The ancient Chinese
called their land Chung-Kuo, which means "Middle Kingdom."
The believed they were at the center of the world, and that the
people who lived north of Chung-Kuo were uncivilized. This is not
hard to understand when you compared the advanced civilization of
ancient China to the nomadic Mongols who lived on the dry land north
of the Great Wall.
Much of the land north
of the Great Wall is steppe. Steppe is mostly treeless flat grassland
that is unsuitable for agriculture. The tribes who lived on the
steppe eventually became known as the Mongols. They maintained herds
of sheep, goats, and cattle.
The Mongols believed
that water was a live spirit and that it would be sinful to pollute
it. They did not wash their clothes or bodies because they believed
it would anger their gods. They were terrified of rain and thunder.
A Russian solder who traveled to Mongolia in the nineteenth century
described the Mongols this way:
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"The first things that strikes
the traveler in the life of the Mongol is his excessive
dirtiness: He never washes his body and very seldom his
face and hands. Owing to his constant dirt, his clothing
swarms with parasites, which he amuses himself by killing
in the most unceremonious way. It is a common sight to see
a Mongol open his sheepskin or kaftan to catch an offending
insect and to execute him on the spot between his front
teeth. The uncleanness and dirt amidst which they live is
partly attributable to their dislike, almost amounting to
dread, of water…"
Quoted in Chingis Khan
and the Mongol Empire, by Malcolm Yapp (Greenhaven Press,
Inc.).
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