Mengyuan Cultural Garden

Mengyuan Cultural Garden

The Mengyuan culture is not only an important part of the splendid culture of the Chinese nation but also a highly valuable world cultural heritage. In-depth exploration of the Mengyuan culture is not only a significant aspect of building Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region into a region rich in ethnic culture, but also an important measure to promote the brilliant culture of the Chinese nation.

The Xilingol Grassland is the birthplace of Mengyuan culture, the land where Genghis Khan and his descendants marched toward glory. In the early 13th century, the Mongolian people in northern China rose to prominence. Genghis Khan launched his western campaigns and established the Mongol Empire, which spanned the Eurasian grasslands and shook the entire world at the time. Fifty years later, in the mid-13th century, his grandson Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty’s Shangdu (Upper Capital) on the Xilingol Grassland, marking the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty era. With the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, China ended over 300 years of fragmentation and warfare since the late Tang Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty became the most developed feudal dynasty in the world at that time. Eurasia transitioned from war to peace, long-standing feudal barriers were broken down, and exchanges between the East and West became unprecedentedly frequent. The Mengyuan Empire, represented by outstanding figures such as Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan, not only achieved the integration of nomadic and agricultural civilizations but also promoted cultural exchanges between the East and West across a wide range of fields, marking an epoch-making significance in the development of world civilization. History has proven that the role played by the Mongolian people in advancing human history is irreplaceable. Mongolian history is an indispensable and important part of both Chinese and world history. Despite millennia of historical rises and falls, it has never been obscured by the mists of time. To this day, the Mongolian people living on the Xilingol Grassland still retain strong remnants of the Mengyuan era, which are highly legendary.

To thoroughly develop tourism resources, create high-quality Mengyuan cultural tourism products rich in profound ethnic cultural connotations, promote the historical contributions made by the Mongolian people in the creation of world civilization, establish a platform for global research on Mengyuan culture, and advance the development of cultural tourism in Xilinhot City, the city of Xilinhot began constructing the Mengyuan Cultural Garden based on extensive consultations and opinions.

To accelerate the progress of the project, adhering to high starting-point planning and high-standard design, the Mengyuan Cultural Garden is being built into a high-end, high-quality cultural tourism product in line with international, modern, and ethnic principles. The Mengyuan Cultural Garden reached a consensus on its overall plan through repeated deliberations and discussions by multiple academic institutions and numerous experts, including the Mongolian Studies Research Center of Inner Mongolia University, the Tourism College of Inner Mongolia Normal University, the Academy of Fine Arts of Inner Mongolia University, the Inner Mongolia Artists Association, and the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences. The overall landscape planning and layout of the Mengyuan Cultural Garden were undertaken by the Landscape Planning and Design Institute of Tsinghua University, while the architectural design was carried out by the Architectural Design and Research Institute of China.

The Mengyuan Cultural Garden has a total investment of 300 million yuan. Its construction includes the Mengyuan Culture Museum, Folk Museum, Ethnic Song and Dance Theater, Mengyuan Culture Research Center, a sculpture group of historical figures from Mengyuan history, and a Science and Technology Culture Corridor. It comprehensively showcases the glorious history of the Mengyuan era and the Mongolian people's contributions to world science and culture, making it a tourism and cultural scenic area that fully reflects the history of the Mengyuan era.

The Mengyuan Culture Museum is the core building of the Mengyuan Cultural Garden, using cultural relics to authenticate the glory of the Mengyuan period and its contributions to world civilization. With a construction area of 20,000 square meters, the architectural style embodies historical, ethnic, and contemporary characteristics. Currently, the Mengyuan Culture Museum houses cultural relics from the Mengyuan period, including seals, tokens, clothing, gold and silverware, stone carvings, ceramics, paintings, weapons, and architectural components, covering many fields such as politics, economy, culture, military, and technology of the Mengyuan era. Among the collections is a bronze hand cannon that pushes back the history of world artillery by 34 years; some items are unique to the Yuan Dynasty in the history of Chinese ceramics. Notably, the collection of Nasij woven gold brocade and various silk and wool textiles from the Mengyuan period enriches the variety of costume and textile collections in China and fills gaps in the collection of costume textiles from certain historical periods. The Mengyuan period holds a very important position in both Chinese and world history, yet the number of Mengyuan-period relics in Chinese museum collections is relatively small. With its unique and highly valuable collections, the Mengyuan Culture Museum greatly enriches China’s historical relic collections from the Mengyuan period.

The Sculpture Group of Historical Figures from Mengyuan History showcases the glory of the Mengyuan era through sculptures. By presenting historical scenes through figures, it involves various fields of Mongolian military, culture, art, medicine, and astronomy. With nearly 200 pieces (or sets) of sculptures, it displays the Mongolian people’s contributions to the development of world civilization in both round sculpture and relief forms. The sculptures are divided into three groups: the Mongolian sculpture group represented by Genghis Khan, the Yuan Dynasty sculpture group represented by Kublai Khan, and the science and culture celebrity sculpture group represented by Mingantu.

The Ethnic Song and Dance Theater recreates the past glory of Mengyuan history in a dynamic form. It mainly showcases ethnic songs and dances, ethnic weddings, khoomei (throat singing), morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) performances, and long-tone songs to dynamically present the splendid history of the Mengyuan period, while also accommodating both large and small conferences.

The Mengyuan Cultural Garden has a planned total investment of 300 million yuan, covering construction, planning, design, landscaping, and more. The overall planning, design, and layout work for the Mengyuan Cultural Garden construction project has been fully completed. The water supply, power supply, partial roads, and sculpture works within the garden area have been finished. The project is scheduled to be fully completed by the end of 2007, serving as a grand gift for the 60th anniversary of the Autonomous Region’s establishment.

Constructing the Mengyuan Cultural Garden is a significant move by Xilinhot City to build a premium cultural tourism attraction. Its completion will undoubtedly provide a strong platform for global Mengyuan culture research, shifting the focus of Mengyuan culture studies from abroad to within China, making it the world’s only specialized research base on Mengyuan history. This will help promote and protect ethnic culture, enhance the cultural tourism quality of Xilinhot City, further boost the prosperity of the tertiary industry, and contribute to the Autonomous Region’s goal of building a region rich in ethnic culture.