Hohhot

Hohhot, Chinese (Pinyin) Huhehaote, Wade-Giles romanization Hu-ho-hao-t’e, city and (since 1952) provincial capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China. The city is a prefecture-level municipality (shi) and the command headquarters of the Inner Mongolia Military Region. It is situated in the upper valley of the Dahei River (a westward-flowing tributary of the Huang He [Yellow River], which it joins on the northern side of that river’s great loop) and south of a gap through the Yin Mountains, which average some 5,000 feet (1,500 metres).

The area was traditionally on the edge of the area settled by Han Chinese, and Hohhot grew up as a frontier trading centre. The original Mongol city Kuku-khoto was founded in the 16th century and was an important religious centre for Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism). In the mid-17th century, at the end of the Ming period (1368–1644), the area began to be settled by Chinese, who farmed the fertile plain and named the city Guihua (meaning “Return to Civilization”). Eventually, in the mid-18th century, a new Chinese city, named Suiyuan, was founded some 2.5 miles (4 km) north of the old one. Later the two cities were combined under the name Guisui, and that city became a considerable frontier market with a large Muslim trading community.

In 1928, when Suiyuan sheng (province) was established as a part of the policy of bringing Inner Mongolia firmly under Chinese civil administration, the city became the provincial capital. During the Japanese occupation (1937–45) it became the capital of the pro-Japanese autonomous region of Mengjiang. In 1952 it replaced Kalgan (Zhangjiakou) as the provincial capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and was renamed Hohhot (Mongolian: “Green City”) in 1954.

Before World War II, Hohhot was still primarily a trading centre, although its importance had grown rapidly since the completion in 1922 of the railway linking it to Beijing and Tianjin to the southeast and Baotou to the west. It collected the produce of both the pastoral Mongols and the local Chinese farmers. A handicraft industry grew up; leather was processed; and rugs, felt, and clothing were manufactured.

Originally, the old (Mongol) city was the commercial centre and the new (Chinese) city the administrative and residential area. After World War II the two were completely merged, and the whole grew rapidly, trebling in population in a decade.

Hohhot also developed into a fairly important industrial centre. Besides grain milling, tanning, oil extraction, and sugar refining from locally grown beets, plants weaving woolen textiles and manufacturing machines have emerged. A construction industry makes its own bricks and tiles, and a medium-sized iron and steel industry has been established. There is also a large industrial chemical plant. During the early years after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Chinese settlement in Inner Mongolia was checked. By the early 1970s, however, expansion of cultivation to the north of Hohhot had attracted major tractor and diesel engine factories to the city.

In 1957 Hohhot became the seat of the first university in Inner Mongolia with an important medical and veterinary college. Schools, hospitals, a palace of culture, and theatres have made the city a regional cultural centre. South of the city, by the Dahei River, is the famous “Green Tomb” of Wang Zhaojun, a courtesan sent in 33 bce by the Han emperor Yuandi (reigned 49/48–33 bce) to the territory of what is now Inner Mongolia to be the bride of Huhanxie, a Xiongnu chieftain. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 826,354; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,726,000.