Inner Mongolia is a big c-shape across northern China. The north consists of low plateaus: a mixture of sand deserts, gravel deserts, grasslands and badlands; the northernmost fringe is within the Gobi Desert. The southwest consists of another plateau with more deserts, like the Tenggar. In the middle the Yellow or Huang River forms a great northward bend. North of the top of the bend are low mountains, collectively known as the Yin Mountains (shan). The river and its tributaries has a small alluvial plain, south of which is the Ordos Plateau. This has low mountains in the west, a desert in the north and bare rocks and sand domes in the middle. In the east, behond the desert, is the Greater Hinggan Range. These low mountains are drained on both sides by tributaries of the Amur or Heilong River (jiang)--on the west by the Ergun or Argun' system, and on the east by the Nen system. There is a small piece of the East China Plain in the region's southeast. In the deserts are numerous salt lakes (nur), the most famous being Hulun in the far north near Mongolia.
The majority of the more than 24 million people living here speak Putonghua Chinese and--to the extent they are observant--practice a mix of Buddhism, Confuciansim, Taoism and folk ways, though there is a substantial Moslem minority and a substantial number of Mongolian speakers. The Mongolians are mostly Lamist Buddhists.
The largest city in Inner Mongolia, culturally grouped with central_and_northeastern China, is Baotou. Its capital, Hohhot, also has over a million residents within the bounds of the shi (city), as do Chifeng, Tongliao, Ordos, Hulunbuir, Bayannur and Ulanqab.
northwest of the autonomous region's northeast
northeast
east
southeast
south of Hsi-lin-kuo-le
south of Wu-lan-ch'a-pu
south of I-k'o-chao
southwest
north of all but the autonomous region's northeast
(1) Nei Monggol in Pinyin transliteration and Nei-meng-ku in Wade-Giles transliteration.
(2) Tzu-chih-ch'u in Wade-Giles transliteration.