A league is an administrative unit in Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of
China.
Leagues are the prefectures of Inner Mongolia. The name comes from a kind of
ancient Mongolian administrative unit used during the Qing Dynasy in Mongolia.
To preempt any sense of Mongolian unity or solidarity, the Qing Dynasty
executed divide and rule policies in which Mongolian Banners (county level
region) were separated from each other. Leagues had no true ruler-ship, they
only had conventional assemblies consisting of banners. During the ROC era, the
leagues had a status equivalent to provinces. Leagues contain banners,
equivalent to counties.
Just like prefectures, most leagues have been replaced by prefecture-level
cities. There are only 3 leagues remaining in Inner Mongolia.
Leagues have existed since the Qing Dynasty as a level of government. The head
of a league was chosen from jasagh or sula of the banners belonging to it. The
original six leagues were Jirim, Juuuda, Josutu, Xilingol, Ulanqab, and
Yekejuu. More were added in the subsequent centuries.
Today, leagues belong to the prefecture level of the Chinese administrative
hierarchy. Of the 9 leagues that existed in the late 1970s, 6 have now been
reorganized into prefecture-level cities.
Hinggan League is located in the east of the Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region.
It has a total area of 59,806 km2, and administers three cities, three banners
and one city, namely Ulan Hot City, Alxan City, Horqin Right Wing Front Banner,
Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, Jalaid Banner and Tuquan County.