Nationalism and Globalization on the Inner Mongolia Frontier

The history of Inner Mongolia during the last century has been in important respects a story of Sinicization. On the one hand, massive immigration by Han Chinese has transformed the Mongol community into a minority of around 20% in their homeland. On the other hand, as is the case of other minority peoples in China and elsewhere, there has been a steady erosion of the distinctive identity of the Mongols, especially in urban regions. Many now speak and read no Mongolian and have adopted Chinese names, dress and other markers of Chinese culture. Visitors to the capital of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, as recently as ten years ago would have found it very similar in appearance to a dozen or more Chinese cities of about the same size. It comes as a surprise therefore that, in the last decade, the cityscape of Hohhot has come to display a public Mongol identity that differentiates it sharply from other cities in China. This new public face of Mongol identity is not a reflection of resurgent Mongol nationalism. Rather it represents a taming of ethnicity by the forces of tourism and the market through processes of nationalization and globalization

China · Commercialization · Economic geography · Ethnic group · Frontier · Geography · Globalization · Inner mongolia · Nationalism · Political science · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

• Development, economy and culture

  Dianne Dredge•Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism…•2004

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