China's ethnic Mongolians hang on to identity by a thread
As the capital of a sprawling frontier region that was once in Mongol leader Genghis Khan's vast domain, Hohhot has many ethnic Mongol flourishes. Streets signs are in Mongolian, yurt-themed architecture graces the city and some park benches have a Mongol saddle motif. At least one television channel airs in the Mongolian language.
There's only one thing in short supply: ethnic Mongolians.
Fewer than 10 percent of the greater metropolitan area's 2.6 million inhabitants are ethnic Mongolian, and the ratio isn't much higher in the surrounding grasslands.
Over the last six decades, China has kept an open-door policy on migration to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region , and now only one out of five people in the region abutting Russia and Mongolia are ethnic Mongolian. Activists say the influx has overwhelmed them and imperiled their culture.
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There's only one thing in short supply: ethnic Mongolians.
Fewer than 10 percent of the greater metropolitan area's 2.6 million inhabitants are ethnic Mongolian, and the ratio isn't much higher in the surrounding grasslands.
Over the last six decades, China has kept an open-door policy on migration to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region , and now only one out of five people in the region abutting Russia and Mongolia are ethnic Mongolian. Activists say the influx has overwhelmed them and imperiled their culture.