Yangsanjab
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Yangsanjab, Prince Öndür, was a Mongol prince of Khorchin Left Wing Middle Banner in southeastern Mongolia. He struggled against Chinese colonization of Mongolia. Unlike Ghada Meyiren, he rarely comes under the spotlight, probably because he was from the ruling class and unfit for the Marxist framework of class struggle.
Yangsanjab was born to the house of Prince Öndür, which placed second (doroi giyūn wang) in Manchu-Mongol royal ranks. He belonged to the Borjigin clan and was a descendant of Jöchi Khasar, Chinggis Khan's younger brother. During the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Prince Öndür ruled Khorchin Left Wing Middle Banner (commonly called Darkhan Banner; now Khorchin Left Wing Middle Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia) of Jirim League but did not become jasagh or the banner's head since the position was occupied by Prince Darkhan.
He succeeded his father Nayangerel as Prince Öndür as late as in 1920, but had gained popularity among the Mongols in the banner before the succession. He stayed in Beijing for about 6 months a year from 1915 and engaged in political activities to protect the rights of the Mongols. In addition, Prince Öndür became the sole mainstay among the Mongols because by that time, the other powerful princely houses, Princes Darkhan and Jorightu, had left the banner for Mukden.
Yangsanjab was a disciple of the Janggiya Khutughtu, the highest-ranking lama in southern Mongolia. Using the Tibetan Buddhist connection, he got close to the 9th Panchen Lama. In 1926 Yangsanjab and Prince Darkhan invited the Panchen Lama to Darkhan Banner. The lama stayed in the banner nearly for a year from 1927. He hosted the lama's ceremony to which Mongol princes came from all over Mongolia, and succeeded to increase his presence.
By late 1920s most productive lands in Darkhan Banner had been cultivated by Chinese peasants, and the authorities of Liao-ning Province (renamed from Feng-tien in 1929) was about to launch cultivation projects, dividing the banner's last land into two areas, Hsi-chia-huang and Liao-pei-huang. Realizing that the cultivation would push the Mongols in the banner into the margin of survival, Yangsanjab and other princes and tayiji pressed Feng-tien Province to stop the projects in 1930. He also worked on the 9th Panchen Lama, then in the banner, to place pressure on the Chinese province. However, Feng-tien Province made no concessions and forcibly conduct the cultivation projects.
The failure of negotiation led Yangsanjab to mobilize a private army consisting of some hundreds of Mongols. Yangsanjab's army was originally organized by his father Nayangerel to defend the banner from bandits when the Manchu Qing Empire was taken over by the Chinese. His army started anti-cultivation activities including obstruction of farm survey. In response Liao-ning Province crushed the Mongol troops by regular army. The warlord government ordered to incorporate Yangsanjab's troops into the jasagh's (the ruler of the banner's) army. The province made Prince Darkhan take disciplinary action against him possibly because direct punishment by the Chinese authority would inflame Mongols' anti-Chinese sentiment further.
In spite of intensifying resistance against cultivation, the Chinese cultivation proceeded. But the project was halted by the Mukden Incident in 1931 and the establishment of Manchukuo. Manchukuo took the "Mongolian land protection policy" and aborted all Chinese projects for colonization. The end of cultivation of Hsi-chia-huang and Liao-pei-huang saved Khorchin Left Wing Middle Banner from abolition.
Yangsanjab placed great hopes on Manchukuo's policy toward Mongol banners. He fully cooperated with Manchukuo and became the head of Khorchin Left Wing Middle Banner instead of Prince Darkhan, who exhibited an uncooperative attitude toward Manchukuo. He died in Hsin-ching in 1941.
[edit] References
- Borjigin Burensain, Unduru ō to "Seikyōkō" no kaikon mondai ウンドゥル王と「西夾荒」の開墾問題 (Öndür Wang and the Cultivation Problem of Xi-jia-huang), Nairiku Ajiashi Kenkyū 内陸アジア史研究 Vol.14. 1999, pp. 65-89.
- Borjigin Burensain, Kyūsei Panchen Erudeni no tōbu uchi mongoru rekihō to Hōten tōkyoku no taiō 九世パンチェン=エルデニの東部内モンゴル歴訪と奉天当局の対応 (Panchen Erdeni IX's Visits to Eastern Inner Mongolia and the Fengtian Authorities' Reception), Nihon Mongoru Gakkai Kiyō 日本モンゴル学会紀要 No. 31, 2001, pp. 45-67.
- Kōankyoku 興安局, Kōannanshō Horuchin Sayoku Chūki jittai chōsa hōkokusho 興安南省科爾沁左翼中旗實態調査報告書, 1939.
