Mongolian macho display
By Jules Quartly (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-22 09:23
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Mongolian sportsmen pit their strength against one another in rough and tough contests during the Nadam Festival.[Photo/China Daily] |
The Nadam Fair is a tradition which goes way back to countless years of history. Jules Quartly tests the testosterone of "manly" sports.
Two men flapped like cumbersome birds before slowly grappling with each other in the sandy arena accompanied by the ululations of a Mongolian singer, shouts of encouragement and laughter from the crowd.
There was the pungent odor of horses, lines of archers letting loose their arrows.
As expected, sports events at the Ordos International Nadam Fair last week were a blur of color, noise and sweat. It's a tradition that goes back hundreds and possibly thousands of years on the Mongolian steppes.
But this was the first Ordos Nadam festival and just the seventh official traditional ethnic minority sports meet in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and there was a lot more than the "three manly sports" of wrestling, horse racing and archery on offer.
To start with, there was an extravagant opening ceremony at the Ordos International Nadam Fair Venue, with its 500-meter grandstand, VIP boxes and horseracing track, purpose-built for the event.
A cast of thousands had been assembled for the 30,000 spectators at the opening event. They performed elaborate dances and joined stars like Russia's Vitas in songs of praise. There were 12 giant screens joined together that framed the action and regular explosions of fireworks. During one particularly effervescent display a police officer I had become friendly with turned around and shouted, "I bet you don't have this in England!"
He was right. It was a phrase he would repeat a couple more times as horse riders swooped at speed and jumped from their horses before swinging back into the saddle, or hundreds of dancing girls choreographed an elaborate routine for yet another big-name star.
Speeches lauding the spirit of the festival made references to the Olympic ideals of "faster, higher, stronger" and over the following days there were medals and cash prizes for the winners of the traditional sporting competitions, that also included camel racing, international-style wrestling, shuttlecock and Mongolian chess.
Around 800 years ago, it was Genghis Khan opening the Nadam festival, firmly planting the Nine Yak Tail banners that signified the unification of what were the then nine tribes of Mongolia.
While much has changed since then the Nadam festival has been a constant and today is best known as an annual event in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. But it is celebrated elsewhere too, particularly in China's Inner Mongolia, in a variety of locations and on a date determined by the lunar calendar.
This year's Ordos Nadam raised the traditional festival to a new level with the addition of an arts festival, grasslands carnival, national robocup championship, a plethora of exhibitions, group activities and even a couple of Guinness World Records attempts, including longest human domino chain and most competitors in a tug-of-war. Both attempts, by the way, were successful.
Another facet of the Ordos Nadam, which means "athletics, entertainment and get-together", was the attempt to internationalize it and athletes from nine countries and two regions were invited to take part. The Russians did so well in the wrestling events there were grumbles from the locals that they were taking most of the prizes.
In addition to sporting events, the Ordos Nadam Fair was a golden opportunity to highlight ethnic culture. The exhibition at the Ordos Culture and Art Center featured ethnic Mongolian song and dance troupes, arts and crafts demonstrations and even a group of lama monks who played the long horn dungchen.
The whole experience was like a cultural immersion and a perfect excuse to savor the giant skies and vast prairies of Inner Mongolia. It would be worth going back next year.