In 1690 the Battle of Ulan Butung between Qing and Dzungar forces took place here.

There are 8 main ethnic groups (i.e. Han, Mongol, Hui, Manchu, Daur, Korean, Dong and Zhuang).

Hexigten Banner is made up of 3 subdistricts, 7 towns, 2 townships, and 4 sums.

The main industries are mining, renewable energy, tourism, and stock breeding.

1 for 3 consecutive years in wind power production among all the counties of China with 532 wind turbines installed in 2008, totally installed generating capacity of 525 megawatt and annual energy generation of 1124 GWh.