Tongliao: The City in Inner Mongolia That Best Captures the Essence of China's Northeast
Today, the most talked-about city in Inner Mongolia is undoubtedly Tongliao, which has become an internet sensation. With an area of 59,535 square kilometers and a population of 2.8531 million, this city has turned into a "unit of measurement" for territory and population in online videos introducing countries around the world. Behind the meme is the rapidly popular YouTuber Little John Khan, known for his humorous Northeast-style commentary, and his hometown, Tongliao—a city that embodies the essence of the Northeast even more than the Northeast itself.
Huolinhe Street, Tongliao: Aerial view of the western city.
Compared to the humorous "Tongliao Universe" in videos, the real treasures of Tongliao are equally impressive. Here, there are forests, coal mines, and endless cornfields; winters as cold and dry as those in northern Liaoning; descendants of countless immigrants who braved the journey to the Northeast; and dishes like杀猪菜 (pork stew) and锅包肉 (sweet and sour pork), along with an astonishing capacity for alcohol—even at breakfast.
Tongliao is also the most unique prefecture-level city in Northeast China.
On the vast grasslands and sandy lands of Tongliao, nearly half the population is Mongolian, making it the prefecture-level city with the highest proportion of Mongolians in China. One out of every five Mongolians worldwide is from Tongliao. The Horqin Grassland, often mentioned in Qing dynasty palace dramas by Empress Xiaozhuang, is located here. It is the birthplace of Mongolian art forms like潮尔 (chor) and乌力格尔 (uliin ger), and also the capital of Mongolian cuisine in China.
Location of the "Concorde airplane."
Situated in the transitional zone between Inner Mongolia and the three northeastern provinces, Tongliao possesses a somewhat fantastical complexity. Even its unique outline has been affectionately dubbed the "Concorde airplane" by Little John Khan. The name "Tongliao" itself is the best annotation for this place.
A Northeastern city embedded within Inner Mongolia.
When mentioning Inner Mongolia, we naturally think of the Inner Mongolia Plateau. In fact, the eastern part of Inner Mongolia is already in the transitional zone from the Inner Mongolia Plateau to the Northeast Plain. As the terrain gradually descends, the Inner Mongolia Plateau approaches the ocean, and the Pacific monsoon brings more moisture, creating a climate similar to that of the three northeastern provinces, making the area more suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry.
Sandy land used as winter pastures is separated from farmland by only a thin line.
Hulunbuir, with most of its area located west of the Greater Khingan Mountains, is representative of suitability for animal husbandry, while Tongliao, with most of its area located east of the Greater Khingan Mountains, is representative of suitability for agriculture.
From north to south, Tongliao encapsulates the not-so-high yet solemn remnants of the Greater Khingan Mountains, the Huitzahanuoer Grassland adjacent to Xilingol, the West Liao River Plain resembling the Northeast Plain, the resilient tamarisk trees like poplars at the edge of the sandy land, the vibrant Horqin Sandy Land, and the Daqing Gou, akin to a "desert oasis."
The Horqin Sandy Land is not a desert.
Tongliao is the prefecture-level city with the lowest average elevation in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with its highest point, Mount Tunter, standing at only 1,444.2 meters. Over 70% of its land is located on the West Liao River Plain, with an elevation of only about 200 meters. The West Liao River Plain is closely connected to the Liao River Plain, the most vital land in Liaoning. While rivers have tributaries and main streams, the plains formed by river alluvium have no clear geographical boundaries. In other words, Tongliao is the Inner Mongolian city with topographical conditions most similar to the three northeastern provinces.
The West Liao River is not only a source of irrigation but also a natural transportation route downstream into the three northeastern provinces. Tongliao's transportation advantages connecting to the Northeast have persisted to this day. Netizens joke that "the orthodox Rome is in Tongliao," but in reality, Tongliao is also a place where "all roads lead to Rome." Tongliao converges six railways, connecting Northeast, North, and Northwest China, making it one of the most important transportation hubs in the Northeast.
The West Liao River, the mother river of northern ethnic minorities, flows through Tongliao.
Transportation accessibility not only means commodity exchange but also cultural and population exchanges.
