Lhamjab Borjigin, 79, a native of central Inner (Southern) Mongolia’s Heshigten Banner, has dedicated his life to preserving and promoting Mongolian culture and documenting Mongolian oral history. As a member of the Southern Mongolian Folklorist Association, the Shiliingol League Literary Association and the Heshigten Banner Rolgarjab Folk Arts Association, he authored a number of books, including Mongolian Custom: Family Education, Revolutionary War Hero Jalsarai, Family History of Baichai Tuslagchi of Heshigtenand Descendents of Chinggis Khaan’s Ten Thousand Heshigtens.
In 2006, after 20 years of research and interviews, Lhamjab completed his book China’s Cultural Revolution. The book compiles oral testimonies of survivors of China’s state-sponsored large-scale genocide campaign in Southern Mongolia during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. In the book, Lhamjab documents detailed accounts of torture techniques and the gruesome nature of this genocide campaign that according to official statistics from the Chinese Government, claimed the lives of at least 27,900 people and imprisoned and tortured 346,000. For credibility and verification, the book includes phone numbers and other contact information of the survivors he interviewed.
Lhamjab published the China’s Cultural Revolution through underground publishers at his own expense, as all state-run Chinese publishing houses refused to publish it. The book became popular among Mongolians not only in Southern Mongolia, but also in the independent country of Mongolia. Subsequently, it was republished in Southern Mongolia and even published in Cyrillic Mongolian Scripts in Mongolia. Since last year, an abridged audio version of the book has gone viral among Mongolians through Chinese social media, in particular, on WeChat.
As the book attracted more readers, the Chinese authorities acted promptly to confiscate the copies of the book and started to harass the author. Starting July 11, 2018, Lhamjab has been placed under “residential surveillance”, a form of house arrest, by the local Public Security Bureau.
On May 3, 2023, two vehicles of the Chinese police arrived at a private residence and arrested a dissident writer. These are daily occurrences in China but this time the incident did not happen within Chinese borders. Lhamjab Borjigin was arrested in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of the independent country of Mongolia, and promptly taken to China by his captors.