Wedding of Mongols

　　Warrior Clan Still Riding Strong

　　By Yap Su-Yin

　　If you are able to ride like the wind whether on flatland or

　　highland; shoot a moving target with bull's-eye precision

　　while riding full speed on horseback; decimate armies several times the size of your troops, and while you're at it, exterminate entire towns with ruthless efficiency, you may have what it took to be part of the formidable Mongol army eight hundred years ago.

　　In the early 13th century, the Mongol people rose from the obscurity of the Gobi desert to carve out the largest empire in the history of mankind. Not even the Romans or the Ottoman-Turks, who preceded the Mongols, matched their speed, efficiency and breadth of conquests. China - all 10 million square kilometers of it - was just a fraction of the Mongol empire. These herdsmen-turned-warriors overran Korea, Central Asia (now Russia), Persia (now Iran), the Arabian Peninsula, and even parts of Eastern Europe. Their battlefield successes were due to the military genius of one man: Temujin.

　　More popularly known by the name "Genghis Khan", meaning "universal ruler" in Mongolian language, Temujin unified the Mongolian tribes - which were scattered at this time - and led them from one military victory to the next. The sight of the Mongol flag fluttering in the distance was so terrifying, it sent their hardiest enemies quivering in fear. The Khan allowed communities who surrendered willingly to live. For anyone who stood in their way, the wolf emblem of the mighty Mongol army was synonymous with death and destruction, as the Khan's army killed anyone who resisted, reducing their homes to cinders.

　　"The wolf and the deer are very important to Mongolian identity, because to the Mongols, these two animals were intimately connected to their Gods. They believed themselves to be directly descended from the wolf and white deer. Therefore, the best tribes have assumed the wolf or the deer as their totem, " explained Professor Man Duhu, an expert on Mongolian civilization, from the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing. "Genghis Khan's army had the wolf as their totem also because the wolf was a creature to be feared, yet because of its bravery, it was also greatly admired."

　　Before the Great Khan passed away in 1227, his armies had sacked the State of Jin (1115-1234), captured the Jin capital Zhongdu (present-day Zhangbei County in Hebei province), and conquered Central Asia and southern Russia. The Khan used metal-barreled canons in his military campaigns, predating Europe's use of this technology by half a century. His illustrious legacy of conquests followed posthumously: one of his grandsons, Kublai Khan (1215-1294), founded the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368), subdued the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) and brought China under his centralized rule.