The area, for over a thousand years, was a popular resting spot for Mongol nomads, and grew to become the “Blue City”, an allusion to the azure skies that are rarely troubled by cloud. The city itself was officially established in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), growing largely due to its religious buildings, and came to be called the City of Temples and Lamaseries (Zhaocheng). The Nationalist government under Sun-yat Sen, and then Chiang Kai-shek, were to refer to the city as Guisui, but with the Communist succession in 1950, it returned to its roots, being known in Chinese either literally as the Blue City (Qingcheng) or phonetically as Hohhot (Huhehaote or Huhaote). The city was officially designated as the capital of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in 1952, and has now become the prefecture’s economic and political center.

Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is a historical and culture city.

Paleolithic relic excavated in Dayao village close to Hohhot indicates that there were people in this region about 550,000 years ago. The Paleolithic relic (a site of stone ware making) is unique in the world.

In 300BC, the state of Zhao occupied the northern part of Hohhot. In 306BC, Lingwang, the king of the Zhao, named this area Yunzhong and constructed a section of wall (a section of the Great Wall) along the Yin Mountain to protect it. Yunzhong served as an administrative center during the Qin (221BC-207BC) and Han (206BC-220AD) dynasties. In early 16th century, a Mongol troop, under the leadership of Helatan Khan, marched into this area. Helatan Khan and his wife, Sanniangzi, started to establish a town here in 1581 and named it Hohhot that means ‘blue city’ in Mongolian. The town was also called ‘Sanniangzi’. Later on the Ming government renamed it Guihua. In 1735 (Qing Dynasty), Manchu’s built a town about 2.5 kilometers northeast of the city of Guihua and named it Suiyuan, which is the modern city of Hohhot. After the Qing Dynasty, the city was called Guisui or Houhe till November 1949 when it was liberated. The city was called Hohhot again.

The major historic relics here include the Dazhao Temple, the Huayan Scripture Pagoda, Wang Zhaojun Tomb, the Jingangsheli Pagoda, and Wusuotuzhao Temple.

Costumes of Mongolians are very distinctive. Men and women always wear beautiful robes with waistbands, made of various fabrics. Yurt (Meng Gu Bao) is herdsmen’s houses. Matou violin is a Mongolian’s traditional musical instrument Fancy riding, wrestling, camel race, and archery is popular traditional sports of Mongolians. Nadumu Fair is Mongolian’s traditional fair.
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