Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, constituting approximately 1,183,000 km2 and 12% of China’s total land area, covers most of the northern edge of China and is the widest province in our country (by its latitude). It borders to the north both the Republic of Mongolia and Russia, and is near the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu.
Most parts of Inner Mongolia are more than 1,000 meters above sea level and it presents various landforms. Due to its long span, Inner Mongolia is geographically divided into eastern and western divisions. The east part consists of wide grass meadowlands, forests, lakes, and mountains, and the west region has scorching hot deserts.
Hulunbuir Grasslands is a famous attraction in Eastern Inner Mongolia. While admiring their beautiful grassland scenery, you can also ride horses on the natural carpet, watch Mongolian wrestling and horse racing and other activities, taste the “Feast of Lamb”, stay in traditional yurts, participate in the Naadam Fair, and experience various nomadic peoples unique customs.
In addition, taking the hot springs and skiing in Arxan, watching reindeer in Genhe birch forest, and making Easter eggs in Russian homes are all local activities suitable for a trip with children.
Hohhot, Baotou, Ordos, Badain Jaran Desert, Kubuqi Desert, and so on are the highlights of west Inner Mongolia. Visit here, you can learn the simple ethnic customs, discover the numerous cultural relics and long history, and feel the desolation of the desert when you hike in the vast desert.
Going further west, the golden Populus euphratica forest of Ejina, the silhouette of the dead Populus euphratica trees in Heicheng, and the sunrise reeds in Juyanhai are the best motivation for you to visit Inner Mongolia in autumn.
Useful Information
Area: 1, 183, 000 km2
Average annual temperature: 15 degrees
Geography: Located in northern China, spanning northeast, north and northwest China
Population: 2,400,000 inhabitants (2021). The minority population accounts for 21.26% of the total registered population
Elevation: 1 000 m
Ethnic minorities: Mongol
Economy: Coal, Rare earth mining, Livestock, Forestry, Dairy processing industry
Language: Mongolian, Mandarin
How to Get to Mongolia
Mongolia Weather and Best Time to Visit
You can see different scenery of Inner Mongolia in all seasons, but summer is the best.
Inner Mongolia has a typical mid-temperate monsoon climate, which is characterized by less and uneven precipitation, drastic temperature changes, and great disparity between cold and warm. Winters are long and cold, and summers are warm and short, and the average temperature is 10°C.
The vast territory of Inner Mongolia makes it very distinctive in terms of diet. The snacks in the western region are mainly Hada pancakes, Oat noodles, and Shaomai. In the east, there are more meaty foods, such as roast lamb, mutton floss, and so on. All dairy products and horse milk wine are universal delicacies throughout Inner Mongolia.
Roasted Whole Lamb: A dish with the most ethnic characteristics, it is a traditional delicacy of the Mongolian nomadic life for thousands of years.
Hand-held meat: “Hand-held meat” is grabbing mutton by hand and a common meal for herdsmen.
Shaomai: It is a traditional food in Hohhot that has been around for a long time. As early as the Qing
Dynasty, the local Shaomai was already famous in the capital.
Naipizi (Milk skin): Pour the fresh milk of horses, sheep, cows, and camels into a pot and cook over low heat until a layer of wax fat is condensed on the surface. Use chopsticks to lift and hang it in a ventilated place to dry.
Oxtail in clear soup: The main raw material is fresh oxtail from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, incited with a chicken leg, fish maw, sea cucumber, and mushroom
Throughout the history of Inner Mongolia is mostly been the alternations of regimes between different nomads like Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitan, Mongol, and Manchu nomads.
The establishment of the Mongolian Empire by Genghis Khan in the 13th century brought prestige and expanded trade to Inner Mongolia. From then on, for the first time in northern China, a strong, stable, developing, and unified ethnic group, the Mongolians.
Genghis Khan, leader of the nomadic tribes
Genghis Khan and his descendants conquered most of Asia and some European countries, forming an unprecedentedly huge Mongol Empire in Eurasia. The entire country of Great Mongolia covers part of the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, with a total of about 24 million square kilometers. With the death of Genghis Khan, the unified empire of Mongolia began to fall apart.
Genghis Khan is regarded by the Mongolians as a national hero and the symbol of the Mongolian Empire and was a highly controversial figure. Since his rise, he has been usually associated with the terrible words of conquer and slaughter. But he has transcended the time and space of history and the boundaries of countries and nations, and has become a global hot topic figure that has attracted the attention of the military and cultural circles of all countries in the world.
In modern times, there is also a view that the foreign conquest war launched by the Mongol Empire under the leadership of Genghis Khan and his heirs promoted the mutual influence between the Eurasian continents and had a profound impact on the subsequent course of world history.
In 1368, the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Yuan Dynasty established by Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. After the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchus unified the whole country and established the alliance flag system in the Mongolian area concerning the Eight Banners system of the Manchus, called Monan in Inner Mongolia and Mobei Outer Mongolia. The endless slaughter on the Inner Mongolia plateau has finally ended, and it has achieved stability for nearly 200 years.
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