ABSTRACT
Mongolia is half the size of India, but sparsely populated (Milne et al. 1991: 2). It has a homogeneous population, with around 95 per cent Mongol-speaking. It is rich in mineral resources.
Mongolia’s 2.5 million people live in an area twice the size of France … During the 1960s tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese were expelled. In 1918 there were 100,000 ethnic Chinese Mongolians. By 1989 there were (officially) 247 … Petty trade and barter across the Chinese border have ballooned as Mongolia has opened up. The Chinese are the biggest buyers (and smugglers) of cashmere … and some 20,000 Chinese nationals are now reckoned to live in Mongolia … There is a large Kazakh minority and several culturally distinct Mongolian groupings.
