Xilingol League

Xilingol League 锡林郭勒盟 • ᠰᠢᠯᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠭᠣᠣᠯ ᠠᠶᠢᠮᠠᠭ
League
Dinosaur statue in Erenhot
Xilingol (red) in Inner Mongolia (orange) and China
Country	People's Republic of China
Region	Inner Mongolia
Area
• Total	211,866 km2 (81,802 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	1,028,022
• Density	4.9/km2 (13/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	152500
Area code(s)	0479
Licence plate prefixes	蒙H
Website	http://www.xlgl.gov.cn/

Xilingol, Xilin Gol or Xilinguole Aimag/League is one of 12 league of Inner Mongolia. The seat is Xilinhot, while the area is 202,580 km² (78,220 sq mi). The league's economy is based on mining and agriculture.

Xilingol borders Mongolia to the north, Chifeng, Tongliao and Hinggan League to the east, Ulanqab to the west and Hebei to the south.

This is the only prefecture-level division of Inner Mongolia in whose south border nomadic culture is still vivid. Some division, such as Tongliao, has a much higher percentage of Mongolian population but agriculture is extensive among Khorchin Mongols there. Xilingol League is also the closest Inner Mongolian prefecture-level division to Beijing, although among those Inner Mongolian prefecture-level divisions bordering Hebei, the province surrounding Beijing, Xilin Gol is also the most unapproachable one. With a significant population of Chakhar Mongols, who speaks a Mongolian dialect closly related to the standard dialect of Mongolia, the dialect spoken in Xulun Hoh Banner, Xilin Gol League is chosen as the standard language of Mongolian in China, nevertheless the de facto common standard is a mix of Khorchin-Kharchin and Chakhar, due to an extensive Khorchin Mongolian speakers presence in China.

In 2000, there were 975,168 inhabitants:

Xilin Gol is divided into two county-level cities, one county and nine banners:

After the alleged murder of a Mongolian herder, Mergen, by a Chinese truck driver who was blocking the way for Chinese coal trucks to pass through his pasture on May 10, 2011. Protests with some thousand protestors broke out in Xilingol. To prevent the spreading of protests, the Chinese government sealed off the Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities in Tongliao and the Nationalities University in Hohhot, the only two universities where lessons are predominantly taught in Mongolian. In addition, it enforced tight control on the internet and shut down QQ chatrooms.