Sir, Mongolian herders have indeed been struck another severe blow by a second winter of great cold and deep snow, which has killed thousands of head of livestock (“The end of cheap cashmere as Gobi goats end up in stew pots”, news, Mar 5). However, Mongolians are proud of their independence and young democracy, and would resent you calling their homeland “Outer” Mongolia, as if it were still a colony of China.
Outer Mongolia was the name used by the Qing (Manchu dynasty) to describe the remoter, northern part of their empire. It has not been a valid name for the state of Mongolia since 1924. There should be no confusion between independent Mongolia and Inner Mongolia and Tibet, which are still under Chinese control.
Alan Sanders
Reading, Berks