- University of Cambridge United Kingdom
This video contains some interesting details about the history of the Ejine Torghuts. After their settlement in Ejine almost 300 years ago, Torghut nobles took wives mostly from the Halh Mongols. Yonghong says that although traditional Torghut clothes have been preserved very well, the Torghuts in Ejine have lost many of their culture, for instance, the Jangar epic and the Savardan dance. Torghuts used to herd horses, cattle and sheep, but today camels and goats predominate. In everyday life, once can see some differences between the Torghuts and the Halh. The Torghut yurt, for example, is taller than the Halh version. The Torghuts are mostly Buddhist, though some also believe in shamanism. There are three monasteries in Ejine: Dashchoilin, Janchinamjil, and Dambadarjia, the last of which being a Halh monastery built in the 1930s. Today, lamas can marry and have children, and they live in their own homes, only coming to monasteries for chanting on certain days.
Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin