Jebtsundamba Khutuktu
Tserendorj was born in 1868 as a subject to the Great Shabi (the estate of the personal retainers of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu) in Kherlen Bayan Ulaan in present-day Khentii Province. He spoke Mongolian, Manchu, Chinese and Russian and worked as a scribe and translator in the local Manchu litigation office from 1885 to 1911. After the establishment of the Bogd Khaanate in 1911, Tserendorj joined the Foreign Ministry of Autonomous Mongolia where he rose to become deputy foreign minister in 1913 and then minister of foreign affairs.