Chifeng

Chifeng (Chinese: 赤峰市), also known as Ulanhad (Mongolian: ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠬᠠᠳᠠ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (Улаанхад хот) Ulaɣanqada qota [ʊlaːnxad xɔt], "red cliff"), is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol League to the north and west, Tongliao to the northeast, Chaoyang (Liaoning) to the southeast, and Chengde (Hebei) to the south. The city has a total administrative area of 90,275 square kilometres (34,855 sq mi) and has a population of 4,341,245 inhabitants. As of the 2010 census, 1,094,970 of these residents reside within in the urban districts of Hongshan, Yuanbaoshan and Songshan. However, a large part of Songshan is still rural and Yuanbaoshan is a de facto separate town 27 kilometers away from the core district of Chifeng. The city was the administrative centre of the defunct Ju Ud League (昭乌达盟; ᠵᠤᠤ ᠤᠳᠠ ᠴᠢᠭᠤᠯᠭᠠᠨ).

History

According to archeology studies, human existence in the Chifeng area can be traced back almost ten thousand years, and the cultural history can be traced back nearly eight thousand years. The representative ruins and relics of Hongshan Culture, Grassland Bronze Culture, Qindan Nationality-Liao Culture and Mongolian-Yuan Culture have been discovered in Chifeng. The ruins of an ancient village, named Xinglonggou, are regarded as “the first village of China” by historians. The biggest jade dragon unearthed in the area is known as “the first dragon of China”. The discovery of ruins and relics of ancient cultures have come from more than 6,800 sites. Named after Chifeng's Hongshan District, Hongshan Culture was a Neolithic culture in northeastern China, whose sites have been found mainly in Chifeng, and dated from about 4700 to 2900 BC.