Neimenggu Bowuguan (Inner Mongolia Museum)
Xinhua Dajie 2
About
Hohhot's museum is home to a rare and magnificent collection of cultural relics left behind by nomadic clans from the north. As befits a collection this important, the displays are adequately lit and include Chinese and English introductions and explanations (though in the case of the minority exhibit their main purpose is to propagandize). The first floor's north wing is devoted to minority costumes, musical instruments, and fishing and hunting implements, but the main attraction is the south wing, which houses skeletal fossils of a broad range of prehistoric behemoths. On the second floor, a fine collection of ruins and relics from the Stone Age forward reflects the artistic refinement and creative abilities of the various northern cultures. Not to be missed are the graceful gold Xianbei belt buckles, to which a 4th-century poet compared a maiden's "exquisite neck." Also of note are sets of pottery figures from a nearby Northern Wei tomb. Among them is a pair of troll-faced pottery tomb-guardians, and eight pottery figurines of a musical troupe and a dancer who look more like a mime troupe, their wooden instruments having long ago disintegrated. After seeing this collection, you may never think of ancient Mongols, Huns, or Tartars in terms of "hordes" again.
