Pürevdorj
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990103
Name: Pürevdorj
Parent's name: Origi
Ovog: Delgereh
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1944
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: incomplete secondary
Notes on education: This most likely means 7 years of schooling.
Work: retired
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Taragt sum, Övörhangai aimag
Lives in: Arvaiheer sum (or part of UB), Övörhangai aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
military
cultural campaigns
collectivization
democracy
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)
cultural campaigns
education
collectivization
To read a full interview with Pürevdorj please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 081225A with Pürevdorj
The interviewee was born in 1944 in a place called Aldaryn Gezeg in Taragt sum, Arhangai. He has two children. He himself is the oldest child of eleven children in his family. After finishing four classes of secondary school in Arvaiheer, the interviewee returned to the country-side to help his parents with the livestock breeding. In 1964 he went to serve in the army. After the army he continued his education in the same secondary school. Until his retirement in 2004 he had worked in three different industries: the food industry, a water management company and an electricity producing industry.
The interviewee evaluates the ‘cultural campaigns’ in positive terms. Thanks to the ‘campaigns’, he argues, people got used to reading newspapers, observing hygiene, washing up cutlery, etc. During this cultural campaign, open hearths were replaced with ovens, which made the environment inside the ger smoke-free. It was the hospitals, however, that benefited the most from the ‘campaign’, according to the interviewee. He also recounts what people did and what ate in his childhood. For example, in summer the main staple was dairy products. Occasionally grown-ups ate dried meat, but children were not given. In his childhood, in schools pupils wore traditional deel, but later it was replaced by a school uniform. The quality of education was poor; people with four year education could become teachers.
The interviewee recalls that the collectivisation took place when he was a child. Herders who did not want to join collective farms were forced to do so. Each household was allowed to own no more than fifty-six animals. Nevertheless, socialism was a good regime. People were collectively oriented and helped each other. He thinks that during the democratic changes the collective farms were dismantled prematurely.
