Cichenhg Township, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province

Chinese Leagues - Prefecture-Level City

A league is an administrative unit in Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China.

Leagues are the prefectures of Inner Mongolia. The name comes from a kind of ancient Mongolian administrative unit used during the Qing Dynasy in Mongolia. To preempt any sense of Mongolian unity or solidarity, the Qing Dynasty executed divide and rule policies in which Mongolian Banners (county level region) were separated from each other. Leagues had no true ruler-ship, they only had conventional assemblies consisting of banners. During the ROC era, the leagues had a status equivalent to provinces. Leagues contain banners, equivalent to counties.

Just like prefectures, most leagues have been replaced by prefecture-level cities. There are only 3 leagues remaining in Inner Mongolia. Leagues have existed since the Qing Dynasty as a level of government. The head of a league was chosen from jasagh or sula of the banners belonging to it. The original six leagues were Jirim, Juuuda, Josutu, Xilingol, Ulanqab, and Yekejuu. More were added in the subsequent centuries.

Today, leagues belong to the prefecture level of the Chinese administrative hierarchy. Of the 9 leagues that existed in the late 1970s, 6 have now been reorganized into prefecture-level cities.

Hinggan League is located in the east of the Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region. It has a total area of 59,806 km2, and administers three cities, three banners and one city, namely Ulan Hot City, Alxan City, Horqin Right Wing Front Banner, Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, Jalaid Banner and Tuquan County.


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Hinggan League - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region