Brief Introduction of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

** Geography and Natural Conditions
Inner Mongolia, China's northern border autonomous region features a long, narrow strip of land sloping from northeast to southwest. It stretches 2,400 km from west to east and 1,700 km from north to south. The third largest among China's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, the region covers an area of 1.18 million sq km, or 12.3% of the country's territory. At the end of 2005, the total population stood at 23.864 million. It neighbors eight provinces and regions in its south, east and west and Mongolia and Russia in the north, with a borderline of 4,200 km.
** Climate
Inner Mongolia has a temperate continental climate. Sring is warm and windy; summer is short and hot with many rainy days; autumn usually sees early frost and plummeting temperature; winter is long, bitter cold with frequent polar outbreaks. The region has an annual precipitation of 100-500 mm, 80-150 frost-free days, and 2,700 hours of sunshine. The Greater Hinggan Mountains and the Yinshan Mountains divide the regions into areas with different climate. The area east of the Greater Hinggan Mountains and north of the Yinshan Mountains has lower temperature and less precipitation than the opposite area.

Carrying the meaning of "the Green City" in the Mongolian language, Huhhot is the capital and the administrative, economic and cultural center lf Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It has a total land area of 17224 sq km and a population of 2.58 million. It is an area inhabited by the 36 ethnic groups including the Mongolians as the main body, the Han as the majority, the Hui, Manchu, Korean, Daur, and Oroqen ethnic groups.
Huhhot has over 40 kinds of minerals. We are proud of our fertile land and rich produce, which offers a unique advantage for the development of farming and animal husbandry. The city is rich in wheat, maize, naked oat, buckwheat, potato, sugar beet and flax. Our dairy industry is particularly outstanding in development and we rank the top in China in terms of the total quantity of milk, milk products, and the quantity of fresh milk available to each urban resident.
As a result, the city is renowned as the Home Town of Milk of China by Dairy Association and our milk products are distributed in all the major domestic markets. Meanwhile, we have cultivation bases of such quality medical herbs as wolfberry, Astragalus mongholicus, Dangshen and licorice.
History: Huhhot is one of the famous historical and cultural cities of China and one of the origins of the Chinese civilization. We have written records of over 2000 years ago, the relics of "Dayao Culture" indicating human activities of 500000 years ago. The Ancient City of Yunzhong was the period of Warring States (476 BC--221 BC). Zhaojun's Mausoleum evidenced the marriage between the princess of the Western Dynasty (206 BC--8 AD) and the chief of the Xiongnu nationality.   Huayan Scripture Tower of the Liao Dynasty (907--1125), and the Dazhao Temple, Xilituzhao Temple and 5-pagoda Temple of the Ming (1368--1644) and Qing Dynasties (1616--1911) and other famous historical sites are a true record of the long history of Huhhot.