After the rise of the Mongolians, the Horqin Tribe, known for their exceptional archery skills, gradually migrated here from the Hulunbuir Grassland. Because this area was far from the political center of the Mongolians since the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, Hohhot, and closer to Liaoning, where Manchus and Han people gathered, the Horqin Tribe not only allied early with the Manchus but also intermarried with the Qing imperial family for generations, culturally influenced more by Manchu and Han cultures.
Khan Mountain is located in the northern part of Tongliao.
From Empress Xiaozhuang, who maintained court stability behind the scenes during the fragile early Qing regime, to Sengge Rinchen, the renowned general who witnessed the decline of the Qing Dynasty and died at the hands of the Nian Army in the late Qing era. The Horqin Mongolians from Tongliao profoundly influenced the course of history and were naturally swept up in it, deeply participating in the trend of ethnic integration.
For centuries, horses have been partners of the Mongolian people in overcoming geographical barriers.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the government gradually relaxed the ban on farmers reclaiming wasteland outside the Pass, making the "Chuang Guandong" (Venturing into the Northeast) the largest population migration event in modern Chinese history. The eastern region of Inner Mongolia, from Chifeng and Tongliao to Xing'an League and Hulunbuir, together with the three northeastern provinces, accepted immigrants from inside the Pass, collectively forming the "Northeastern flavor" of Inner Mongolia.
Not all of the three northeastern provinces speak the Northeastern dialect, and the areas where the Northeastern dialect is spoken are not limited to the three northeastern provinces.
Tongliao was precisely the first place with vast uncultivated land that immigrants encountered after crossing Shanhaiguan (the Liaodong Plain, located within the Willow Palisade, was more developed). Only after leaving here would they reach Jilin and Heilongjiang. Local Mongolian nobles, in order to earn rent, actively recruited Han farmers from the "Chuang Guandong" migration, transforming meadows, grasslands, and forests into farmland. Some local Mongols also learned agricultural knowledge, transitioned to settled life, and changed from herders to farmers.
Why does Tongliao have a strong "Northeastern flavor"? Because Tongliao shares similar climate and products with the three northeastern provinces, and the "Chuang Guandong" migration shaped a common ancestral memory and way of life. The Northeast, which includes eastern Inner Mongolia areas like Tongliao, is the complete Northeast.
"Northeast Granary," "Resource-Rich City," "Natural Water Tower"—apart from its geographical location, Tongliao also possesses all the natural endowments of the Northeast. Through generations of cultivation by the "Chuang Guandong" immigrants, Tongliao is not just an endless pastoral area but also, like the three northeastern provinces, a granary of China! Tongliao harvests over 16 billion kilograms of grain annually, which is even higher than Zhejiang Province's annual grain output. With endless fields of yellow corn dotted with soybeans, sorghum, and rice paddies, Tongliao shares a rural complex with the Northeast.
Tongliao has geological structures similar to those of northeastern cities like Daqing and Fuyu, with mineral resources such as coal, oil, rare earths, and medical stone buried underground. Among them, the Huolinhe Coal Mine is one of China's five largest open-pit coal mines. Mineral resources have driven the development of heavy industries like refining, power generation, and metals. To transport these raw materials, Tongliao's cities, like those in the Northeast, are distributed along railways and highways, continuously developing with transportation capacity.
Photo/Cui Liu, Image/Figureworm·Creative
Compared to the three major plains of the Northeast, the West Liaohe Plain is closer to the inland and receives less rainfall. Due to multiple factors such as climate change and over-cultivation, the Horqin Grassland in Tongliao has degraded into the Horqin Sandy Land, once becoming one of the sources of sandstorms in Beijing. However, while ensuring food security, Tongliao has recently begun restoring the ecology of forests, grasslands, sandy lands, and wetlands, building an ecological barrier for North and Northeast China and forming the upstream of the Northeast's "water country."
Why is Tongliao's "Northeastern flavor" becoming increasingly strong?
Geographical connections ultimately translate into transportation accessibility. Taking a train from Tongliao to Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, takes a long 18 hours, while going to Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, by high-speed rail takes only 1.5 hours—about the time it takes to stew a dish in an iron pot from ordering to serving.
Because Tongliao is too close to the Northeast and too far from Hohhot, it naturally has more population flow and trade with the Northeast, leading to greater economic and cultural connections and ultimately forming bonds of cultural identity. In other words, Tongliao's "Northeastern flavor" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Convenient transportation brings urban prosperity,
and urban prosperity, in turn, promotes the convenience of transportation.
