HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Chinggeltei (12 June 1924 – 27 December 2013; also Činggeltei, Chinggaltai, Chenggeltai, or Chenggeltei) was a professor of linguistics at the Inner Mongolia University in
Hohhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the capital of Inner Mongolia in the north of the People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrative, economic and cultural center.''The Ne ...
, Inner Mongolia,
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones an ...
, focusing on the
Mongolic languages The Mongolic languages are a language family spoken by the Mongolic peoples in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas and in Kalmykia and Buryatia. The best-known member of this language f ...
. He was one of the founders of the university, and served as its first vice-rector. He was also a former member of the
Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
of China's
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...
.


Early life and education

Chinggeltei was born in Harqin Banner, Josotu, Inner Mongolia (now administratively part of
Chifeng Chifeng ( zh, s=赤峰市), also known as Ulanhad ( mn, (Улаанхад хот), ''Ulaɣanqada qota'', , "red cliff"), is a prefecture-level city in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol League to the ...
). He did his early studies at a Mongolian-medium school in Inner Mongolia, before going to
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanes ...
. After completing his course there in 1939, he hoped to transfer to the Peking Mongolian and Tibetan School (, in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 2 ...
); however, they would not accept students from Manchukuo. Eventually, he ended up enrolling in a teacher training course at the Houhe Mongolian Academy (; "Houhe" is an older Chinese name for
Hohhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the capital of Inner Mongolia in the north of the People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrative, economic and cultural center.''The Ne ...
), which normally only accepted students from the western parts of Inner Mongolia; he scored well enough on the entrance exam to be placed into the second-year course, and graduated in late 1940. From there, he entered into a preparatory school for students planning to study in Japan, and in 1941, proceeded to Tokyo. Upon arriving in Tokyo, Chinggeltei enrolled in a '' juku'' to study English and mathematics for the university entrance exams; he chose to aim at an engineering school, because he felt that his homeland particularly lacked people with such skills. He ended up first enrolling at the
Tokyo Institute of Technology is a national research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology, one of first five Designated National University and selected as ...
, but due to the long commute from his home and the intensification of World War II, transferred to
Tohoku Imperial University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...
in
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
.


Career

In 1945, Chinggeltei returned to Inner Mongolia; soon after, the
surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Jewel Voice Broadcast, announced by Emperor of Japan, Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in A ...
brought World War II to an end. He took up teaching duties at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Academy () in
Chifeng Chifeng ( zh, s=赤峰市), also known as Ulanhad ( mn, (Улаанхад хот), ''Ulaɣanqada qota'', , "red cliff"), is a prefecture-level city in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol League to the ...
, compiling textbooks and in Mongolian as well as teaching both politics and language and literature courses. It was there that he first met
Ulanhu Ulanhu or Ulanfu ( 23 December 1907 – 8 December 1988), born Yun Ze (), was the founding Chairman of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, serving from 1947 to 1966. An ethnic Tumed Mongol, he took the nom de guerre Ulanhu () and had ...
, who was the school's principal. Ulanhu's speeches about various events of the day (such as the 3 April 1946 meeting in
Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by ...
which provided for the unification of Inner Mongolia as a single governmental unit) left a deep impression on the teachers of the school and helped them to become more knowledgeable about politics. In May 1947, half of the Autonomous Academy's teaching staff were transferred to
Qiqihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total populat ...
to establish the Inner Mongolia Military Administration University (); Chinggeltei was responsible for setting up their Mongolian language and literature division. In 1949, Chinggeltei was transferred to the ''Inner Mongolia Daily'' () as editor of the Mongolian-language section and head of internal education; during this time, he also travelled to
Hulunbuir Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir ( mn, , ''Kölün buyir'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Хөлөнбуйр, ''Khölönbuir''; zh, s=呼伦贝尔, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr'') is a region that is governed as a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China ...
for a linguistic survey, and published his ''Grammar of the Mongol language'' (). In 1953, he began doing language work for the
Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
's Propaganda Committee. He was tapped to be vice-rector of the newly founded Inner Mongolia University in 1957, again working under Ulanhu. In 1985, Chinggeltei published his ''Study of the Lesser Khitan Script '', a significant milestone in the study of the
Khitan language Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, ''Khitai''; , ''Qìdānyǔ''), also known as Liao, is a now-extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century). It was the official language of the Liao Empi ...
and its writing system. He was presented with a ''
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the ...
'' by his fellow Mongolists in 1996 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his taking up teaching duties. In 2008, he received the first "Award for Outstanding Talent" () from the Inner Mongolia Communist Party Standing Committee, including prize money of
RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...
200,000. He used the money to establish the Chinggeltei Mongolian Language Foundation, which provides scholarships to students receiving high scores in Mongolian language on the
National Higher Education Entrance Examination The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as the gaokao (), is a standardized college entrance exam held annually in mainland China. It is required for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the unde ...
.


Selected works

*. The first modern scientific grammar of the Mongolian language published in China **Translated to English as **Reprinted as **Translated to Cyrillic-orthography Mongolian as **John C. Street gave the 1963 English version a scathing review, criticising its "linguistic inanities" and "clumsy obfuscations". *


Notes


References

* * * {{authority control 1924 births 2013 deaths Chinese expatriates in Japan Linguists from China Linguists of the Khitan language Mongolists People from Chifeng Tokyo Institute of Technology alumni Tohoku University alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Inner Mongolia Educators from Inner Mongolia Writers from Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia University faculty Chinese people of Mongolian descent