Gareth Jones
[bas relief by Oleh Lesiuk]
HOME |
Stop Press |
Complete Soviet Articles & Background Information |
Précis of Gareth's
|
All Published Articles |
BOOKS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOPICAL
'Are you Listening NYT?' U.N. Speech - Nov 2009 |
Gareth Recognised at Cambridge - Nov 2009 |
Reporter and the Genocide - Rome, March 2009 |
Order of Freedom Award -Nov 2008 |
Premiere of 'The Living' Documentary Kyiv - Nov 2008 |
Gareth Jones 'Famine' Diaries - Chicago 2008 |
Aberystwyth Memorial Plaque 2006 |
GENERAL
Scholarship Fund |
Site Map |
Links |
Legal Notices |
Sponsored Links |
Contact |
|
He was having great difficulty with the superstitions of the local people. He could not hunt, because the Mongols feared their guns as it disturbed the spirits of the mountains; he could not dig, because the Mongols believed it wrong to disturb the surface of the earth, and he had not yet had the chance to speak to the Prince. He considered that Mongolia is a hopeless job. I also found that a lot of lamas were very superstitious. I had seen a part of a temple with pictures of laughing skulls and of devils and I returned to photograph it, but a lama rushed out terrified and barred the door. I tried to enter the temple, but a lot of lamas collected together and they looked very menacingly at me and shouted. Then I saw a sundial, but it was covered with a sheet of wood to keep the sun away! Obviously, it was a very great treasure. A soldier with a rifle came out to stop Dr Müller and me going into a house, which was being built, and again the lamas shouted threateningly at us. I have never seen such a suspicious place; the Japanese were quite right. I strolled about in the Yamen in Ujmutchin and came to a school where four youngsters were writing in Chinese and Mongolian script. There was a picture of the Kangte Emperor [Pu Yi], most elegantly and fadedly dressed in morning dress and ‘Come to Jesus’ butterfly collar, striped trousers and two Manchukuo flags painted on it. There was a propaganda poster for a Mongol feast in Manchukuo probably under the auspices of the Japanese with wrestling, riding, singing, etc.. Mothers were invited to bring their children to very good Japanese doctors (however they would rather die than go to a Japanese doctor). Children loved the silver paper from cheese or camera film that I gave them. I did tricks with a coin in front of the lamas and they were amazed. I was entertained by an acrobatic goat, which marched on its front legs, with its back legs lofted into the air, much to my amusement. I spoke to a Russian that I met called Kulagen, who told me that the Japanese are building barracks in Beidzemiao where we had stayed and that everyone expected that the Japanese would soon send troops there. He said that in 100 years that the Mongol race would be dead. The spread of venereal disease is terrific and the people have no idea why they have no children. Prince Otcheroff has a son and daughter, but no grandchildren. The chief cause is Lamaism for it leads to the lack of young men to work and there are no husbands for the young girls. These girls sleep with the lamas and spread the disease, but they will not go to the Japanese doctors for treatment. |
Gareth at the Lama service. |
|
|
|