Borjigin - Modern Relevance

Modern Relevance

The Borjigin held power over the Mongolia for many centuries (even during Qing period), and only lost power when Communists took control in the 20th century. Aristocratic descent was something to be forgotten in the socialist period. Joseph Stalin's henchmen executed some 30,000 Mongols including Borjigin nobles in a series of campaigns against their culture and religion. Clan association has lost its practical relevance in the 20th century, but is still considered a matter of honour and pride by many Mongolians. In 1920s the communist regime banned the use of clan names. When the ban was lifted again in 1997, most families had lost knowledge about their clan association. Because of that, a disproportionate number of families registered the most prestigious clan name Borjigin, many of them without historic justification. The label Borjigin is used as a measure of cultural supremacy.

In Inner Mongolia, the Borjigid or Kiyad name became the basis for many Chinese surnames. The Inner Mongolian Borjigin Taijis took the surname Bao (from Borjigid) and in Ordos Qi (Qiyat). A genetic research has proposed that as many as 16 million men from Manchuria to Afghanistan may have Borjigid-Kiyad ancestry, but the professionalism of that study is being criticised. The Qiyat clan name is still found among the Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Karakalpaks.