Preface

Like its predecessor, this study is an attempt to present an objective and concise account of the major social, economic, political, and national security concerns of contemporary Mongolia, as well as to provide a historical framework for this overview. The 1970 edition, which this volume replaces, was prepared for The American University by a team composed of Trevor N. Dupuy, Wendell Blanchard, Martin Blumenson, Richard L. Butwell, Nancy Gager Clinch, Alvin D. Coox, Grace Person Hayes, Marilyn Heilprin, Virginia M. Herman, Steven J. Hunter, Brooke Nihart, Francis J. Romance, and Ellen L. Sato.

The current Mongolia: A Country Study results from the combined efforts of a multidisciplinary team. The authors obtained information from a variety of sources, including scholarly studies, official reports from government and international organizations, as well as foreign and domestic newspapers and periodicals. Brief commentary on some of the more useful and readily accessible English-language sources appears at the end of each chapter. Full references to these and other sources used by the authors are listed in the Bibliography. Users of the book seeking additional materials on Mongolia, the Mongols, and Inner Asian peoples are encouraged to consult the annual editions of the Bibliography of Asian Studies and The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies and Lidiia Pavlovna Popova, et alii Mongol Studies in the Soviet Union: A Bibliography of Soviet Publications, 1981- 1986 (Bloomington, Indiana: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1988).

The authors have limited the use of foreign and technical terms, which are defined when they first appear. Readers are also referred to the Glossary in the back of the book. The contemporary place-names used in this book have been romanized - but without using the dieresis and breve diacritics - from Mongolian Cyrillic Script according to the system approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use. The pinyin system of romanization is used for Chinese personal names and place-names, although occasionally some familiar Wade-Giles romanizations have been provided. All measurements are given in the metric system. A conversion table is provided to assist readers unfamiliar with metric measurements.

Metric Conversion Coofficients and Factors