Mongolian Museum

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Hohhot, China

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Nèi Ménggŭ Bówùguăn (Inner Mongolian Museum)

by Mutt

Ankara, Turkey

January 26, 2007

Best of IgoUgo Nèi Ménggŭ Bówùguăn (open daily 9am-5pm, ¥10) is one of China’s many expertly presented provincial museums. With a series of well laid out exhibits, focusing on local paleontology and ethnography as well regional history, it is undoubtedly the ...Read more Nèi Ménggŭ Bówùguăn (open daily 9am-5pm, ¥10) is one of China’s many expertly presented provincial museums. With a series of well laid out exhibits, focusing on local paleontology and ethnography as well regional history, it is undoubtedly the city’s top attraction.

The exhibits in the Paleontology Hall start some two billion years ago and proceed in chronological order with English text and an interesting selection of fossils dug up locally to illustrate the progression. Among the numerous skulls, eggs, and other unidentifiable lumps of dinosaur, the highlights are the complete skeletons of a woolly rhinoceros and a woolly mammoth exhumed from the coal pits at nearby Mănzhōulĭ. A rear annex to the hall crams together the museum's impressive selection of dinosaur skeletons, including a brontosaurus that is almost too big for the small room.

The Ethnographic Hall details the many different minority groups that inhabit the massive province. It centers, of course, on the Mongols before going on to introduce many other races, including some that these days just number a few thousand. Exhibits include folk costumes, richly ornamented saddles, exquisite cookware, hunting weapons, a full sized yurt (Mongolian tent), sporting equipment (including some very familiar looking hockey sticks), a recreation of an ancient encampment (complete with a hungry looking bear), and somewhat curiously, a Chinese satellite for which I could find no apparent explanation.

Upstairs the Ancient History Hall kicks off, somewhat predictably, with a mighty looking statue of local boy made great Genghis Khan. English language text and artifacts including weaponry, armour, coins, and artwork, as well as a couple of massive recreated siege tools, detail the long progression of nationalities and dynasties that preceded the great Khan in controlling and developing the region. They go on to tell the story of the mighty Mongol horde and their apparently unstoppable sweep across Asia and on into Europe.

Next door the Revolutionary History Hall brings the story right up to date, with English text and a dull selection of black and white photos, original documents, and personal artifacts, starting with the local resistance against the Japanese invasion and leading up to the Communist revolution before ending with some tedious propaganda detailing the party’s commitment to the so-called Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and its minority peoples, and some excruciating photos of the current Chinese President Hu Jintao happily singing along with some suitably garbed traditional Mongolians.

The informative displays and fascinating artifacts make this museum well worth a visit if you are in the area and the detailed exhibits on local paleontology, ethnography, and history make it an ideal launching point for your further explorations of the province. Close

From journal Hohhot: City of Buddhas, Dinosaurs, and Khans

Mongolian Museum

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Nèi Ménggŭ Bówùguăn (Inner Mongolian Museum)