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Mongol history hidden in Chinese characters
A Script for the Mongols
Genghis Khan allowed nothing to be written about him in his lifetime except law. He had an alphabet made for the Mongols, adapted from the Uyghur, and on every campaign he adopted one orphan, who joined his household and was raised by his mother, Hoelun. One boy, a Tatar who proved a poor soldier but was the best at reading and writing, grew up to be supreme judge. His name was Shigihutuk.
The Family Chronicle
After Genghis Khan died in 1227, Shigihutuk compiled the story of his life in 1228, the year of the mouse, at a spot in Mongolia that can still be visited. Because he slept in the same ger as the family, it records intimate moments, like Börte sitting up in bed and telling her husband what he had to do. It was meant only for the family, and it stayed secret so long that scholars began to think it did not exist.
Translation and Loss
The manuscript used Chinese characters to record the sounds of Mongolian words. Francis Woodman Cleaves of Harvard translated it in the 1950s, but trouble with a publisher kept it out of print in English until 1982. The second volume of his work, the notes, was lost and has never been found.
Why did the Mongols use Chinese characters to write Mongolian?
The Mongols had no script until Genghis Khan captured an Uyghur scribe named Tata-tonga from the Naiman in 1204. He taught the Mongols to write their language in the Uyghur alphabet. The manuscript Palladius found, however, used Chinese characters to record Mongolian sounds. The Ming court's translation school had copied the text that way, with a Chinese gloss, to train interpreters.
Who was the Russian scholar in Beijing?
He was Palladius Kafarov, a Russian Orthodox monk who spent decades in Beijing. In 1866 he published the first translation of the text into Russian. His work started the study of the book as a source for Mongol history. Later scholars, including Cleaves, built on his.
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