Located upstream of a river, the
Mausoleum of Genghis Khan (成吉思汗陵) is in Kandehuo Enclosure, Xinjie Township, Yijin'eluo Banner, Yike Juu League (伊克昭盟伊金霍洛旗新街鎮的甘德爾敖包),
Inner Mongolia, the
People's Republic of China. Its purpose is more memorial than historical, as the
coffins contains no body, only headdresses, and accessories. The real burial place of the Khan has not been discovered.
The coffin had been circulating between several
temples between
Gansu and
Qinghai. Since then, the portable mausoleum called
naiman chaghaan ger (eight white houses) enshrined him. Those who served to the mausolem was called the
Ordus (lit. palaces) and the title of their leader was
Jinong. The Ordus lived on the
Kerulen river but later moved to what is now called Ordos.
In 1942 Kanagawa Kosaku, a colonel of the Imperial Japanese Army, found a non-portable mausoleum of Genghis Khan in Ulaan Khoto. He tried to arouse nationalistic sentiment among the Mongols. It was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, but rebuilt later.
Another mausoleum, the topic of this article, was constructed by the PRC in between 1954-1956 under the ideology of "Chinese nation". i.e. The Mongols are part of the Chinese nation and Genghis Khan is a hero of China. In contrast, the PRC represses Pan-Mongolism. It was also destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, but rebuilt later.
The Mausoleum is in a rectangular (15 × 30 km) cemetery. Within the mausoleum, which appears like three Mongolian tents externally, there are four chambers and two halls:
- Main Palace (正殿): 26-metre high; octagonal
- Resting Palace (寢宮) or Back Palace (後殿): 20-m high
- 7 coffins:
- Genghis Khan
- 3 khan-consorts
- Tuolei (托雷), the Khan's youngest, and fourth, son.
- Tuolei's wife
- East Palace (東殿): 20-m high
- West Palace (西殿): 23-m high
- 9 banners of the 9 generals
- East Hall (東廊): 20-m high
- West Hall: 20-m high
The mausoleum is guarded by the Darkhad (達爾哈特), meaning "the sacred ones", who are the descendants of the Borjigin clan.
Mongols gather four times annually:
- March 21: most important
- May 15
- September 21
- October 3
They follow traditional ceremonies, such as offering flowers and food to the Heaven. After the ceremonies, there are competitions, like wrestling, horse-riding, archery, and singing.
- Photos (http://www.fashionwing.com/info/html/sch_act/china_trip/08/page_01.htm): unlabelled; probably only the last three of the six are of the mausoleum and surrounding.
