Chifeng,; also known as Ulanhad ( (Улаанхад хот), ''Ulaɣanqada qota'', , "red cliff") also known as Ulankhad in Mongolian, is a
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...
in Southeastern
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...
, People's Republic of China. It borders
Xilin Gol League to the north and west,
Tongliao to the northeast,
Chaoyang (
Liaoning
)
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong
, image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg
, ...
) to the southeast and
Chengde
Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing e ...
(
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
) to the south. The city has a total administrative area of and as of the 2020 census, had a population of 4,035,967 inhabitants (4,341,245 in 2010). However, 1,175,391 of those residents lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 2 urban districts of
Hongshan and
Songshan, as
Yuanbaoshan is not conurbated yet.
However, a large part of Songshan district is still rural and Yuanbaoshan district a de facto separate town 27 kilometers away from the core district of Chifeng. The city was the administrative center of the previous Ju Ud League.;
History
According to archeological studies, human occupation of the Chifeng area can be traced back at least ten thousand years, and
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
cultural history can be traced back nearly eight thousand years. Representative ruins and relics of
Hongshan Culture, Grassland Bronze Culture,
Khitan Liao Culture and
Mongol-Yuan Culture have been discovered in Chifeng. The ruins of an ancient village, named
Xinglongwa, and the biggest jade dragon unearthed in the area are noted as "the first village" and "the first dragon" by some. 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.
The area surrounding Chifeng was the political center of the
Liao dynasty, and home to the Liao capital
Shangjing Linhuangfu. Therefore, the amount of ruins and relics of the
Liao Dynasty in Chifeng is ranked the most important in China. During the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, today's Chifeng region was under the administration of 'Ju Ud League', one of the six original Leagues in Inner Mongolia. Mongolian
Banners (county level regions) were organized into conventional assemblies at the league level. In republican era, Chifeng was under the administration of
Rehe Province, along with parts of today's Liaoning and Hebei including
Chaoyang and
Chengde
Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing e ...
. After the Mukden Incident in 1931, the Japanese puppet state
Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
was established in
Xinjing (today's Jilin provincial capital Changchun), and Ju Ud League was captured by Manchukuo in 1933.
Chifeng was established as the third largest city of Rehe Province after Chengde and Chaoyang. After
Operation August Storm, the Soviet-Mongolian Cavalry-Mechanized Group entered Chifeng. After Rehe Province was rendered defunct in 1955, Chifeng was placed administratively under the newly established Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region under
CCP rule, whose provincial seat was previously at
Ulanhot and transferred to Zhangjiakou and then Hohhot in the 1950s. In the 1970s, going by the name Juud League, Chifeng was under the administration of Liaoning province. After 1979, Chifeng was under Inner Mongolian rule, and Ju Ud League was dissolved on 10 October 1983.
Geography
Chifeng is situated along the upper reaches of the
Xiliao River. Within its area are the southwesternmost extension of the
Greater Khingan, the
Inner Mongolia Plateau as well as the Xiliao River Plain, and finally the northernmost extent of the
Yan Mountains
The Yan Mountains, also known by their Chinese name Yanshan, are a major mountain range to the north of the North China Plain, principally in the province of Hebei.
The range rises between the Chaobai River on the west and the Shanhai Pass on ...
. Bordering prefecture-level divisions are
Tongliao to the northeast,
Chaoyang (
Liaoning
)
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong
, image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg
, ...
) to the southeast,
Chengde
Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing e ...
(
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
) to the south, and the
Xilingol League and to the west. From north to south Chifeng City stretches , while from east to west it stretches . Elevations decrease from a high of in the west to less than in the east.
Climate
Chifeng has a four-season,
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
-influenced,
continental semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''BSk''), with long, cold, windy, but dry winters, and hot, humid summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July, with an annual mean of . Nearly half of the year's rainfall occurs in July and August, and even then dry and sunny weather dominates the city. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 55% in July to 71% in January and February, sunshine is abundant year-round, and the city receives 2,866 hours of bright sunshine annually, about 65% of the possible total.
Administrative divisions

Chifeng has three
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
, two
counties
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
and seven
banners:
Demographics
In 2004, Chifeng had 4,435,737 inhabitants (49.14 per km
2).
Economy
During the period of "
the 10th Five-Year Plan", Chifeng conducted the strategy of "found the municipality by ecology, strengthen the municipality by industry, prosper the municipality by science and education", by strengthening the development of resources, and seizing the historic opportunity of Western Development.
Following the strategy, Chifeng began tightening up ecological and infrastructure construction, actively promoting the process of agricultural and animal husbandry industrialization, industrialization and urbanization, greatly encouraging the development of service industry and county-level economy, trying to expand the general economy volume, increasing industry level, and enhancing the core competition.
As a result, the social economy development quickly. Currently, the industrial economic system dominated with minerals, energy, medicines and foods and the agricultural and animal husbandry industrialization development structure dominated with meat, milk, vegetables and grass in Chifeng has been initially taking into shape. Chifeng has become the base of agriculture and animal husbandry and industry of the eastern part of Inner Mongolia. Compared with those of the end of "the
9th Five-Year Plan", GDP of the municipality, average regional GDP and the fiscal income doubled, the investment of fixed asset quadrupled.
