Acta Mongolica

Nikolai Kyuner on the Buryats and Mongols in the Soviet Far Eastern Krai

Dittmar Schorkowitz — 2025-12-30

This article offers an essay by Nikolai Vasilyevich Kyuner on the Buryats and Mongols in the Soviet Far East, based on his studies and field experiences in the early 1920s, which is preserved in its original form as a previously unpublished archival document in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St. Petersburg. The document, typewritten in Cyrillic script with handwritten annotations, is included in the appendix, preceded by an annotated English translation and metadata information provided by the author of these lines.

Cross-Cultural Knowledge Transfer and The Adaptation of Chinese Medical Practice in Mongolia

Tsetsenbaatar Gunsennym — 2025-12-30

This study explores the impact of Chinese medicine on Mongolian medical traditions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Through the analysis of Mongolian medical texts, the literature reveals the selective approach Mongolian healers used when integrating Chinese concepts and treatments into their own. As infectious diseases was an important factor in shaping the Mongol population, a key focus is found on their strategy against this, particularly to smallpox. By filtering and engaging with Chinese knowledge, Mongolian scholars actively tailored it to the contextual needs of their country to strengthen their preexisting medical system. Alongside this, this article further aims to unpack the importance of translation in the dissemination of medical knowledge, notably through the Mongolian translation of The Fine Words of Smallpox (1814). Ultimately, this research underscores the impact of Chinese medical pratices on Mongolian medicine, illustrating the significance of cross-cultural connections in advancing medical traditions and public health.

Mongolian horses past and present

Cecilia Conte — 2025-12-30

The introduction of domestic horses and riding during the 2nd millennium BC triggered profound changes in prehistoric Mongolian societies. The connection between horses and humans was instrumental for the creation of past nomadic states. Until today, horses remain beloved animals which play a major role in subsistence, ritual as well as national narratives. Horses, with their special economic and symbolic place in both Mongolia’s ancient past and its present, have been largely studied from either an archaeological or an anthropological point of view. This paper simply asks: what do we know about Mongolian horses, past and present, and where do we go from here? It provides an overview of recent archaeological and anthropological debates concerning horses in Mongolia with a focus on the Bronze Age and present, respectively, and explores the potential for future interdisciplinary studies. Amongst the variety of subjects discussed here are Mongolia’s khirigsuur burial mound complexes; recent genetic advances regarding horse domestication; and contemporary multi-species herding practices, material culture, and concepts. Based on this extensive review of horse-related literature and the author’s own archaeological and ethnographic research in Mongolia, established scientific dichotomies such as wild vs. domesticated and human vs. non-human will be re-evaluated in favour of more relational approaches.

From Tradition to Modernization

Li-na SU — 2025-12-30

A thorough understanding of the "production-living-ecology" coordinated development mechanism in pastoral regions is crucial for achieving regional economic growth, improving living standards, and protecting the ecological environment. This study, from the perspective of green and low-carbon development, comprehensively evaluates the coordination level and coupling index of "production-living-ecology" in 14 border pastoral banners of Inner Mongolia, while analyzing their dynamic trends. Building on existing research findings, the paper proposes policy recommendations to effectively address the root causes of conflicts in this tripartite system and promote green, low-carbon transitions in production and lifestyle practices.

Labour Organization and Hay–Feed Relations in Intensive, Semi-Intensive, and Pastoral Livestock Systems

Byambabaatar Ichinkhorloo — 2025-12-30

This article compares pastoral and intensified livestock systems in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China, by examining how labour organization, feed dependence, and market relations reconfigure livelihood vulnerability and autonomy. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2025, including household interviews and participant observation, the study analyzes three contrasting production systems: intensive pen-feeding cattle farms in Tongliao, semi-intensive fenced-pasture households in eastern Inner Mongolia, and mobile pastoral herding in western Mongolia. The analysis shows that pastoral and intensified livestock systems are structured by fundamentally different forms of dependence. Pastoral livestock production remains directly exposed to climatic variability and pasture conditions; livestock survival depends on herders’ continuous labour, seasonal mobility, and ecological knowledge. Yet despite its sensitivity to nature, pastoralism retains a relatively high degree of socio-economic autonomy, as households rely primarily on pasture and labour rather than on external inputs. Intensified livestock production, by contrast, reduces direct exposure to pasture variability through enclosure and feed-based systems, but becomes deeply dependent on state policy, feed prices, and integrated supply chains. As livestock numbers decline and production concentrates within feed- and capital-intensive clusters, herders are increasingly embedded in networks of suppliers, subsidies, regulation, and markets. By comparing Inner Mongolia and Mongolia, the article argues that livestock intensification does not eliminate risk but relocates it—from nature to institutions, from labour to markets, and from household autonomy to policy and price volatility. The findings challenge linear narratives of livestock “modernization” and demonstrate that pastoralism and intensification represent distinct socio-ecological regimes rather than stages along a single developmental path.