General Profile:

Population: 23,800,000

Regional Capital: Hohhot.

Average temperatures: -23 deg C to -10 deg C in January; 17 deg C to 26 deg C in July.

Physical features: Land area is 1,183,000 square kilometres.  In the northeast of the region lies the Greater Hinggan Range with dense forests.  To the west of the range is the Hulunbuir Plateau, with vast grasslands for grazing.  The rest of Inner Mongolia consists of numerous deserts, or salt and alkali lakes, with scattered highlands. 

Rivers and lakes: The Yellow River enters part of the region, as does the Ergun River and the upper reaches of the Liao River.  Lake Hulun is in the plateau region in the northeastern part of the province.

Administrative divisions: 16 cities, 18 counties, 51 banners and 3 autonomous banners.

Historical significance:  Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, what is now the Republic of Mongolia and the Amur Administrative Region of Russia comprised the homeland of the Mongols.  Genghis Khan united the various tribes in the Asian grasslands in 1206 and established a vast empire.  His grandson, Kublai Khan completed the conquest of southern China, the stronghold of the Song Dynasty, in 1279 and become the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.  .

Mongol conquests succeeded mainly from the mobility achieved with horses and with both skill and cunning in the use of weapons.  This did not contribute to the ability to rule and the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown in 1368 by a group of Chinese rebels who founded the Ming Dynasty.

The cultural heritage of Mongols is not regarded as significant (except, perhaps for Xanadu Palace which lies about 231 kilometres north of Beijing at Duolin) since the Mongols borrowed heavily from the culture of the Chinese during their reign.  They did, however, establish roads from Beijing to Hohhot and on to Baotou, which opened the way for migration from the south.  They also initiated a variety of public works projects in northern China, including renovation of the Grand Canal.

Currently, about 10 per cent of the Inner Mongolian population are Mongols and remain practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, with some Muslims.  The remainder of the population consists of Han Chinese, and other ethnic groups including: Hui（回）, Manchu（滿）, Daur（達幹爾）, Ewenki（鄂溫克）, Oroqen（鄂倫春）, Korean（朝鮮）, Zhuang（壯）, Tibetan（藏）, and Tu（土）.

China administered most of Mongolia during the Ming and Manchu reigns, but the Republic of Mongolia was established 10 years after the collapse of the Manchus (Qing Dynasty) in 1911.  It was Mao Zedong’s intention to include both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia as autonomous states in the Chinese Federation, but Outer Mongolia remained firmly under Soviet control in the period after 1949.

Natural Resources:

Inner Mongolia has China’s largest iron ore mine at Baiyunerbo（白雲鄂博）which is also the largest rare earth mine in China.  The reserves of rare earth minerals in the region account for 90 per cent of the nation’s total.  With an extensive coal deposits, as well as the iron ore, Inner Mongolia has become an important steel production centre.  The region's reserves of niobium and natural soda also ranked first in the country.

Economic Profile:

Notes: *In real terms
Sources: Inner Mongolia Statistical Yearbook, CEIC database

Infrastructure:

Railways － Major railways lines are Beijing-Baotou, Beijing-Tongliao, Baotou-Lanzhou, Harbin-Manzhouli, Jining-Tongliao, and Jining-Erenhot.  The Manzhouli Station and Erenhot Station, which connect the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and Mongolia, act as important gateways between China and Europe.  A railway link with the second Eurasia Bridge, leading to Europe via Xinjiang also acts as an important trade route for northern and northwest China. 

Roadways － The road network in the region is well developed and the Hohhot-Baotou Expressway is the major highway in Inner Mongolia.  This is to be upgraded as part of the current Five-Year Plan. 

Air Transport － Air travel is becoming the major source of transport for the region and the Hohhot airport has more than 47 air routes to major cities in China.  Small aircraft and helicopters are used increasingly with livestock production.

Telecommunications －By February-2001, the telephone penetration rate in the region jumped from 7.5 per cent in 1998 to 32.2 pre cent and subscribers for mobile phone reached 1.1 million.

Power Supply － With the power generating capacity of 6.2 million kWh, the region has become a major power supplier for China's Northeast Power Grid, the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Power Grid, and for Mongolia.

Agriculture:

The land in Inner Mongolia is generally fertile, but the short growing season limits crop yields.  Agricultural products include wheat, corn, rice, soybeans, sugar beet, oats, millet, Chinese sorghum, maize and potatoes, as well as cash crops such as flax and oil-bearing seeds. 

The grasslands contribute to major livestock-breeding activities.  The region has the largest number of horses, cattle, sheep including fine-wool sheep, white goats and camels.  Fine wool, cashmere and camelhair cloth are important by-products.  In 1999, milk production in the region ranked third in the country.

 

Industry:

In 2000, Inner Mongolia's industrial output increased by 16.9 per cent to RMB 70.4 billion.  Industries are mainly located at Hohhot, Baotou, Chifeng（赤峰）and other cities such as Jining（集寧）, Wuhai（烏海）, Tongliao and Manzhouli（滿洲里）.

As noted previously, Inner Mongolia is an important base of iron and steel industry.  The role of the Baotou Iron and Steel Company（包頭鋼鐵公司）is significant in the development of this industry in China. 

Textile industry is one of the significant industries in the region.  The Ordos Group （鄂爾多斯集團）is one of the best known manufacturers.

 

Science and Technology:

Hohhot Ruyi Economic and Technological Development Zone （呼和浩特（如意）經濟技術開發區）

This is the largest of the state-level ETDZ in Inner Mongolia.  Approved by the State Council in 1992, it focuses on electronics, textile, machinery, light industries including food processing, biological and medical supplies and chemicals.

Baotou Rare Earth High and New Technological Development Zone （包頭稀土高新技術產業開發區）

This is another state-level ETDZ and specialises in the processing of rare earth minerals.  The zone has 253 enterprises and attracted RMB 2.2 billion in investment. 

 

Consumers’ Market:

Retail sales of consumer goods in the regi

tres in Inner Mongolia include Inner Mongolia Minzu Market（內蒙古民族商場股份有限公司）, Baotou Department Store （包頭市百貨大樓集團公司）, Inner Mongolia Tianyuan Commercial Building （內蒙古天元商廈）, Inner Mongolia Xinshiji Mall（內蒙古新世紀廣場）and Chifeng Department Store（赤峰市百貨大樓）.

 

Key Cities in Inner Mongolia:

Central industrial region – This includes the portion of Inner Mongolia that lies north of Beijing, as well as north of Shanxi Province and Shaanxi Province.

Ø       Hohhot

Ø       Baotou

Ø       Bayanaoer  

Eastern industrial region – this includes the portion of Inner Mongolia from Ulan Hot to the northern border.

Ø       Chifeng

Ø       Hulunbeier

Ø       Tongliao

 

Hohhot 呼和浩特:

1999 data:

Hohhot is about 400 kilometres from Beijing in a straight line.  The rail connection is longer as it passes through Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, then goes southwest to Datong and then directly north to Jining （集寧）in Inner Mongolia, which is part of the main line to Ulaan Baatar in the Republic of Mongolia.  Hohhot is served from an east-west line from Jining.

Current plans are to construct a more direct rail link between Jining and Zhangjiakou, which will reduce the travel time between Hohhot and Beijing to 5 hours.

The city is the administrative and educational centre of the region.  Its history dates back to the 16th century and was originally built around temples and lamaseries.  Hohhot means “blue skies” in Mongolian and this most probably arose from is status as one of the sunniest cities in the region, and probably also in China.

Hide and wool are the main activities, although diesel machinery, fertilisers and sugar refining are important activities.

 

Baotou包頭:

1999 data:

Baotou lies on the northernmost portion of the Yellow River, about 150 kilometres west of Hohhot.  Baotou means “land of the deer” in Mongolian, which gives an indication of its early importance as a source of water.

Industrial development followed the exploitation of coal, iron ore and mineral deposits in the region and it is substantially more industrialised that the other cities in the region.

 

1999 data:

Chifeng is the principal city in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia.  It is less then 25 kilometres from the border with Liaoning Province and is therefore more closely related to the trading activities of that province, than to those of the central and eastern part of Inner Mongolia.

1999 data:

We presume that Hulunbeier is one of the communities near Lake Hulun in the northeastern part of the region.  Other cities in that area are Manzouli and Hailar and both are close to Russian Siberia.

1999 data:

 

Bayanaoer 巴彥淖爾盟:

 

1999 data:

The name “bayan” appears frequently in the central portion of Inner Mongolia and we are unable to establish the location of this specific one.