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The chaos theory of Mongolia

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the cafĂ© strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.  The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,

Beijing bars told not to serve Mongolians during the Olympics

Came across this article in the Age. Excerpts:

Beijing police have been visiting bar owners in the popular Sanlitun area and asking them to sign pledges agreeing to not serve black people or Mongolians and ban activities including dancing.

Bar owners said that police have been clamping down on black people and Mongolians, who are sometimes implicated in drug dealing and prostitution, as part of an Olympic clean-up campaign that they and locals fear will make for a secure but sterile Games.

Maggies, Beijing's most notorious expatriate bar, referred to as the "Mongolian embassy" because of its popularity with Mongolian prostitutes and Western men, was shut suddenly about two months ago after a reported murder.

Read the full article here

There isn't much I want to say about this new policy or the "Mongolian embassy" for that matter. The question I have is: how will they know a Mongolian? Can't the person just lie and say he or she is a Korean or a Japanese? Or would one need to produce a photo ID to buy drinks in China during the Olympics? And what do they mean by "black people"? Just any random black person is suspect? Perhaps a better solution for the Chinese government is to put up signs outside their bars in bold letters: "No Mongolians and Blacks Allowed". That should show the traditional Chinese hospitality to all the tourists during the Olympics.

Authorities deny the ban. More on this here and here.

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