Dolon Nor

Dolon Nor, also known as Dolonnur and previously as To-lun and Lama-Miao,^[1] is a town and the county seat of Duolun County, Xilin Gol League in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous region, China. It is of historical importance because the remnants of Shangdu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan and the following Mongol emperors of the Yuan dynasty (13th and 14th century), are located some 28 kilometers (17 miles) northwest of the modern town. Beginning in the 17th century, the Manchu emperors of the Qing dynasty developed the city as a religious center.^[2]

Dolon Nor 多伦淖尔镇
Town
Dolon Nor Location in Inner Mongolia
Coordinates: 42°12′24″N 116°29′05″E
Country	China
Region	Inner Mongolia
League	Xilin Gol
County	Duolun County
Elevation	1,237 m (4,058 ft)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	027300
Area code	0479

Dolon Nor
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	多倫淖爾 多倫
Simplified Chinese	多伦淖尔 多伦
Literal meaning	Mongolian for "Seven Lakes"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Duōlúnnào'ěr Duōlún Wade–Giles To-lun-nao-erh To-lun
Mongolian name
Mongolian Cyrillic	Долоон нуур
Mongolian script	ᠳᠣᠯᠣᠨ ᠨᠤᠤᠷ
Transcriptions SASM/GNC Doloon nuur Doluɣan Naɣur

Former names
Lama-Miao
Traditional Chinese	喇嘛廟
Simplified Chinese	喇嘛庙
Literal meaning	Lamasery
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǎmamiào Wade–Giles La-ma-miao

In the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the city was described as follows:

The town proper almost exclusively occupied by Chinese, is about a mile in length by half a mile in breadth, has narrow and dirty streets, and contains a population of about 26,000. Unlike the ordinary Chinese town of the same rank, it is not walled. A busy trade is carried on between the Chinese and the Mongolians, who bring in their cattle, sheep, camels, hides and wool to barter for tea, tobacco, cotton and silk. At some distance from the Chinese town lies the Mongolian quarter, with two groups of lama temples and villages occupied by about 2300 priests. Dr Williamson (Journeys in North China, 1870) described the chief temple as a huge oblong building with an interior not unlike a Gothic church. Lamamiao is the seat of a manufactory of bronze idols and other articles of ritual, which find their way to all parts of Mongolia and Tibet. The craftsmen work in their own houses.^[3]

Another, longer description of the city is in writings of Évariste Huc (1813–1860), a Frenchman who stayed there in 1845 on his way to Lhasa (which he reached after 18 months of travelling).^{[citation needed]}

In 1933, the town was the object of fighting between the Japanese and their Manchukuoan puppet troops and the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Army.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Actions in Inner Mongolia (1933–36)

References

1.  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lama-Miao". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
2. To-lun, The Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed 18 May 2007.
3. Chisholm (1911).