his own, very un-altruistic, reasons – on Mongolia becoming an independent state. The Chinese leaders would not have given in to people’s sentiments – China’s treatment of its ethnic minorities in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet is a case in point – but they did bow to the realities of power. In 1945, China was weak, and Stalin had his way. The results of the Mongolian plebiscite were therefore predetermined, and not so much in the happy meeting of the enthusiastic referendum committee, but in the dark recesses of Stalin’s mind.

Sergey Radchenko is Zi Jiang Distinguished Professor at East China Normal University, Global Fellow at the Wilson Center, and Reader in International Politics at Aberystwyth University, Wales.

source:http://thediplomat.com/

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Mongolia suspects nabbed in Taipei NT$1 mil. theft

TAIPEI -- Six Mongolians who entered Taiwan as tourists earlier this month were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing mobile phones and other products worth about NT$1 million (US$30,447) from shopping centers around Taipei, police said Wednesday.

Police at the Zhongxiao W. Rd. police station received a tip off on Monday that a cellphone store in the Taipei Main Station Underground Mall had fallen victim to phone theft and discovered based on surveillance video that three young men and three young women were suspected of having stolen the phones, according to Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng First Precinct.

A task force formed by the police station then launched an investigation and found that the burglary ring of six 20-somethings were staying at a hotel on Nanjing West Road.

They were arrested during a raid at the hotel at around 3 a.m. Tuesday as they were preparing to check out, according to the police.

Source:www.chinapost.com

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Taiwanese Minister misidentifies map as ROC claims ridiculed

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia speaks at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) incorrectly identified a map of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) yesterday, calling it a map of the Republic of China (ROC), prompting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) to say that what the government claims as ROC territory is absurd.

Chen showed the map during a legislative committee meeting and asked Hsia whether it was a map of the ROC.

Hsia responded in the negative, saying that what used to be called “Outer Mongolia” is now the Republic of Mongolia, as recognized by the ROC government in 2002.

Without the Republic of Mongolia, the ROC’s official map and that of the PRC almost completely overlap, which apparently led Hsia to misidentify the map.

Small territorial differences between the two include parts of Pakistan and Tajikistan, which made territorial settlements with the PRC in 1963 and 2011 respectively.

“Are we going to claim that Tajikistan and Taiwan belong to ‘one China’ as [KMT Chairman] Eric Chu (朱立倫) said about the two sides of the Taiwan Strait?” Chen asked.

Hsia said he would not have used Chu’s words to describe the nation.

“It is a joke that the ROC still upholds territorial claims over Tajikistan,” Chen said. “The ROC is Taiwan and Taiwan is the ROC, with its capital in Taipei; it is that easy.”

He asked Hsia for a “correct answer” on the question of the ROC capital’s location, adding that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of the Interior say that Nanjing, China, not Taipei, is the capital of the ROC.

“I would say it is Taipei,” Hsia said, but added that the Ministry of the Interior would have the “official answer.”

However, near the end of the meeting, Chen proposed to have the council correct the Ministry of the Interior on the location of ROC’s capital.

Hsia said that while the Ministry of Education had sent out a document to public schools in December 2013 identifying Nanjing as the capital, “it later issued another announcement apologizing for the previous statement, calling it ‘overly cursory’ and emphasizing that the ROC capital is Taipei, which houses the central government.”

Source:http://www.taipeitimes.com/

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Mongolian girl to receive surgery in Taiwan: TFCF

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A five-year-old Mongolian girl, Otgonzul, will undergo surgery at Taiwan National University Hospital (TNUH, 臺大醫院), and will hopefully be able to return to school in Mongolia, her healthy right arm showing from her t-shirt, just like every any other schoolgirl, said a representative for Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF, 家扶基金會).

According to TFCF Mongolian Branch Office, Otgonzul was born without a thumb on her right hand or a right forearm. Raised by a single mother who struggled on a very low income, Otgonzul and her two sisters currently reside in a factory storage room, instead of a Mongolian yurt, or small nomadic dwelling. Her mother's salary could only just meet their daily necessities. Paying for Otgonzul's arm surgery was out of the question.

Just like many other Mongolian children, given their financial situation and Mongolia's poor medical resources, Otgonzul was in little hope of treatment. According to TFCF's Mongolian Branch Office, most children could only hope that foreign surgeons would come to Mongolia, or foreign funds would come to support overseas medical treatment.

In Otgonzul's case, she was luckily met by representatives from ChildFund Korea last October, whose social workers then raised a fund of NT$1.72 million for TFCF Mongolian branch. The purpose of the fund is to pay for children's medical treatment, overseas transportation fees, and for dietary and nutritional support.

Otgonzul was then the first child to travel overseas for medical treatment with the support of ChildFund Korea.

She has now undergone her first operation, with two more to go before she stands a chance of gaining a healthy right hand and arm. Otgonzul's mother expressed her gratitude to TFCF, saying that she is optimistic about the operations, and that she believes Otgonzul will be able to rest her right arm under the sunshine very soon, never again to have to hide under long sleeves in the future.

As for Otgonzul, she is most looking forward to having the plaster cast removed, and wearing T-shirts to school, hand-in-hand with her classmates.

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