The rolling grasslands and stark deserts of Inner Mongolia (Nei Menggu) exert a special pull on the imagination. Far from eastern China's crowded cities and intensively cultivated farmlands, Inner Mongolia is home to clear skies and vast, virtually empty landscapes stretching to an unbroken horizon; after a few moments in such starkly beautiful surroundings, it's easy enough to envision the legendary armies of Genghis Khan, Mongolia's most famous son, sweeping past on horseback en route to conquer the world.
Today, outside of the capital of Hohhot and a handful of other modest cities like Baotou, Manzhouli, and Dongsheng, a dwindling but still significant number of Mongolians live much as they have for centuries, herding horses and sheep, moving with the seasons and bedding down in traditional yurts.
None of this is say that the officially designated Mongol Autonomous Region is untouched by modernity—it is 21st century China, after all. Coal mining, forestry, agriculture and manufacturing are major sources of income, and though the region is famed first and foremost for its grasslands, the enormous territory—which borders Russia in the far northeast, encompasses much of the Gobi Desert, runs most of the length of the Great Wall of China, and nearly abuts the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau in the west—contains a surprising diversity of landscapes and industries.
And, of course, in addition to traditional herding, mining and manufacturing, there is a bourgeoning tourism industry. Far-reaching infrastructure upgrades have made Inner Mongolia—especially within a day or two's journey by train or bus of Beijing—an increasingly easy place to visit, popular with Chinese and foreign travelers alike. Meanwhile, those who don't care much for a heavily mediated "Mongolia" experience (tour-bus delivery to concrete mock yurts featuring theme park-like "ethnic" Mongolian floorshows and the like) can still get off the beaten track and explore the vastness of the grasslands on horseback or, perhaps, four-wheel drive.
For history buffs, the legacy of Genghis Khan and his descendents is a big draw, and the Genghis Khan Mausoleum ranks high among Inner Mongolia's top attractions. Other notable historical sights include remote stretches of the Great Wall of China, originally constructed to keep northern nomads out of Han Chinese lands; Hohhot's Qing-era military headquarters of Jiangjun Yashu; and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries like Hohhot's Wusutu Lamasery and the Wudangzhao Lamasery near Baotou.
Escape from the modern and manmade, however, is Inner Mongolia's prime allure, and there's no better way to take in the region's beauty than by horseback. Horses remain an integral part of Mongolian identity, and riding the Inner Mongolian Grasslands (within easy reach of Beijing) or in more far-flung areas like the Hulunbei'er Grasslands, can be an unforgettable experience, especially if you cap it all off with a stay in an authentic yurt under some of China's biggest and brightest starry skies.
Lush grasslands contrast in striking fashion with the starkness of the Gobi Desert, a landscape perhaps best sampled at Resonant Sand Gorge outside of Baotou, where horses give way to camels and more modern means of conveyance including dune sleds, buggies and parasailing.
For most of us, Mongolian history boils down to a pair of names: Genghis Khan and his grandson Kublai. In the 13th century, the Mongols, under the leadership first of Genghis, then his son Ogedei, began a series of conquests that established a Mongol Empire that stretched from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan.
Kublai Khan would gain his fame by conquering China, which had been split north-south between the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) and the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279). By the time Kublai was done, he'd established himself as the first emperor of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1386). The Mongols not only incorporated the traditional Han Chinese heartlands into the Yuan empire, but also swallowed up the Western Xia, the Kingdom ofDali, and Tibet, with the Chagatai Khanate to the far west, named after Kublai's brother, ruling Kashgar and much of today's Xinjiang.
Prior to the rise of Mongol power, Inner Mongolia was home to a number of nomadic non-Chinese peoples, including the Tangut, who founded the Western Xia; the ancestors of today's Xinjiang Uighurs; and the Khitan, who founded their own northern dynasty, the Liao (907-1125). Thanks to its role as a staging ground for "barbarian" invasions of China, Mongolia was, over the years, the reason for the construction of the Great Wall of China, begun by the first pan-Chinese emperor Qin to keep the nomadic Xiongnu from pushing south into Han Chinese cities and farmlands.
Mongolia's geography—vast open stretches of pasture lands unsuitable for intensive agriculture but ideal for grazing—created the conditions for this ever-changing mix of peoples who came and went over the centuries, seeking favorable hunting and pasture lands. The fact that the nomadic skill set was essentially that of an excellent horseback soldier was always big trouble for settled China. The Chinese, however, had more than just riches and fertile land—they had a powerful cultural tradition that, in the end, nearly always sinicized the invaders, including the Mongols, providing the linguistic and social continuity that Chinese refer to when they speak of "5,000 years of Chinese civilization."
The Manchu were another northern people who would conquer China before becoming culturally Chinese. Though they originated to the east of Mongol lands, they invaded and occupied Inner Mongolia in the early 17th century before turning their attention to the south, overthrowing the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and establishing the Qing (1644-1911).
Under the Qing, Han migration to Inner Mongolia increased, and with it, agricultural production—a trend that has continued in the post-dynastic era under the Republic of China (1912-1949) and the People's Republic (1949-present).
During the final years of the Qing Dynasty and the difficult transition to modern China, eastern Mongolia fell under the sway of the Japanese and their Manchu puppet state of Manchukuo, where Puyi, the last of the Qing emperors, served as figurehead and tool of Japanese imperial ambition. In 1937, Mongolian Prince De Wang declared central Inner Mongolia, including Hohhot, to be an independent state, Mengkukuo, though in reality it was as beholden to the Japanese as Puyi's Manchukuo.
As World War II came to and end in 1945, the Soviet Union seized Inner Mongolia with the help of northern Mongolian troops. As the People's Republic solidified control over China following 1949, Beijing moved to create single administrative region for areas with substantial ethnic Mongolian populations, leading to today's Autonomous Region and its long wrap-around shape hugging Mongolia (also called Outer Mongolia) to the north. However, during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), much of the Autonomous Region was carved up and distributed to surrounding provinces in an effort to suppress ethnic Mongolian culture. By 1979, the region was restored to the boundaries that define it today.
Those interested in learning more about the complex attitude modern Han China bears toward Inner Mongolia, its people and its landscape are advised to take a look at the controversial novel Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong (a pseudonym), which has been wildly popular in the PRC.
Inner Mongolia experiences short warm summers and long cold winters with significant snowfall. Given the Autonomous Region's great size, climate conditions vary from east to west. In the east, near the Heilongjiang border and in the vicinity of the Hinggan Mountains, Inner Mongolia is relatively humid, but is increasingly semi-arid and arid as you head west, toward the bone-dry Gobi Desert.
The region as a whole has a mean annual temperature range of -1 to 15°C, with the hottest month, July, reaching averages of 15-25°C and the coldest, January dipping to a brutal -30 to 10°C. On the grasslands and in the desert, nightfall often brings a precipitous dip in temperatures.