[4] Other major figures in the early history of Mongolian studies in Russia were Józef Kowalewski of Poland (who founded the Mongolian studies department at Kazan University) and Matthias Castrén of Finland (who wrote the first grammar of a modern Mongolic language, published after his death by Franz Anton Schiefner at Saint Petersburg University).
The threat from Russian imperialism was a major spur for Chinese scholars to study the region, both as part of the project of "map[ping] and classify[ing] the frontier", and from their desire to emphasise affinity between the Han Chinese and peoples of the frontier and their common contrast with Japanese and European powers who sought influence in the region.
[7][8] Thus, as Stephen Kotkin describes it, in the aftermath of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing and established the Republic of China, the whole field of study was seen as "closely tied to the Manchus and imperial rule" and became discredited, a state of affairs made worse by the opposition to the 1911 revolution of major Chinese scholars of Mongolia such as Wang Guowei.
[10] Some scholars in the United States did work in Mongolian studies in the early 20th century, such as Jeremiah Curtin, Berthold Laufer, and Roy Chapman Andrews.
Such institutions received a major boost from the post-war influx of refugees from communism, which included Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab, John Gombojab Hangin of Inner Mongolia and former Soviet Academy of Sciences member Nicholas Poppe.