Over time, Tongliao's "Northeastern flavor" has become even stronger. Even the Eastern Mongolian-style "Guobaorou" (sweet and sour pork) originally seasoned with soy sauce and garlic has gradually been replaced by the Harbin-style version with white vinegar sauce.
In Tongliao, a group of elderly people gathered together may not be playing chess but could be playing "Water Margin" cards. This traditional elongated Chinese playing card originated in Shandong and became popular in the Northeast, forming a subculture for the elderly. No one can say exactly when it became popular in Tongliao. It is like an Easter egg hinting at the connection between Tongliao and Shandong and the three northeastern provinces.
Tongliao also shares the worries of the Northeast. The population loss in the Northeast is a perennial topic on the internet, and the large cities of the three northeastern provinces are precisely the main destinations for the population outflow from eastern Inner Mongolia. People from Chifeng and Tongliao buying properties in the three northeastern provinces is not just for investment but also for the possibility of living there one day. In the past decade, Tongliao's population has decreased by 8.47%. Considering that most of those who leave are young people seeking education or employment, such a rate of loss is remarkable.
Tongliao is still full of life and vitality.
On the bright side, those who leave have chosen broader horizons, while those who stay enjoy a more leisurely life. After all, some people spend their lives pursuing poetry and distant lands, but Tongliao people are born in a distant land.
Why is Tongliao said to be the most unique part of the Northeast?
A day in Tongliao starts with a bowl of hand-pulled noodles with pork ribs—a local specialty you won’t find outside the city—paired with a few glasses of liquor (52° baijiu by the cup, or beer by the bottle) to ward off the cold wind. Lunch features hearty Northeastern Chinese dishes or iron pot stews, while those preferring lighter fare can enjoy buckwheat from Kulun, known as "China’s Buckwheat Hometown." In the evening, rows of bathhouses offer the perfect way to wash away the day’s fatigue. During leisure time, the surrounding area—home to China’s largest sandy land, most典型 grasslands, and richest Mongolian culture—provides ample exploration.
The irresistibly bold hand-pulled noodles with pork ribs,
Fig. 1 Photo by Zhao Zixuan, Fig. 2 Photo by Zhuang Menghua
It is the grassland life that endows Tongliao with its extraordinary character, making it the most unique city in Northeast China.
For tourists, the Horqin Sandy Land is a misunderstood打卡 destination often mistaken for "grasslands" or "deserts"; for Tongliao locals, it serves as a windbreaking winter pasture for livestock and the homeland of the Horqin cattle, which sit at the top of Inner Mongolia’s beef hierarchy.
Authentic Inner Mongolian beef jerky,
The sandy land and grasslands have endowed Tongliao with a tradition of thriving animal husbandry, while the abundance of yellow corn has enabled the development of modern livestock farming. Today, beef accounts for 40% of Tongliao’s meat production—even higher than pork. This sets it apart from the dominance of pork in the three Northeastern provinces and the prevalence of lamb in Xilingol and Hulunbuir.
This strong livestock tradition undoubtedly stems from the expertise of Tongliao’s Mongolian population. Tongliao is the ancestral pastureland of the Mongolian Horqin tribe, and nearly half of its current population is Mongolian. Daily interactions between Mongolians and Han Chinese have profoundly shaped Tongliao’s culture and urban character.
On one hand, Han Chinese in Tongliao—China’s capital of Mongolian cuisine—largely enjoy Mongolian food, especially lamb; on the other hand, innovations like beef pies, Mongolian hotpot, and candied milk skin in Tongliao’s Mongolian cuisine often bear traces of Northeastern influences. The art of Uliger among the Horqin Mongols best illustrates why Tongliao is so unique amidst ethnic integration. Uliger performers play the four-stringed fiddle and rap in Mongolian, but tell stories from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Sui and Tang dynasties.
In winter, the joyful "cat winter" lifestyle begins in rural areas, while pastoral regions prepare for the grand Winter Nadam. Life in Tongliao continues vibrantly, and the real-world "Tongliao Universe" is equally worth exploring.
The Winter Nadam is a celebration lesser-known to tourists.
Design | Yu Yitiao, Jiuyang
Header image & cover image | Li Pengfei