Life and Death in Ulaanbatar

Genghis Khan Statue

The Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue,is a 40 meter tall statue of Genghis Khan on horseback, The statue is symbolically pointed east towards his birthplace.

Came across this statue and it is an impressive piece of stainless steel metal work. You can walk up inside the statue and take in the view from the horses head. There is also a museum under the statue which had an impressive private collection of pieces dating back to the bronze age.

The Zaisan Memorial 

It is a memorial that honors Soviet soldiers killed in WWII. Located on a hill south of the city, the memorial features a circular memorial painting that depicts scenes of friendship between the peoples of the USSR and Mongolia. 

For a child, the first big celebration is the first haircut, usually at an age between three and five. The birthday congratulation banquet is one of the traditional festivity banquets for the Mongolian ethnic group. There is a banquet held right on a baby's one-year-old birthday congratulation. After that, however, all banquets and other celebration activities, concerning one's birthday congratulation as well as one's year of fate, are held on the first day of the first lunar month, along with the Spring Festival. According to Mongolian conventions, there are no banquets celebrating one's 13th, 25th, 37th and 49th years of fate. Though they are considered a little more important than usual birthday congratulations, there will be no more celebration than receiving presents from relatives. On the contrary, when it comes to the 61st, 73rd and 85th animal years of the aged, their offspring have to select an auspicious day, and send invitations beforehand to relatives, friends as well as neighbors before finally holding the birthday congratulation ceremony. However, it should be noted that in several places, there are celebrations on one's 60th, 70th, 80th and 90th birthday congratulations, which are almost identical with ceremonies of one's animal year in terms of both the content and form.

They kowtow and present a blessing had a as well as other gifts. Presents from relatives, friends or townsmen should all be in propitious numbers such as three, nine or eighty-one. The blessing had a ranks first in a presents. For Mongolian people, it is considered to be the most sacred and noble gift given to seniors and distinguished guests.

Besides the blessing hada, there is a variety of birthday congratulation gifts, such as porcelain bowls engraved with dragons coiling in clouds, silver and metal bowls, matches, tobacco, alcohol, silk and satins. Hats should be avoided, though. It is unpropitious to send hats because traditionally, "cover one's head with a hat" is connected with bad luck. Furthermore, it has been an ancient tradition for Mongolians to send a tobacco purse, the mouth of which is always upward and thus symbolizes prosperity.

Deceased relatives were usually put to rest in the open, Sky buried is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposing to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially birds of grey.  

For Tibetan Buddhists, sky burial and cremation are templates of instructional teaching of the impermanence of life. It is considered an act of generosity on the part of the deceased, since the deceased and his/her surviving relatives are providing food to sustain living beings.

Nowadays, corpses are usually buried. Prior to the procedure, monks may chant mantra around the body and burn juniper incense.  

Red Dots - Week 10

A red car is in the parking lot.

A red eraser is on the top of the traditional pencil.

Red Dots - Week 9

Red signature is on the burn etching key tag. 

A lucky tag was stuck on a grapefruit during Lunar New Year. This word means good luck.

UB/ Mongolia - Eye-Opener!

Stereotypes in UB:

1.     All people lead a nomadic life living in yurts.

2.     They have a long life.

3.     Everyone can ride a horse.

4.     Their skin is very white and bright because they live in the coldest place of the world.

5.     Buddhists monks in UB usually had worn a yellow cap from mid 1600 - 1921.

6.     Mongolian women in general are very headstrong, warrior like.

7.     Men are scary and act like a savage.

8.     They’ve never heard of a microwave, a vacuum cleaner.

9.     Genghis Khan was the founder and great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his demise.

1.     Sheep and horse milk

Myths:

1.     Mongolian can’t live in the warmer place because their heart is different with the normal people.

2.     Mongolian is attached to the horse in every time.

3.     The newborns use the horse milk, instead of the breast milk.

Media Bias:

The Mongolian press began in 1920 with close ties to the Soviet Union under the Mongolian Communist Party. Until reforms in the 1990s, the government had strict control of the media and oversaw all publishing, in which no independent media was allowed.  The dissolution of the Soviet Union had a significant impact in Mongolia, where the one-party state grew into a multi-party democracy, and with that, media freedoms came to the forefront. The Mongolian media currently consist of around 300 prints and broadcasting outlets.  Since 2006, the media environment has improved by the government debating a new Freedom of Information Act, and the removal of any affiliation of media outlets with the government.

Conclusion:

I think this assignment like a travel tour by myself. Everything I got from the Internet, from my family narrative. It is hard to say I can understand everything about UB, but I have learned the important keys at least. This assignment encourage me research and study another culture, which is totally different from mine. It is a challenge for graphic design student. As the specific of graphic designer, I will work with multicultural clients, in order to understand and work well; I do have research their cultural. It is really important in success of the design outcome. Learning another culture is not only improving the knowledge, but also my thinking is practicing. It helps my reflection ability increase since I research every aspects of a culture.

My favorite part in this assignment is preliminary research. At first sight, it is very simple, however, it is a foundation of the whole research. I can base on the data from the preliminary research in order to complete the following parts.

Although this research is virtual and all information I got is from the Google, but, it is a perfect framework for anyone who have a plan to travel to somewhere.

In the future, whatever I work, wherever I travel, I can use this assignment as one detail research about where I’ll come. Now, when I travel to UB, Mongolia, at least I have learned their lifestyle, weather, and job opportunity, even the taboo.  It helps me save time to adapt to a new place, a new culture.

Red Dots - Week 8

Coke cap and label.

A tiny red heart in the driver license represents organ/ tissue donor.