Hohhot In The Eyes Of Foreigners In The Late Period Of Qing Dynasty

Hohhot is a city of historic significance,which is related to too many historical stories.Many people were deeply impressed by the city.They recorded the historical development of Hohhot orally or by print.А.М.Позднеевым,the famous Russian scholar for Mongolian studies is one of them.In the late period of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty,Позднеевым,sent by the Foreign Ministry of Russia,had a 22,000-eli tour of investigation in Mongolian Area(including present China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Mongolia) which lasted 15 months.After the "investigation",he sorted out the materials that he had collected during the tour into 7 volumes and named them Mongolia and Mongolians.The second volume is concerned about his investigation in Mongolian Area.In the volume,Позднеевымhad a detailed description of politics,economy,people's lives,temples,lamaseries and lamas in the Mongolian Area.Particularly in the third chapter of the second volume,he had a detailed account of the origin of Town of Guihua,lamaseries in the Town of Guihua,location of the Town,what the streets were like then in Guihua, trade of tea and cloth,main firms there,trade of animals,manufacture of horsecloth, trade of furs and woods,transportation means,the decline of the market of the Town and the reason concerned.In the chapter he also described his visit to the castle of the Town,government offices,grain barns,Confucius Temple,school of the banner(a banner was an administrative unit at that time in Mongolian Area),military training ground,arsenals,rest home for the old,food market,the suburb of the Town and Wang Zhaojun's Tomb.Therefore,the second volume of Mongolia and Mongolians is a comprehensive and exact account of lamaseries,economy,town planning and building and historical sites in Hohhot at that time and the most detailed historical record of foreigners about Hohhot.This volume provides precious historical materials for us to know about the social and historical situations in Hohhot in the late period of Qing Dynasty.