MIASU Research Seminar – 17 June – Otgon Borjigin

Chinggis Khan’s Conquest of the Xi Xia Urban Centres in the Hexi Corridor

Otgon Borjigin, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou

This study systematically examines Chinggis Khan’s conquest of Hexi (or Ho-hsi, west of the [Yellow] River, qašin in The Secret History of the Mongols), elucidating the process by which the Hexi warlords submitted to the Mongols and their military role. Key findings include:

(1) In autumn 1225, the Mongol army set out from the Tula River but advanced slowly due to the need for troop recuperation and Chinggis Khan’s severe internal injuries, which he sustained after falling from his horse while hunting. As a result, they did not reach the northern frontier of Xi Xia (the Tangut state of Xia, later known as Xi Xia or Western Xia) until January 1226; 

(2) The Mongols adopted a strategy of sequentially conquering cities and capturing strategic strongholds, including Khara Khoto, Suzhou (or Sügčü), Ganzhou (or Γamǰu), Liangzhou (löčiu in Uighur), and Shazhou (Šaču in Uighur). Military operations lasted until summer 1227; 

(3) The Xi Xia’s shift in foreign policy from “allying with Mongolia against Jin” to “allying with Jin against Mongolia” served as the immediate catalyst for Chinggis Khan’s determination to annihilate Xi Xia. The defected Hexi warlords played crucial military roles while providing some protection for local civilians, warranting renewed historical evaluation of their complex legacy.

Otgon Borjigin, is a Baarin Mongol from Inner Mongolia. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Inner Mongolia Normal University, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Dunhuang Studies at Lanzhou University. Currently, he is a professor at Northwest Minzu University in Lanzhou, China. He is a board member of the Chinese Association of Dunhuang and Turpan Studies and the Chinese Association for Mongolian History, as well as a part-time researcher at the Institute of Dunhuang Studies at Lanzhou University. He has served as a visiting scholar at Indiana University in the United States and a visiting professor at Tohoku University in Japan, and has conducted academic visits or participated in international conferences in countries such as Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Hungary. His main research areas include historical philology (including Dunhuang Studies and palaeography) and Mongolian ancient documents.