Blaming Mongolian herders for grassland degradation (in fact caused by China’s large-scale agriculture and mining) is a pretext to destroy their culture.
by Zeng Liqin
On November 3, 2024, Inner Mongolia (which its non-Han inhabitants prefer to call Southern Mongolia) witnessed unusual protests in Heshigten Banner, in the eastern part of the so-called Autonomous Region. Herders protested, demanding compensation from the local government. They claim the government has withheld funds meant for them due to a livestock grazing ban imposed by Chinese authorities on pastoralist communities.
Behind the economic protest, there are deeper issues connected with China’s attempt to eradicate distinctive Mongolian linguistic, ethnic, and religious identity in the region.
Over two decades, the government of China’s policies of “ecological migration” and “livestock grazing ban” have altered pastoralist life and production in Southern Mongolia. These policies forced herders to move from their ancestral lands to Han-dominated agricultural and urban areas. Nomadism has nearly vanished in Southern Mongolia, and herders who keep livestock must confine them due to the grazing ban.
According to the information posted on the Chinese State Council website, China’s original project was to resettle “the remaining nomads of 246,000 households, or 1.157 million individuals, within the borders of the People’s Republic of China” by the end of 2015. This resettlement meant that the traditional nomadic lifestyle practiced by the Mongolian people was officially eradicated, although remnants subsist. Destroying the traditional lifestyle is a way of attacking the Mongolian identity and culture.
Starting in the early 2000s, the Chinese government blamed Mongolian herders for grassland degradation that was in fact caused by China’s large-scale agriculture and mining in Southern Mongolia. This pretext led to policies hostile to the Mongolian pastoralist lifestyle.
Denied compensation for the grazing ban for two years since 2023, herders appealed to higher authorities for intervention and an explanation. A Heshigten Banner herder posted on DouYin, stating some communities have been unpaid for over three years despite strict grazing bans.
“We are herders from Heshigten Banner of Chifeng Municipality. We are protesting in front of the Banner government for grazing land and livestock compensation,” one herder stated in a video on DouYin circulated via YouTube by the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center.
The Banner government has yet to fulfil its promise to address the herders’ concerns. “We were here on October 29, and the government promised to respond today,” a protestor said on November 3. “But it’s been three hours, and no one from the government has met with us.”
“This year, the livestock grazing ban was strictly enforced for 75 days, from April 1 through June 15. During this period, our animals were confined,” stated the herder. “If the necessary compensation had been disbursed promptly, herders could have utilized it to purchase hay, fodder, and veterinary medicine to mitigate the situation.”
A Mongolian herdswoman from Heshigten Banner stated, “Mongolian herders have protested in front of the government multiple times to address their concerns about survival. “The Public Security Bureau called and threatened us, demanding we remove our video statement from DouYin,” the herdswoman said. “Members of several WeChat groups, each with about 500 subscribers, refused and rallied Southern Mongolians to spread the information widely in solidarity.”
