 Born in the upper Altai Mountains in western Mongolia, the youngest son of a Tuvan shaman, Galsan majored in German studies at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, East Germany (1962-1968).He did his thesis work under Erwin Strittmatter, and upon graduation began to work as a German teacher at the National University of Mongolia.In 1976 his teaching license was revoked because of his "political untrustworthiness".