Erenhot ( mn, ; , commonly shortened to Ereen or Erlian) is a
county-level city
A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...
of the
Xilin Gol League, in
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
Autonomous Region, located in the
Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world.
Geography
The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast a ...
along the Sino-Mongolian border, across from the
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
n town of
Zamyn-Üüd. There are 74,197 inhabitants (2010 census) and the elevation is .
Climate
Erenhot experiences a cold
desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in deser ...
(
Köppen ''BWk'') with long, very dry, and bitter winters and short, hot summers. Monthly daily average temperatures range from in January to in July, with an annual mean of . The city receives 3,232 hours (about 73% of the possible total) of bright sunshine per year, and clear, sunny, dry weather dominates year-round; due to the aridity, the
diurnal temperature variation frequently approaches and exceeds . Over two-thirds of the sparse of annual rainfall occurs from June to August alone. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 67% in July to 78% in February, the city is one of the sunniest nationwide and receives 3,232 hours of bright sunshine annually.
Economy
The border town is a rail port city and the largest hub for cross border trade between Mongolia and China.
When authorities opened the town up in 1992 to international trade, Erenhot underwent a transformation growing from 8,000 people then to an estimated 100,000 people including migrant workers.
The Dabusan Nur salt lake to the north of Erenhot provided an economic boom to the city's chemical industry during the late 1990s.
The lake has provided Erenhot with a large water supply which also contributed to the rapid growth of the city and economy.
As a destination for wholesalers moving goods across the border, the city hosts a large trading market, International Trade City. Built in 2006 the mall is "a block-long, three-story wholesale market that houses 527 tenants who sell silk fabrics, rabbit and fox furs and other commodities."
Transport
Erenhot is a stop on the
Trans-Mongolian Railway
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The Trans-Mongolian Railway follows an ancient tea-caravan route from China to Russia and connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans–Baikal ( Trans–Siberian) railway in R ...
, making it one of two international railway crossings in Inner Mongolia as of 2010 (the other is at
Manzhouli on the Sino-Russian border).
The rail link has struggled under the strain of growing trade with Mongolia and several new rail lines are under construction to ease the burden including two railways from different parts of China to a border port in
East Ujimqin Banner
East Ujimqin Banner ( Mongolian: ''Jegün Ujumučin qosiɣu''; ) is a banner in the northeast of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Xilin Gol League.
Geography and climate
Eas ...
.
International trains change
bogies in here, because of the
break-of-gauge between China and
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
. China uses the
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...
, while Mongolia uses the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
n
1520 mm gauge. The manual
bogie exchange is to be supplemented with the faster, automatic
Variable gauge axle
A variable gauge system allows railway vehicles in a train to travel across a break of gauge between two railway networks with different track gauges.
For through operation, a train must be equipped with special bogies holding variable gauge wh ...
system of the
SUW 2000
SUW 2000 is a Polish variable gauge system that allows trains to cross a break of gauge. It is interoperable with the German Rafil Type V system (built by the Radsatzfabrik Ilsenburg).
History
The SUW 2000 system was designed by Ryszard Suwalski. ...
-type made by
ZNTK.
The town is also the northern terminus of
China National Highway 208, which runs south to
Changzhi,
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...
.
Erenhot Saiwusu International Airport has scheduled flights to Beijing, Hohhot and
Tongliao
Tongliao (; mn, ''Tüŋliyou qota'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Байшинт хот) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. The area is and as of the 2020 census, its population was 2,873,168 (3,139,153 ...
.
Dinosaurs
The area around the town, especially a salt lake known to paleontologists as Iren Dabasu or Iren Nor ('' mn, ereen'' = colourful, ' = salt, ' = lake) to the east, is known for the discovery of a number of different dinosaurs. The city houses a dinosaur museum, and in 2006 a big arch in form of two
Sauropoda
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...
was built on the highway southward. In 2007, a number of smaller figures of different species were added.
See also
*
List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
This list of dinosaur-bearing rock formations is a list of geologic formations in which dinosaur fossils have been documented.
Containing body fossils
* List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur body fossils
** List of stratigraphic units with ...
*
Gigantoraptor
*
Alectrosaurus
References
External links
Official website*
August 7, 2007 (China.org.cn)
AsiaObscura.com
{{County-level divisions of Inner Mongolia
Cities in Inner Mongolia
China–Mongolia border crossings