10 Haunting Old Pictures of Mongolia in 1913

Mongolia’s Independence and Stefan Passet’s 1913 Photographs

Mongolia declared its independence from China in 1911. Soon it became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. After only one year, the Russian Empire recognized the suzerainty of China over Mongolia. Images were taken by photographer Stefan Passet in 1913.

Part of our China History Archive

From the Fall of the Qing to the Bogd Khanate

Mongolia’s break from China came in the wake of the Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命), which brought down the Qing dynasty (清朝) in 1911. As Qing authority collapsed, Mongolian nobles and Buddhist clergy convened a temporary government of Khalkha and, on 29 December 1911, formally declared the independence of Outer Mongolia (外蒙古). The 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, one of the highest figures in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, was enthroned as Bogd Khan, or “Holy Ruler,” and the capital, until then known as Ikh Khüree, was renamed Niislel Khüree, present-day Ulaanbaatar.

In late 1912, Russia signed a treaty with the Bogd Khan’s government granting Mongolia autonomy, along with Russian assistance in training a new Mongolian army and Russian commercial privileges in the country. The two sides interpreted the agreement differently: Mongolia treated it as recognition of full independence, while Russia described Mongolia’s status as merely “autonomous.”

Russian Protectorate, Chinese Suzerainty

That ambiguity was resolved, at least on paper, on 5 November 1913, when Russia and China issued a joint declaration in which Russia formally recognized China’s suzerainty (宗主权) over Mongolia, while China in turn recognized Mongolia’s right to self-rule and to control of its own trade and industry, and agreed not to send troops into the territory. In practice this left Mongolia legally subject to China while functioning as a Russian protectorate. The arrangement was further formalized in the tripartite Kyakhta Agreement of 1915, signed by Russia, China and Mongolia, which confirmed Mongolian autonomy under Chinese suzerainty, a status that held until Chinese troops occupied the country in 1919 and full independence was only re-established after the Soviet-backed revolution of 1921.

Stefan Passet and the Archives of the Planet

The photographs from this period were taken by Stéphane Passet (1875-1941), a French photographer employed by the wealthy banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn (1860-1940) for his project Archives de la Planète, or “Archives of the Planet,” an ambitious attempt to document the peoples and customs of the world using the early Autochrome Lumière color process before, in Kahn’s words, they disappeared. Passet made two documented journeys to China, in 1912 and 1913, and during the second trip traveled on into Mongolia, reaching the capital Urga (present-day Ulaanbaatar, then also known as Örgöö) between June and July 1913. There he photographed nomadic families and their gers, herders and hunters near the city, temples such as the Maidar Temple, and street and prison scenes, including images of convicts held in wooden restraints. His Mongolian photographs form part of a vastly larger body of work: across his career for Kahn, Passet contributed to a collection that eventually totaled around 72,000 autochromes and 183,000 meters of film gathered from some fifty countries.

Images were taken by photographer Stefan Passe in 1913.