In 2005, GDP of the municipality reached 34.56 billion Yuan, fiscal income reached 3.15 billion Yuan, the investment of fixed asset reached 23.1 billion Yuan, the general retail amount of social consumption reached 13.7 billion Yuan, the urban per capita disposable income came to 7,572 Yuan and average pure income of farmers and herdsmen was 2,817 Yuan. Chifeng had been cited as "Pacesetter of National Sand Control and Ecological Construction", "National Sanitary City", "National Model City of supporting army and cherishing the people", "National Perfect Tourism City", "National perfect City in Social Security", "Perfect Area of Spiritual Civilization" and "China's 50 Credit security areas in investment environment".
During "
11th Five-Year Plan", Chifeng is further conducting the development strategy of "found the municipality by ecology, strengthen the municipality by industry, prosper the municipality by science and education", by speeding up the process of new type industrialization, Agriculture and animal husbandry industrialization and urbanization, putting stress on industrial economy, project construction and investment introduction, in order to conscientiously increase fiscal income, average income of urban residents and farmers, try to create harmonious Chifeng.
It is planned that, by 2010, GDP will come to 85 billion Yuan, by around 20% up averagely; fiscal income will come to 10 billion Yuan, around 26% up averagely. Through the fast development during "11th Five-year Plan", Chifeng will be built as a producing base of green agricultural and animal husbandry products, energy supply base accessing to northeastern and northern China, important raw material and deep-processing base of nonferrous metal, tourism site of grassland, central city and goods interflow center between Inner Mongolia and Hebei.
Mineral resources
In mineral resources, there are over 70 mineral deposits. The area is rich in coal, oil and gas; nonferrous and ferrous metals, namely iron, tin, zinc, lead, gold, silver, molybdenum etc. have large reserves. Non-metal minerals include limestone, marble, fluorspar, silica, pearlite, bentonite etc.
In agricultural and animal husbandry products, besides the dominant crops of corn, rice, millet, there are cash crops like beans, buckwheat, oil-used sunflower seeds, sugar beets, tobacco, and Chinese herbals. Yearly yield of grains can reach 6 billion
Jin. The facility agriculture featured by greenhouse and cold-keeping shed has come to 220,000mu. The area of natural grassland in the municipality is over 8,900mu. The raising livestock is over 14 million all over the municipality.
Power generation
In wind and water resources, there are many large and ideal national-grade wind power plants, and more than 60 large and middle size reservoirs. The ground water amounts to 5 billion m
3.
Industries
Major industries include finance, insurance, telecommunications, distribution, logistics, hotels and restaurants, leisure and entertainment. High-tech industrial zone spans .
Transportation
Chifeng is a transportation hub connecting the east and west area of Inner Mongolia.
Tianjin
Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
, Beijing,
Shenyang
Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...
and other major cities are only away from Chifeng, while
Jinzhou,
Huludao
Huludao ( zh, s=葫芦岛 , t=葫蘆島 , p=Húludǎo), formerly known as Jinxi () until 1994, is a coastal prefecture-level city in southwestern Liaoning province, People's Republic of China. Its name literally means "Gourd Island", referring t ...
,
Qinhuangdao, are less than away.
Rail
Chifeng has direct train service from its train station to Beijing,
Harbin
Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
, Shenyang,
Dalian
Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...
,
Shanhaiguan, and
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
.
Roads and expressways
*
China National Highway 111
*
China National Highway 306
*
G16 Dandong–Xilinhot Expressway
*
G45 Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway
There are 8 provincial and national highways linking Chifeng with surrounding cities, such as Hohhot and cities in
Liaoning
)
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong
, image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg
, ...
.
Air
Chifeng Yulong Airport has service to major cities such as Beijing, Hohhot, and other cities.
Bus
Chifeng Bus is a bus service serving Chifeng that has 38
lines.
Education
*
Chifeng University
Notable people
*
Bao Xishun
Bao Xishun (also known as Xi Shun; born November 2, 1951) is a Chinese herder, herdsman from Chifeng, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, recognized by ''Guinness World Records'' as one of the world's tallest living men at tall. He was formerly certified ...
, recognized as the world's tallest man from 2005 until 2007, is from Chifeng, as is his wife
*
Chinggeltei, linguist
*
Gungsangnorbu,
jasagh
A jasagh (; ; ) was the head of a Mongol Banner (Inner Mongolia), banner or khoshun during the Qing dynasty and the Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, Bogd Khanate. The position was held by hereditary succession by certain Mongol princes, most of whom wer ...
and politician of the early
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
*
Ma Boyong, novelist, columnist and blogger
*
Meng Fanlong, boxer
*
Wang Likun, actress and dancer
*
Wang Luodan, actress and singer
*
Wu Guoqing, police detective and forensic scientist
*
Wuliji Buren, mixed martial artist
* , singer
*
Zhao Hongzhu, politician
See also
*
Chifeng Petroglyphs
Notes
References
;Notes
;Sources
Chifeng (China) -- Britannica Online EncyclopediaChifeng Introduction��Chifeng Economic Commission
Literature
*
External links
*
Chifeng City Government
*
*
Sina Cities Alliance - Chifeng*
Chifeng Travel Network (official government)*
Chifeng Train Timetable*
Chifeng local entertainment information site*
Chifeng Daily - Dahongshan evening - Chifeng region's most authoritative news website
*
Chifeng Mongolian Web*
Chifeng College*
Chifeng Education Network
{{Authority control
Cities in Inner Mongolia
Articles containing Mongolian script text
Prefecture-level divisions of Inner Mongolia
National forest cities in China