The perception of Chinggis Khan by Mongols, Chinese, Central Asians and
Europeans has already been discussed by several scholars, 2 but the visual
representations corresponding to the different narratives developed by them have not
yet attracted much attention. However, studying the visual images of Chinggis Khan
can tell us much about the nature of his cult and the messages the various authorities
that manipulated it aimed to convey. Chinggis’ descendants, the Buddhist clergy, the
Nationalists, the pro-Japanese, the Communists, and the present lay and religious
authorities all selected different facets of his personality and produced a great variety of
portraits to convey their messages.