This book is the history of the suffering and resistance of the Mongolian people. However, the author's narrow-minded nationalism and worldview undermine its credibility, readability and impact for non-Mongolian readers.
It's truly sad that the Republic of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia was unable to unite, simply because the great powers like Britain, Russia, and the United States made the decisions without involving the Mongolian people or the Republic of China. Small nations rarely have a say in their own fate, which is still the case in today’s world.
The book relies a lot on oral histories gathered through the author’s survey in Inner Mongolia. While these stories are emotionally impactful, it’s hard to assess how reliable they are.
The author’s emphasis on Chinese (Han) chauvinism also seems to prevent a more balanced analysis. I believe chauvinism is something that’s learned, not an inherent trait tied to any ethnicity. From a global point of view, the ethnic majority always oppress the minorities wherever possible - this is not exclusive to Chinese Han’s society. If the Han Chinese are considered to be born violent towards other ethnicities, how would the author explain the Mongol Empire in the 13th century? Should we view today’s Mongols in the same way?
While the author criticises Han Chinese chauvinism, she has no problem accepting Genghis Khan as a national hero. To be fair, this happened in the 13th century and must be understood in its historical context. However, I don’t think it’s worth glorifying, as his legacy also involves colonising and oppressing others. The author's double standards are shocking, which again undermines this book's credibility.
I’m also disappointed by the author’s interview section in the book's final chapter, where she claims that Russia does not engage in murder or forced assimilation. I wonder how she would like to justify Russia’s war against Ukraine in today’s world? Russia’s expulsion of rebel groups including Tatars from Crimea and the settlement by Russian colonisers is similar to what the Han Chinese have done in Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Tibet. But the author chose to ignore this part of history to prove her point, which makes her account even less reliable.
The author’s portrayal of both Japan and Mongolia as “weak” nations is shocking, given that Japan once colonised China, Korea, and Southeast Asia during WWII. To label Japan as a victim alongside Mongolia is to misrepresent history, and I cannot imagine how an honourable scholar like the author herself was able to allow herself to do such thing.
The author has been labelling the CCP as fascists during the Cultural Revolution, while I think what they did was worse. Fascism usually targets external “others” (like Jews), whereas the CCP was killing millions of both ethnic Chinese and non-Chinese; and its collectivisation policies, or man-made famine, resulted in an estimated thirty million deaths.
What I did find insightful was Zhou Enlai’s involvement in Mao Zedong’s actions, particularly in sacrificing lives for political power. We all know that Japan began invading Manchuria in the early 1930s, while our textbooks in Mainland China often emphasise that the full-scale Sino-Japanese War did not start until 1937. Most likely, this is to downplay the fact that the CCP had not been participating in the war before 1937, as they were too busy with the 'Long March'—which is how they glorified this embarrassing part of CCP history.