The present population of the Mongolians numbers 4,806,849. Most of the China's Mongolians are living in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, and others are scattered in the Northeast and Northwest of China.
The Mongolians were legendary. In the past thousand years, they roamed over in the west, seeking rich pastures and water sources. Their traces can be easily found in every comer of the vast pastural land of China.
Praised as "the divine son of the grassland", the Mongolian people also developed a high civilization. Especially since the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolians have contributed a lot to the development of China's science and culture in such aspects as history, literature, language, medicine, geography and astronomy. As regard to the folk arts, Haolibao is a popular singing form, while the Morin Hur is their traditional music instrument.
The Mongolians rose from the ancient Wangjian River (on the eastern bank of present Ergun River). As one of the Mongol tribes, they were called 'Mongwu" in the Tang Dynasty. Early in the 13th century, Genghis Khan conquered other tribes on the grassland and unified them under Mongolian rule. Since then, Mongolian has been known as a name of a nationality rather than a tribe.
The Mongolian language, including three dialects, the Inner Mongolian, Weilate, and Barag- Buriat, forms a major branch of the Altaic language family.
A Mongolian woman, living in Erduos wearing her rich clothing.
The Morin Hur is a bowed stringed instrument with a scroll carved like a horse's head, used by the Mongolians.
Mongolian children practise wrestling.
Mongolian women, living in Tonghai County of Yunnan Province, playing their traditional musical instrument called Yueqin whose full- moon-shaped sound box is decorated with elaborate carvings and small round mirrors.
The Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region is a vast oasture land where most people live by raising animals.
Strong wrestlers.
Camels are major pack animals used by the Mongolians.
