Religion in Inner Mongolia

The cult of Genghis is also shared by the Han Chinese, claiming his spirit as the founding principle of the Yuan dynasty.

[8] In facts, there has been a significant integration of the Han Chinese of Inner Mongolia into the traditional Mongolian spiritual heritage of the region.

[10] However, in this period Buddhism didn't penetrate among the general population, and its influence greatly diminished with the fall of the Yuan dynasty.

[9] Identification with Gelug and other Tibetan-originated sects is curbed among Southern Mongols also because of the growing adoption of those schools (and their local monasteries) by the Han Chinese.

[6] In worship, communities of lay believers are led by shamans (called böge if males, iduγan if females), who are intermediaries of the divine.

[13] With the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese rallied Mongol nationalism to the new state and constructed the Shrine of Genghis Khan (or Shrine of the Lord, as it is named in Mongolian[14]) in Ordos City, where they gathered the old sanctuary tents, confirmed the guardians of the cults in office, and subsidised annual sacrifices.

[15][16] Aobaoes (敖包 áobāo, "magnificent bundle [i.e. shrine]") are sacrificial altars of the shape of a mound that are traditionally used for worship in the indigenous religion of Mongols and related ethnic groups.

It consists in the worship of the shen (神 "expressions", "gods", "spirits"), that is to say, the powers of generation, of nature, interpreted through Chinese culture.

On the human sphere, they are ancestors and progenitors of families or lineages, and divine heroes that made a significant imprinting in the history of the Chinese civilisation.

Confucianism, the school of thought or religion founded on Confucius' teachings, is mainly a holistic moral code for human relations with emphasis on the importance of tradition and rites.

[18] The Church of the East was an important religion among the Mongols at its peak of diffusion, and Inner Mongolia hosts archeological remains of the ancient Christian communities.

[19] It was reintroduced in China, after having disappeared among the Han Chinese, by the Mongols themselves, when they invaded the country in the 13th century establishing the Yuan dynasty.