The Coliseum in London’s West End is used to staging epic theatrical productions. But even for the capital’s largest theater, this was unique.
With a cast of more than 70 actors, dancers and musicians, “The Mongol Khan” is a riot of color and sound. But the political backdrop to the production is even more complicated than the sets.
This is the first Mongolian production to tour internationally, an “example of soft power” according to one expert, that saw it banned in China earlier this year.
With costumes based on archaeological discoveries, the 2.5 hour show was adapted from a 1998 play called The State without a Seal (Tamagui Tor in Mongolian) by writer and poet Lkhagvasuren Bavuu. It tells the fictional tale of a king in Central Asia about 2,000 years ago, who must make sacrifices for the future of his empire.
After two sold-out previews last week, the multi-million dollar production officially opened on Monday evening (November 20). The gala event saw VIP guests pouring into the grand theater and demand was so high that the show started 30 minutes late.
But the fact that the curtains even lifted was a feat.
A disrupted start
Just two months ago, the production was shut down shortly before its opening night in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia.
Mongolia’s southerly neighbor is nominally an “autonomous region” of China with a population of 24 million people, of which about four million are ethnic Mongols — some of whom have expressed grievances against Beijing’s policies, reinforcing separatist sentiments among the Mongolian diaspora to see the region unite with Mongolia (home to about 3.5 million people).
“The Inner Mongolians invited us, the Chinese kicked us out,” director Hero Baatar told CNN via a translator, adding that the performers were also banned from wearing traditional Mongolian outfits in public and placed under constant surveillance while in Hohhot.
The director had brought his production to Hohhot because the cast and crew — who had already completed a hugely successful 170-show run at a 550-seat theatre in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar — needed to test out the expanded version of the play ahead of its two-week run at the much-larger London Coliseum and Mongolia’s theaters were too small.
Trucks full of costumes, set pieces and lighting drove across the Gobi Desert to Hohhot, and the performers and crew flown in to set up and rehearse.
But when they arrived, the production was halted, first when the fire sprinkler system came on unexpectedly, then due to a power outage just moments before the opening night. The cast and crew were then sent to an alternative theater in the city of Ordos, a three-hour drive away. However, after setting up again, the performers were locked out of the building and all three planned shows had to be cancelled.
“It was quite shocking because we had all the permissions,” said co-producer Unurmaa Janchiv via video call.
“We’re used to censorship but it was very strange. Our history has been rewritten several times unfortunately, and as you know we are in a very delicate location,” Janchiv said, referring to Mongolia’s “complicated history” with its two superpower neighbors, Russia and China.
A more muted issue
John Man — author of several books on Mongolia and Genghis Khan and who translated “The Mongol Khan” into English for the production’s surtitles — believes it’s not the content of the play that raised the ire of Chinese authorities, but rather the cultural significance.
“They don’t fear the play, they fear the culture and the Mongolian language,” he said in an interview with CNN. “The fear would be that the Mongolians of Inner Mongolia would become a mirror image of what’s happening in Xinjiang with the Uyghurs”, referring to separatist sentiment that rose in Xinjiang in the 1990s. In recent years, that dissent has been brutally crushed, prompting global condemnation including from the UK, which in 2021 accused Beijing of committing genocide in Xinjiang.
Unlike Tibet and Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia has largely avoided violent ethnic unrest in recent decades, but the Mongolian culture and language have still become a target under leader Xi Jinping’s intensifying push to assimilate ethnic minorities.
Plays like “The Mongol Khan” were “historically OK until quite recently because the culture of ethnic minorities was regarded as a tourist asset,” said Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, who recently co-authored a report on the challenges and prospects that Mongolia faces.
But for a country which has 95% of its exports going through China, Mongolia is hardly going to bite the hand that feeds it, Brown said via video chat. “(The play) is useful but it’s hardly contemporary… It’s a bit old-fashioned,” Brown, who lived in Inner Mongolia for several years in the mid-1990s, said. “The Mongolian government is not using this as soft propaganda, it’s just entertainment.”
Beijing’s issues with the play could run deeper, he said.
“(Beijing) probably does see (the play) as Mongolian propaganda but it’s whether they feel threatened by it.
“The Chinese sensitivity towards this is really about how it inspires forms of nationalism in China. This kind of nationalism is a problem for the current government in Beijing and they are very nervous about borderland separatist, secession movements. There’s all these sorts of issues that you get in Tibet and Xinjiang. In Mongolia, the problem is that there is an actual country that people can look to.”
Brown said that it’s about setting a precedent. “The problem is of course if the Mongolians can start holding (plays like) this, then the Uyghurs can, then the Tibetans can and finally you get a separate strand of nationalism, which is threatening and disruptive. This isn’t like the Dalai Lama being a symbol of Tibetan independence or autonomy, this is a more muted issue.”
Ancient history with modern relevance
The play is set more than 2,000 years ago during the Hunnic empire, well before the ruthless rule of Genghis Khan, who is undoubtedly Mongolia’s most famous export.
The 13th century leader united nomadic tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol empire by conquering large swathes of Central Asia and China. His grandson, Kublai Khan, would later lead the Yuan dynasty — which Brown said is regarded as a “bit of an embarrassment” by China — between 1279 to 1368, overseeing the largest land empire in human history.
“This history is still politicized and regarded as an important symbol” he said. “It’s a live issue… It’s not from 800 years ago”.
It was certainly a live issue for curators at a museum in Nantes, France who, in 2020, had to shelve a planned exhibition about Genghis Khan because Chinese authorities reportedly objected to the use of the words “Genghis Khan”, “empire” and “Mongol”.
The exhibition, titled “Genghis Khan: How Mongols Changed the World”, finally opened last month with those words included, a museum spokesperson told The Art Newspaper.
Back in London, the play has had mixed reviews ranging from “hilariously awful” and “epically boring” to “truly spectacular in every respect”, but the show’s significance as the first Mongolian production to tour internationally is not lost on those involved.
“It’s backed by the Mongolian government and it’s unprecedented,” Man said, adding that “it’s been turned into a huge show which by coming to London, it is indeed soft power”.
But Mongolia’s Minister of Culture Nomin Chinbat is reluctant to brand the play with such a label, preferring to describe the show’s presence in London as part of a wider cultural push aimed to reduce her country’s reliance on its two neighbors by diversifying its economy.
“I’ve never considered (the play) as a political move, however I always see culture as something that connects people,” Chinbat told CNN during an interview at the Mongolian Embassy in London.
Culture is “borderless” and apolitical, she believes, and a hugely effective way to pull in investment and tourism.
“If we want to increase the visibility of Mongolia, if we want tourists to come… If we want trade to be happening not just with neighbors, only culture allows that.”
On the last-minute cancellation of the play in Inner Mongolia, Chinbat said “it was of course not pleasant news that one of our plays was not allowed to be performed in China. As a country we have a strong diplomatic relationship with our neighbors and respect their internal affairs.” She added that: “It would be great if (people in Inner Mongolia) had a chance to watch a play that is really showcasing the history of our country.”
Chinbat said while the Mongolian government has not provided any financial support for “The Mongol Khan,” it has backed the play via other channels such as “helping them out with connections” and through “public and private cooperation,” such as providing the dancers in the play from the national dance troupe.
About 60% of tickets had been sold as of late last week, according to co-producer Janchiv which is “good news for an unknown brand coming to this marketplace”.
Propaganda or not, the play’s opening night ended with a standing ovation, and with promoters from the US, Canada and Taiwan understood to be in the audience, it’s anyone’s guess where it may land next.
The Chinese embassy in London has been contacted for comment.