Repository logo
 

Queen Chöjav and Hashin Nime


Change log

Authors

Bulag, Uradyn E. 
Fuerwa, Dorjraa 

Abstract

Chöjav, born into an Inner Mongolian aristocratic family in Beijing, called Gungsangnorbu, had married the Torghut Qin Wang of Hobogsair, Baosheng Noyan, when she was seventeen. However, in the third year of their marriage, Baosheng Noyan passed away due to a severe illness, and soon she returned to Urumchi along with the retreat of the Nationalist Party. My uncle, Hashin Nime, who was a secretary to Chöjav when he was in Hobogsair, told me things about her. Of the many responsibilities she took on since the death of Noyan in Hobogsair, one notable task was inviting a lama teacher, Shar Bagshi, from Khalha, to teach Mongolian, Kazakh, and Tibetan to twelve Torghut youths she had gathered from herder families. My uncle was one of them and was successfully educated to become her secretary after four years of learning, a position he held until her return to Urumchi. When he saw Chöjav for the first time, according to my uncle’s recollection, she was dressed in the Nationalist Party uniform, accompanied by three of her Gujdei – akin to a vice magistrate – Lagva, Böödein Öljeit and Mönkhurun, and tested them through reading in those languages. Since then, Hashin Nime elevated from a poor countryside child to the elite class, dressing in finely designed clothes, living with Wang Noyans in Obootin Khüree, and being respected by ordinary herders, until various wars came to Hobogsair following the weakening of Noyan and the Nationalist Party’s decline. As part of the duties of his position, he was responsible for collecting tariffs from herders and farmers and played the role of a bodyguard to Chöjav. Considering the rapidly worsening situation of Hobogsair, one day, Chöjav called Hashin Nime and explained that she had not only taken charge of all livestock collected from herders for the Nationalist Party, but also mentioned her plans to go to Urumchi to marry a Party official. Additionally, she suggested that she had spoken to a girl from Jurgan Sum Banner to marry Hashin Nime and assured him that she would help them to handle things if he agreed to follow her to Urumchi to secure his secretary position. As things were already planned for him by his boss without his consent, Hashin Nime requested one day off to go back home to see his mother in Chindenii Shovgur before leaving. Chöjav agreed and let him ride a horse, known as Baosheng Noyan’s white tail horse, back home at night and return to her side in Obootin Khüre the following night, avoiding notice of their plan to leave. Hashin Nime’s story then unfolds when he visits his mother. Baatar Sumyan, Hashin Nime’s maternal uncle, riding on his bay horse with a white blaze (stolen from Russia) and carrying a semi-automatic rifle, coincided with Hashin Nime at his home. Sumyan was well-known for his battles with numerous Kazakh bandits and Soviets, and he had stolen plenty of herds of horses back from the Soviet side to feed poor Torghuts in Hobogsair. Aware of his cousin and the struggling situation of the Nationalist Party in Hobogsair, Sumyan raged at him, saying that he would be ready to shoot him if he dared to go with Chöjav, leaving his single mother behind. In 1944, Hashin Nime then refused to go along with Chöjav, following Sumyan and his mother, he entered the Soviet side, where they lived for about six months, avoiding the constant plunder of the Kazakh bandits. After these historical incidents, Hashin Nime raised his livestock and lived in Hobogsair until the Great Leap Forward campaign began in 1958. In that year, he discovered Urtnasun, one of the county secretaries in Hobogsair, had stolen his horses. In response, Hashin Nime, having his own horses confiscated, confronted Urtnasun and beat him, revealing the incident to the public. Unfortunately, taking advantage of his political position, instead of admitting his deeds, Urtnasun accused Hashin Nime of planning to overturn Communist Party power in Hobogsair and substitute it with the Nationalist Party. He claimed that Hashin Nime was allying with his teacher, Shar Bagshi from Halha, Shaliwan Gegen from Urumchi, each gathering 500 troops. Ultimately, Hashin Nime was sentenced in Ulaan Saadag of Har Us and Barlag Mountain of Ili for about 18 years. During his imprisonment, in 1963, witnessing the Kazakh escape from Barlag Mountain to the Soviet side, he became a hero of the Chinese Communist Party as he decided not to leave that territory with the Kazakhs, no matter how they convinced him. Soon after this event, the Chinese Communist Party transferred an entire construction corps to Barlag Mountain, specifically along the border with the Soviets, completely substituting the region where Kazakhs used to live. Considering his loyal deeds of not fleeing abroad, the government decided to acquit Hashin Nime and let him go home. However, Hashin Nime decided to stay within the corps as one of its members till the end of the Cultural Revolutionary movement and later returned to Hobogsair with Shaliwan Gegen.

Description

Keywords

Chöjav, Torghut, Hashin Nime, Nationalist Party, Baosheng Noyan

Is Part Of

Publisher

Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge

Publisher DOI

Publisher URL

Sponsorship
Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.