Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss drastic changes to which Inner Mongolian pastoral society is exposed with agricultural development. An Ordos society nearly situated to the Great Wall as well as to agricultural region offers a case study.

Paper long abstract:

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, strong agricultural development politics has been applied on the Inner Mongolia of which main culture had been pastoralist. During last sixty years, Mongolian pastoralism has been obliged to accept more than more agricultural economy.

At Uushin banner of Ordos city, for example, which is a dry region with 330mm rainfall a year with a large sandy desert called Mu-Us, pastoral people have lived with an agro-pastoral economy, raising 5 kinds of domestic animals (mal) in pasture land and cultivating in farmland among sandy dunes. The main purpose of farming was however to get food sufficiency for their domestic consummation; millet called 'amu' in Mongolian was a daily food for Ordos Mongols, and it is still now. On the other hand, it is domesticated animals that gave them moneys.

This agro-pastoralism economy has become now agricultural one. The politics against "Desertification" has worked also for reducing pastoralism: animal breeding with pastoralist way has been forbidden to practice in certain pasturage for preventing the desertific Mongolian pastoralism has been changed drastically.