Gonggeer Grassland---the most beautiful and the nearest to Beijing

"The sky is blue, the field is boundless, the wind blows, the grass bows, and the herds and flocks are in sight". Speaking of the grassland, of the Mongol nationality, people cannot refrain from recalling this oft-quoted ancient ballad, and the blue sky, the white clouds, the green field, the red flowers, groups of sheep, the studded yurts, the fragrant meat and milk----a picture of the vast Inner Mongolian Grassland may emerge in front of their eyes. In fact, the grassland is not far from us. If we drive 600 kilometers northwards from Beijing, we will arrive at a nearest and most beautiful natural grassland----the beauty of Gonggeer Grassland will come into view.

Gonggeer Grassland is located in Keshenketeng Qi, in Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, and is one of most famous natural high quality grassland there. It is vast and open, vigorous and magnificent, and its total area adds up to 4800,000 mou. There are aneurolepidium chinense and needlegrass of the cereal family, and over 500 kinds of other wild forage grass and plants, dozens of kinds of wild animals and more than 130 kinds of precious birds.

In spring, there are green grass, luxuriant cattails, speckled yellow flowers, and swarms of migratory birds. In summer, the grassland seems to merge with the sky in distance, all flowers vie for beauty and glamour, and the cows, the horses and the sheep are all fat and strong. In autumn, the sky looks like a vaulted roof, the white clouds wander leisurely, and the numerous flowers are really intoxicating. In winter, the vast fields of snow are clad in white and adorned in silver, enchantingly beautiful. Once you enter the herdsmen's yurt, you can feel from the creme, the cheese, the milk bean curd, milk tea, millet stir-fried in butter, stewed meat taken by hands, and the hospitable and unadorned Mongolian friends, the incomparable charm of the grassland, and you will be moved by the broadness of the Mongol's minds.

Besides Gonggeer Grassland, the beautiful and mysterious Keshiketeng has also many other places of natural and cultural interests, such as the Dalinuoer Lake, which is called "the Eden of the birds and the pearl of the grassland", the Mantuo Mountain, which is a famous leisure resort, the emperor's capital of Northern Yuan---the relics of Yingchang Road, the Haolai River, which is the narrowest river in the world, the Golden Great Wall, which stretches thousands of miles, the ancient Wulanbutong battlefield, where Emperor Kangxi defeated Gedan, the relics of the Quaternary Period glacier, which is rare in the world---ice mortar and granite stone forest, and also the well known spruce in dene, and the hot spring etc.

"Keshiketeng" is the transliteration of Mongol, meaning "army corps", or "armed escort". It is a famous Mongolian tribe that was developed from Genghis Khan's armed escort. There are not only nature's treasures and beautiful scenes, but also centuries-old history and brilliant culture. As the story goes, Genghis Khan and Kublai had both stopped here and watered the horses. In the Northern Yuan Dynasty, it has been the Mongol nationality's political, economic and cultural center. The Kangxi and Qianlong emperor of Qing dynasty had also arrived here and made their rounds. Today, with the development of the tourist industry, the visitors came in an endless stream to seek the past. The name of Gonggeer Grassland and Keshiketeng are spreading all over the country and even overseas.

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