ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - China built the Great Wall more than 2,000 years ago to keep out invaders from the north. But the Chinese are having a harder time repulsing modern interlopers like these: long-haired Mongolian men in black, whose office décor features a wolf pelt, a portrait of Genghis Khan and a music store poster of Eminem.
So the Chinese police got nervous when they heard that Hurd was crossing the Gobi Desert, coming down from Mongolia, 600 miles to the north. With their new hit CD, "I Was Born in Mongolia," Hurd, a heavy metal, Mongolian-pride group, was coming for a three-day tour, culminating Nov. 1 with a performance in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
"I was born in Mongolia" was going to be the name of my next CD. I'm always getting screwed by those Mongolians!
The article, and the brief profile of Hurd, is a lead in to the larger issue of ethnic Mongolians in Inner Mongolia (part of China) and their relationships to Mongolia proper and vise versa. The only thing I know about Mongolia is that I like Mongolian Beef. If that describes you as well, you may want to check this out.
Also, I don't know how Mongolian names work, but all three of these guys seem to have the first name "Damba." Somebody correct me if I'm mistaken here.
Posted by mike at November 26, 2004 11:44 AM