The short pedestrian street near Dazhao that has been themed around Mongolian script and calligraphy makes for an unusual urban walk. The vertical Mongolian alphabet — one of the few traditional scripts in the world that is still taught in schools and used in official signage — is displayed in large-format works along the street walls, including examples in classical calligraphic style, modern graphic design interpretations, and carved stone. The street has several shops selling Mongolian calligraphy, printed textiles with script designs, and books on the Mongolian language.
The Mongolian traditional script (as opposed to the Cyrillic alphabet used in Mongolia proper) is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and its continued use in Inner Mongolia is a point of cultural pride. A basic explanation of how the script works — it reads vertically from left to right, which is unique among major writing systems — is provided on several display panels along the street. Even without reading Mongolian, the visual character of the script is striking and genuinely different from any other writing system you are likely to encounter.