60th Anniversary of Inner Mongolia

This miniature sheet of two stamps was issued bu China to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the creation of the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia on 1.5.2007. The stamp on the left depicts people celebrating the event by indulging in sporting activities like horse racing, wrestling and archery. The second stamp shows a group of dancers in traditional costumes. Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation. Its capital is Hohhot and the largest city is Baotou.
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was established in 1947 on the area of former Republic of China provinces of Suiyuan, Chahar, Rehe, Liaopeh and Hsingan. It is the third-largest subdivision of China spanning about 1,200,000 km² (463,000 sq mi) or 12% of China's total land area. It has a population of about 24 million as of 2004. The majority of the population in the region are Han Chinese, with a substantial Mongol minority. The official languages are Chinese and Mongolian, the latter written in the Mongolian script, as opposed to the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet used in the state of Mongolia.
Inner Mongolia, China's northern border autonomous region, features a long, narrow strip of land sloping from northeast to southwest. It stretches 2,400 km from west to east and 1,700 km from north to south. The third largest among China's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, the region covers an area of 1.18 million sq km, or 12.3% of the country's territory. It neighbors eight provinces and regions in its south, east and west and Mongolia and Russia in the north, with a borderline of 4,200 km