The Founding of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which was founded on May 1, 1947, the first province-level autonomous region established in China, on the basis of regional ethnic autonomy.

On April 3, 1946, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Movements Union and the Autonomous Government of East Mongolia, held a conference in Chengde to unify the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Movement and the conference adopted the “Main Resolution of the Unification Meeting of Inner Mongolian Autonomous Movements”, which determined that the policy of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Movement would enjoy autonomy for equality, not an autonomy for independence, and that it could be liberated only with the leadership and aid of the CPC.

The meeting adopted the policy program and organizational outline of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Movement Association, elected Wulanfu (Yun Ze) as the Chairman of Executive Committee and Standing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Association and Minister of Military Affairs. With this meeting, the revolutionary struggle in Inner Mongolia and the Mongolian national liberation movement entered a new historical period. In accordance with the general wishes of the Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia, Wulanfu (Yun Ze) proposed to the CPC Central Committee a request for the establishment of an autonomous government in Inner Mongolia, and this request was approved. Between April 23 to May 3, 1947, the Inner Mongolian People's Congress convened in Wangyemiao (now Ulanhot) and decided to abolish the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Movement Association and established the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Government which would work under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

The Congress adopted the policy program and organizational outline of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Government, elected the chairman and vice-chairman of the autonomous government, the president and vice-president of the Senate, and Wulanfu was elected as the chairman of the autonomous government. At the beginning of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Government, only five leagues, Hulunbuir, Xing'an, Navin Muren, Xilingol and Chahar, were under its government.

In 1949, the CPC’s Northeast China leadership organ abolished the organizational system of Liaoning Province and incorporated the Zhelimu League (now Horqin Banner) and the Zhaowuda League attached to Rehe Province to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Government. In 1952, before the abolition of the Chahar Provincial System, the North China Administrative Committee approved the incorporation of the three counties, Duolun, Baochang and Huade, which were jointly inhabited by Mongolian and Han people, to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

On June 19, 1954, the Central People's Government Committee abolished the Suiyuan Province and also incorporated it to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At this point, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region covered an area of more than 1.1 million square kilometers and had a population of more than 5 million. The establishment of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region provided a successful model for the system of regional national autonomy in the New China.