Ulanhu (Ulanfu in older transliteration) was the founding chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, established in 1947, and one of the most significant ethnic Mongolian political figures in modern Chinese history. The memorial hall dedicated to him, near central Hohhot, covers his biography and political career — he navigated the relationship between Chinese Communist Party authority and Mongolian cultural autonomy over several decades, with complicated results. The Cultural Revolution was particularly harsh on him and the Mongolian people he represented.
The museum's exhibits are necessarily careful in their framing of the Cultural Revolution period, but they provide important context for understanding how Inner Mongolia's current political arrangements came into being. For travellers interested in twentieth-century Chinese politics, minority nationalities policy, and the complicated legacy of the Mongol experience within China, this is a more substantial resource than it initially appears. The building itself, in the style of 1980s official Chinese memorial architecture, is of its type.