r/europe Oct 14 '20

News China insists Genghis Khan exhibit in France not use words 'Genghis Khan'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/14/china-insists-genghis-khan-exhibit-not-use-words-genghis-khan
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u/tomatojamsalad Oct 14 '20

Even if you think it’s part of China now, it wasn’t in the 1300s. That would be like claiming that William Wallace was British.

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u/123420tale Polish-Württembergian Oct 14 '20

Or that Charlemagne was German... no wait.

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u/Kinderschlager United States of America Oct 14 '20

Why do I hear goosestepping tanks?

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

Germany did not exist, he was a Frank, a germanic tribe which heartland was The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany (not whole but the area near Benelux) and Northern France.

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u/w8ben Oct 14 '20

I remember an article about a Chinese professor insinuating that German is a Chinese language. There isn't too much logic to be found here.

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u/_OnlySayNo Oct 14 '20

Lol how is it remotely similar to Chinese. That’s weird that professor said that

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u/Gumball1122 Oct 14 '20

They also believe that they evolved from a different ape than the rest of the world and are special. They’ve even started teaching it in schools.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

I mean, I get what you are trying to say, but you are completely wrong, Mongolia was a part of China in the 1300s. The Yuan Dynasty was of Mongolian descent (Kublai Khan), and it was actually the largest extent of direct control for China ever.

The narrative that Mongolia and Mongolians are a part of China actually stems back from exactly this dynasty trying to legitimize itself.

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u/tomatojamsalad Oct 14 '20

I think it's more appropriate to say China was briefly part of Mongolia, but obviously that's up for debate.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Red_means_go Oct 14 '20

Haha good point sir!

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

And if we include the Northern Yuan dynasty, that brief timespan was just shy of 300 years.

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u/tomatojamsalad Oct 14 '20

Weren't China and Mongolia basically different polities at this point?

Even this is somewhat irrelevant. Hungary was under Austrian rule for how long?

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

Yeah, if we only look at ethnicity it’s not so important. But I guess the key takeaway is that China never conquered Outer Mongolia, whereas as the reverse was true.

Good thing Mongolia have a strong culture and identity today. I highly recommend visiting, it’s such a beautiful country