Mongolian People's Republic

Part of the country series of articles.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: EXERCISE CAUTION

The Commonwealth advises travellers to exercise caution in this country. Some areas or circumstances may carry elevated risk. Travellers should monitor local conditions and follow the guidance of local authorities.

Mongolian People's Republic
People’s Republic
Capital	Ulaanbaatar
Languages	Mongolian, Russian
Population	2,400,000

The Mongolian People’s Republic is a Soviet satellite state occupying the Eurasian steppe between the Soviet Union and China, sparsely populated and largely unchanged in its daily rhythms by the socialism imposed on it from the north. In a sense, the party governs the cities and the paperwork, and the steppe governs everything else. Horseback remains the most practical means of getting around for most of the country, and the nomadic herding culture that has defined Mongolian life for centuries has proven more resistant to collectivisation than Soviet planners imagined.

Mongolia occupies a quiet corner of the Sino-Soviet rivalry, useful to the Soviet Union as a buffer and not much contested by China, which has larger grievances to manage elsewhere (namely Manchuria and Taiwan). It is poor, unhurried and receives a modest stream of Soviet investment in Ulaanbaatar that has produced a small industrial district and a university surrounded by a great deal of grassland.