Part

(The senior consultant continued with his story in Inner Mongolia.)

"Did the City of Hohhot (呼和浩特) appear calm and safe?" I asked.

"Yes, of course," PL said without any hesitation, "You know, Inner Mongolia is rather different from Tibet (西藏) or Xinjiang (新疆). There's hardly any voice for getting independence."

"Why's that?"

"Well, first, they have the excellent example of Outer Mongolia. It is plain simple to see the difference between Ulan Bator (烏蘭巴托) and Hohhot. Who would argue with their own purse?" PL continued.

We all nodded. (I looked up from the internet later. The GDP of Mongolia was around US$2200, while that of Inner Mongolia was close to US$5000 - excluding subsides from the central government.)

"And, there's another consideration," our senior consultant went on, "Mongolians did rule the entire China in the Yuan Dynasty, and they considered themselves as part of Chinese. The situation is similar to Jurchens (女真). After the Qing Dynasty, they all considered themselves part of us - and I must say most of us, the Hans (漢), think the same. Have anyone heard of Manchuria trying to get independent?"