Gada Meiren

Gadameilin (Chinese: 嘎达梅林, 1892-1931) was a Mongolian leader who led a struggle for the protection of the Kharchin grasslands of Inner Mongolia from desertification in the 1929.

Gada held the official post of meilin under Zasaak, the prince of Darhan. In the spring of 1929, the prince, following the instructions form his Han overlords, adopted policies which resulted in the loss of herdsmen's land, and sold a part of the grassland to the invading Japanese. He also dismissed Gada from the post of meilin. When Gada led a delegation of appeal, he was imprisoned. His wife Peony was able to effect Gada's escape through prison break in the night of 13 November 1929. He then organized the squabbling clans of the region and led an armed uprising against the feudal lord Zhang Zuolin, but many of his followers deserted him, and finally he was defeated and killed.

In popular culture

The 2002 movie Gada Meilin.

On the basis of oral song traditions, the story of Gada meilin developed into a long narrative poem of about 600 lines that was published in 1950. In 1980, a version with over 2000 lines was published.

Gadameilin is considered to be the national hero of Inner Mongolia. In 2002, Xiaoning Feng directed a movie based on the life of Gadameilin. [1]

References

• Collin Mackerras, Traditional Mongolian Performing Arts in Inner Mongolia, Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs