Located in the Mongolian Plateau in the north of China, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has a rich cultural and historical heritage.

The region was the cradle of the Grassland Civilization, regarded as one of the three major sources of the Chinese Civilization - the other two being the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

Since ancient times, the region has been a giant stage for numerous nomadic tribes in the north of China, such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitan, Nurchen, Mongol and Manchurian.

The convergence of nomadic and agricultural heritage has left the region with profound historical and cultural legacies.

Some of the cultural sites, such as the paleolithic Dayao Culture of 700,000 years ago, the neolithic Xinglongwa Culture of 8,000 years ago, and the Hongshan and Hetao cultures, enjoy great domestic and international fame.

Statistics show that the region has 15,000 cultural and historical relics, including more than 30,000 rock paintings and hundreds of ancient cities.

Among them, the site of the Upper Capital of Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and the Upper Capital of Liao Dynasty (907-1125) are the most famous ones.

The Liao Upper Capital, built in 918, is the first capital built by the Khitan, a confederation of nomadic tribes that ruled Manchuria and part of North China from the 10th to the early 12th century under the Liao Dynasty (907-1125).

The region has folk legends, arts, sculptures, cuisine, sports, music, dance, and operas with Mongolian characteristics, and has long enjoyed the reputation of being the "ocean of songs and hometown of dances."

The Long-tune folk songs, the Horse-head Fiddle, Hoomii (two simultaneous tones with the human voice), and "Uukhay" or "guiyngoon" songs are influential art forms from the region.

Inner Mongolia has a strong athletic tradition. Sports activities such as Mongolian wrestling, horse & camel riding, rodeo competitions and archery are very popular and play an important role in people's lives.

Located on the border between the nomadic and agricultural powers, the region has a section of the Great Wall that runs more than 20,000 km.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, ethnic and folk culture and arts have been well protected and promoted.

The region has 36 national key cultural relic sites and more than 700 pieces of national first-class cultural relics.

In the 1950s, the region had only one museum. By 2006, it had established 147 arts institutions, 107 arts performance groups, 102 cultural centers and 33 museums.

In particular, since China's implementation of the reform and opening up process in the late 1970s, the region's government has achieved remarkable results in building Inner Mongolia into a showcase for ethnic culture.

In 2005, the region's government set September 6 as the Inner Mongolia Grassland Cultural Heritage Day, the first of its kind in the nation.

Inner Mongolia's broadcast network currently covers 92.84 percent of the region's population, while the television network covers 91.23 percent, an increase of 7 and 9.8 percentage points respectively over that in 2000.

For more than 20 years, the region's government has spared no efforts in making grassland culture and Mongolian ethnic culture unique advantages for tourism, which has become the region's high value-added and pillar industry.

In 2006, the region received 24.517 million domestic tourists, with a tourist income of 24.824 billion yuan ($3.28 billion). The tourism industry employs 150,000 people and has indirectly created employment for 720,000 people.

Inner Mongolia covers an area of 1.18 million sq km and has a population of 23.84 million. It is China's third largest provincial-level administrative region in terms of area, after Xinjiang and Tibet.

(China Daily 07/20/2007 page5)