I wrote the other day about adoption in Mongolia, and I often post about issues in China, so this headline,"China's adoption of Genghis Khan infuriates Mongolians" grabbed my attention, and I thought I'd pass along the story even if the use of the word adoption is not in the sense we normally use here.

According to the report, China is redefining history and taking a figure Mao insisted was "only fit to fire arrows at birds" and embracing him as a national hero.

Good old Genghis, Mongol ruler and barbarian warlord of the first order, a big part of the reason the Great Wall is so darned great ... keeping him OUT was a motivating factor in the construction ... is now being drafted by China in a blatant attempt to put the PR in PRC.

So newly impressed are the powers-that-be that a Genghis Khan "mausoleum" has been erected on a spot the Khan supposedly passed by way back in 1227 in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. (The term "mausoleum" is more than a bit of an overstatement, as the only remnants of Genghis residing there are what are reputed to be his bow and a saddle ... and I'm kind of doubting their authenticity, but that could be just me.)

Mongolian festivals of riding, shooting and wrestling, once banned but now subsidised by the Chinese state, have been "communised", according to one Mongolian official who did not wish to be named.

Such rewriting of history has angered Mongolians, both in the independent (outer) Mongolian state and in China. They see the attempt to claim their national icon as part of a Chinese plan to expand its influence. Promoting Genghis Khan as Chinese also helps promote the party line that Inner Mongolia is an important part of China, despite the fact that many ethnic Mongols still yearn for independence.

In thinking typical of the People's Republic, the justification for the Chinese-azation of the Khan goes as follows: Genghis Khan is Chinese because some of his progeny ruled China, so were therefore Chinese emperors ... and because there are Mongolians living in China.

Huh?

How about all that stuff about honoring one's roots and birthcountry? Doesn't this count for a Khan?