Hohhot

Capital of Inner Mongolia. Mongolian and Han cultures intertwined; Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, the Inner Mongolia Museum, and the Xilamuren grasslands within driving distance.

Hohhot means 'Blue City' in Mongolian, a name that dates to the Mongol settlement established here in the sixteenth century. It is now the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, an administrative area roughly equivalent in size to Western Europe, stretching from the northeast to the northwest in a broad arc along China's northern border. The city itself has a population of around three million and is predominantly Han Chinese, though Mongolian language and culture maintain a visible presence in place names, school curricula, and the Tibetan Buddhist institutions that connect this region to the wider Mongolian Buddhist world.

The Dazhao Temple, built in 1579 under the Ming dynasty patronage of Altan Khan, is the oldest and most important of Hohhot's surviving Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. A large silver statue of the historical Buddha housed in the main hall gives it the informal name 'Silver Buddha Temple'. The Xilitu Zhao monastery, close by, is the seat of the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu's Inner Mongolia representative and has been in continuous monastic use. Several smaller temples are scattered through the old southern part of the city. The Five Pagoda Temple (Wuta Si) is the most photographically striking: five pagodas on a single base, covered in Buddhist inscriptions and Mongolian astronomical charts.

The Inner Mongolia Museum is the best introduction to the region's history and material culture: extensive Mongolian nomadic-culture exhibits, dinosaur fossils from the Gobi Basin (Inner Mongolia is one of the world's richest dinosaur fossil sites), and historical collections from the Xiongnu, Liao, Jin, and Mongol periods.

The grasslands begin north of the city and are the main reason most visitors come to Hohhot. Xilamuren Grassland, 90 kilometres north, is the closest accessible area with yurt accommodation, horse riding, and the wide-open steppe landscape that distinguishes Inner Mongolia from any other part of China. Huitengxile, 140 kilometres northeast, sits higher and has a wilder character, with a large wind farm that either spoils or enhances the landscape depending on your aesthetic preferences. Grassland tourism is at its most rewarding from June to September, when the grass is green and the sky is large.

The food is pastoral in origin: hand-grasped lamb (shouzhua yangrou), Mongolian-style milk tea (salty, with roasted millet and dried cheese), and roasted lamb shoulder.