LAND AND LEGITIMIZATION 2006 . 4, IN THE INNER MONGOLIAN NO GRASSLANDS RIGHTS FORUM BY TEMTSEL HAO CHINA Mongols perceive poor returns for their sacri- struggle in serving the purpose of historical development and 31 fice of land use privileges under Chinese sov- national destiny,and the political nation has been transformed into an economic nation in which the welfare or destiny of the ereignty. whole justifies the need for sacrifice from certain groups, in particular peasants, migrant workers and residents of less If you ask a Mongolian herdsman of Inner Mongolia to whom developed regions. the grassland under his feet belongs, the answer will probably Following is a brief historical interpretation of the first 10 be the same as that of a peasant asked the same question else- years of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (IMAR), where in China: the land belongs either to the local collective during which land reform, the cooperative movement and or to the state. But the Mongolian herdsman is almost certainly communization proceeded as in the rest of the country.During unaware that his right to use the land he relies on for his liveli- this period, the Mongols ceased to be owners of their ancestral hood has less legal protection than that of a peasant.The issue land as the Chinese state assumed ownership of the land and DEVELOPMENT FOR WHOM? of Mongolian land rights and related legitimacy issues hinges resources of the entire country.In a political sense, the Mon- on two notions: that of a political nation and of an economic gols joined a new political nation envisaged by the Chinese nation. Communists with an emphasis on the common interests and The Chinese Communist movement can be seen as a part of common future of the people as a whole, without class, cul- the long process of building a modern Chinese nation. If the tural or ethnic distinctions. traditional Chinese identity is mainly cultural and related to Once this political nation became a thing of the past, how- the past, the new political nation envisaged by the Chinese ever, the validity of the new economic nation and the legiti- Communists entails looking toward a common future through macy of nationalism have come into question. How do the lens of historical materialism.1 The ideology of a political non-Chinese regard the newly-envisaged economic nation, nation provided legitimacy for the new Communist state to i.e., the authoritarian Chinese state with a freer economy? incorporate many non-Chinese peoples, including Mongols, How can the economic nation provide a credible vision for a together with their ancestral lands. I consider this nation- common future for non-Chinese? Is this common future justi- building process by the Chinese Communists to have lasted fied by shared history and cultural heritage? Is there an internal roughly 20 years, from the Sino-Japanese War, during which mechanism, such as economic rationality,or an external factor, Chinese communists actively expressed nationalist sentiment, such as a hostile outside force or common enemy,powerful through 1949, when the People’s Republic was founded. enough to bind diverse peoples in a common cause? In the current post-Communist era, the authorities have increasingly emphasized the economic nation to fill the ideo- The politics of boundaries logical vacuum created by the de facto abandonment of Com- The IMAR government led by Ulanhu,2 although sponsored by munism. From 1979 to 1983, China’s land system was the Chinese Communists, also represented Mongolian nation- transformed from collective ownership and cultivation to a alist sentiments by advocating for the establishment of a uni- household contract system.This rural reform was also applied fied Mongolian homeland free of exploitation by Chinese to the pastoral lands of Inner Mongolia. Market reform fol- business and oppression by Chinese warlords.3 The leftist fac- lowed, and the resulting “socialism with Chinese characteris- tion of Mongolian nationalists was influenced by the Russian, tics” allowed not only private ownership of the means of Outer Mongolian (Mongolian People’s Republic) and Chinese production, but also of capital.As the former public ownership Communists, and they assumed control over Inner Mongolia and distribution system was transformed beyond recognition, soon after the Soviet and Mongolian armies defeated the Japan- the Chinese authorities began replacing the official ideology of ese in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia.The Soviet model of Communism with a new language of economic efficiency and national self-determination4 and its early Chinese Communist rationality.Economic means have now replaced ideological version enjoyed great appeal among Mongolian nationalists.5 A villager herds sheep past a coal stockpile in Chifeng, IMAR. Photo: Getty Images During its first 10 years, the IMAR government reclaimed Chinese), which reverted to the Mongolian name, Hohhot, the peripheral territories that had been either incorporated under which it had been founded by Altan Khan in 1554. By into bordering Chinese provinces6 or set