The People's Great Hural, with it's 430 members, had the of Mongolia and usually met two times each year. Until 1990, the only legal political party in Mongolia was the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which was a Communist Party. Things changed when an amendment to the constitution allowed for oppositional political parties. Another part of the amendment allowed for a government run by a president and the institution of the Small Hural, which had 53 members.
Compulsory education is available from ages 8 to 16, with almost 90% of the primary school age children attending in 1996. The attendance rate for secondary school was much lower at a little over 50% of the population attending. Institutions of higher learning had almost 40,000 attendees.
The Mongols gained fame in the 13th century when under Chinggis KHAAN they established a huge Eurasian empire through conquest. After his death the empire was divided into several powerful Mongol states, but these broke apart in the 14th century. The Mongols eventually retired to their original steppe homelands and in the late 17th century came under Chinese rule. Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet backing and a Communist regime was installed in 1924. The modern country of Mongolia, however, represents only part of the Mongols' historical homeland; more ethnic Mongolians live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China than in Mongolia. Following a peaceful democratic revolution, the ex-Communist