Bat-Shatar
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990101
Name: Bat-Shatar
Parent's name: Peljee
Ovog: [blank]
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1959
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: incomplete secondary
Notes on education: This most likely means 7 years of schooling.
Work: unemployed
Belief: BUddhist
Born in: Bayan-Öndör sum, Övörhangai aimag
Lives in: Arvaiheer sum (or part of UB), Övörhangai aimag
Mother's profession: retired
Father's profession: died, herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
education / cultural production
work
democracy
foreign relations
new technologies
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
religion
socialism
salary
nostalgia
To read a full interview with Bat-Shatar please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 081222A with Bat-Shatar
Batshatar was born in 1959 in Bayan- Ӧndӧr sum, Ӧvӧrhangai aimag. He is married and has three children. His parents were herders. Batshatar has five siblings. After finishing the eighth grade, Batshatar studied in an agricultural-technical college in Arhangai aimag. He served in the army. Then he worked in a construction company in his native Ӧvӧrhangai aimag.
Batshatar says that he knows little about the ‘cultural campaigns’, except that it began in the 1960s. He was brought up by his grandparents, who were religious. The older brother of his grandmother was a lama. Batshatar recalls that elderly people from the vicinity used to come secretly to visit the lama. Because of his upbringing, Batshatar has been religious since childhood. In the socialist period, Batshatar had a good life and high salary. As an interior decorator he was paid 700-800 tӧgrӧgs per month. When he worked at the airport in Ulaanbaatar, he was paid up to 2,000-3,000 tӧgrӧgs per month. To compare with, people with higher education had a salary of 700-900 tӧgrӧgs, people with special education 550-600 tӧgrӧgs, and cleaners 180 tӧgrӧgs. When democratic changes began, he supported the movement. What democracy brought to Mongolia is freedom of movement (people can now travel abroad), freedom of speech and new knowledge about what is healthy to eat and what is not.
Although Batshatar supports democracy, he has nostalgic feelings towards the previous period. For example, according to him, in socialist Mongolia teachers were far more knowledgeable, people knew their social obligations well, couples did not divorce and nature was greener.
