Banner (Inner Mongolia) - Definition and Overview

A banner (Mongolian: khoshuu, Chinese: 旗, pinyin: qí) is an administrative division of Inner Mongolia.

Banners were first used during the Qing Dynasty, which organized the Mongols into banners except those who belonged to the Mongol Eight Banners. Each banner had sumun as nominal subdivisions, which also means arrow. In Inner Mongolia, several banners made up a league. In the rest, including Outer Mongolia, northern Xinjiang and Qinghai, ayimagh was the largest administrative division. While it restricted the Mongols from crossing banner borders, the dynasty protected Mongolia from population pressure from China proper.

Today, banners are a county level division in the Chinese administrative hierarchy. There are 49 banners in total.

An autonomous banner (自治旗 pinyin: zìzhìqí) is a special type of banner set up by the People's Republic of China. There are 3 autonomous banners, all of which are found in northeastern Inner Mongolia, each with a designated ethnic minority:

• Oroqin Autonomous Banner (鄂伦春自治旗) for the Oroqin
• Evenki Autonomous Banner (鄂温克族自治旗) for the Evenks
• Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner (莫力达瓦达斡尔族自治旗) for the Daur

See also:

• Political divisions of China
• League (Inner Mongolia)
• Eight Banner system (banner system of the Manchus)