Mobility and the Origins of Mongolian Ethnography Lobsangčoidan’s Understanding Mongolian Customs (1918)
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Abstract
Lobsangčoidan (ca. 1875–1928) was a native from Front Qaračin banner whose life was marked by the social and political upheavals of the late 19th and early 20th century. After travelling extensively in Eastern Mongolia in his capacity as a tax registrar, he passed the examination of the Lifanyuan and worked as a translator and Mongolian language instructor. In this capacity, he went to Japan in 1907 and stayed in Tokyo and Kyoto for altogether seven years. His famous work Mongγol-un jang aγali-yin oyilaburi (Understanding Mongolian Customs), an ethnographic study among the Mongols of Jirim, Josotu and Juu Uda leagues, was written after his return to China when he worked as a translator for the South Manchurian Railway Company. Over the course of his life, Lobsangčoidan crossed various boundaries and moved between different cultural worlds. The paper summarizes what is known about his life and how this relates to his literary and scientific achievements. It is argued that Lobsangčoidan’s book greatly influenced Mongolian studies in China and provided a model for ethnographic inquiry that has been adopted by many subsequent scholars.
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