Header courtesy of Rosslyn Sinclair
People tend to confuse Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region in Northern China, vastly different from the rest of China. To the north, Inner Mongolia borders Mongolia and Russia; to the east and south, it borders other Chinese provinces such as Heilongjiang, Hebei, and Shanxi.
Since Inner Mongolia is a part of China and the Han Chinese outnumber the Mongols, many tour guides and locals can speak Mandarin, which definitely weakens the language barrier for visitors. Surrounded by various cultures, ethnicities, and languages, Inner Mongolia encompasses a little bit of everything. Its culture, food, and language all vary slightly differently depending on the region. The best way to think about the region’s intricate social workings is to compare it to Switzerland, which is categorised into Swiss-German, Swiss-French, and Swiss-Italian. Join us as we explore the unique culture and way of life in Inner Mongolia, where locals live nomadic lifestyles on sprawling grasslands and under twinkling night skies.