up as new Chinese April 1956, the promised restoration of Inner Mongolia’s provinces during the Republican period.7 In the CCP’s 1935 original leagues, tribes and banners was completed,12 and the Declaration (“The Chinese Soviet Central Government’s Decla- unified IMAR was lauded by Ulanhu as the end of 300 years ration to the People of Inner Mongolia”8), Mao Zedong prom- of disunity within Inner Mongolia.13 Lauding unification’s ised to help the Mongols “preserve the glory of the epoch of benefits to the development of Mongolian culture, Ulanhu Genghis Khan, prevent the extermination of their nation and welcomed 500,000 Mongols outside the IMAR to return to embark on the path of national revival and obtain their inde- Inner Mongolia.14 pendence enjoyed by such peoples as those of Turkey,Poland, One principle applied by the IMAR government in restor- the Ukraine and the Caucasus.”9 ing Inner Mongolia to its original size was to include as few The declaration further stated “The Mongolian nation in Chinese as possible and provide a stronger population base for Inner Mongolia can organize themselves according to their Mongolian autonomy.Ulanhu was later criticized by Mao own will.They have the right to organize their own lives Zedong at the Chengdu Conference in 1958 for his efforts to according to their own principles and establish their own gov- increase the IMAR’s power base and promote ethnic autonomy. ernment.They also have the right to form a federation with Mao Zedong emphasized that Communism—not national- other nations or to be completely independent.”10 ism—should be the article of faith for cadres.15 However, the territorial restoration was limited to the But in fact, enlarging the IMAR actually brought more Chi- IMAR’s administrative jurisdiction. Mongol land rights turned nese cadres into the IMAR government.And because the incor- out to be a more complicated issue for the IMAR authorities porated areas were mostly agricultural regions where Chinese when Inner Mongolia, together with the rest of the country, peasants typically outnumbered Mongolian peasants, their underwent land reform and the cooperative movement. incorporation also substantially increased the overall Chinese In 1947, when Ulanhu united and secured the support of population, which already made up the majority of the IMAR. the eastern Mongolian nationalists,11 the capital of the Joint Although provincial border controls and the PRC’s household Inner Mongolian Autonomous Movement was moved from registration (hukou) system greatly restricted free movement, Ulaan Hot in eastern Mongolia to Kalgan.The capital relo- the incorporation of populated agricultural areas into Inner cated once more in 1952 to Guisui (“return and pacify” in Mongolia opened the door for residents of these areas to migrate to more sparsely populated areas, where they further areas, which might have formerly belonged to a whole nation- reduced the Mongol-Chinese population ratio. ality or tribe, an individual or a monastery,or might have been 2006 When Mao Zedong purged the Chinese Communist Party leased land between different nationalities or tribes, are now . 4, of conservative bureaucrats or so-called “capitalist roaders” at owned by the Mongolian public.The policy of free grazing on NO the outset of the Cultural Revolution, Ulanhu and his ethnic grassland and readjustment of grassland is extended through- cadres in Inner Mongolia were purged as well.The ideological out the IMAR.”24 factor combined with the ethnic factor made the purge much At the same time, Mongols ceased to be considered the harsher in Inner Mongolia,16 leading to more than 100,000 owners of non-pastoral land, and agricultural land started to be Mongol deaths.17 allocated to both Chinese and Mongol peasants. For centuries The purge in Inner Mongolia was accomplished through before the land reform, Chinese peasants in Inner Mongolia the imposition of martial law,and by reducing the IMAR had been tenants within Mongolian banners,25 where all land region to half its original size.At that time, Sino-Russian hos- was owned by Mongolian residents. One important measure RIGHTS FORUM tilities had reached such a level that China prepared for a major taken during the IMAR land reform was to invalidate the defensive war against a Russian invasion, with Inner Mongolia “Mongolian Rent” paid by Chinese tenant farmers,26 and to CHINA regarded as the front.This defense consideration, coupled with confiscate land from big Mongolian land owners and allocated the aim of internal political control, led to the slicing up of the it landless tenants, most of whom were Chinese. 33 IMAR. From 1947 to 1957, a “no class struggle” policy was pur- Sino-Russian relations further deteriorated during the Cul- sued as part of the democratic reform in Inner Mongolia’s pas- tural Revolution, and in 1966, the Soviet Union and the Mon- toral areas.27 According to the Marxist doctrine applied in golian People’s Republic signed a security treaty under which Chinese land reform, the lack of private landowners meant no Soviet troops were stationed along the Mongolia-China border.