Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Identity in northwest China and Inner Mongolia

This paper examines the uses of cultural heritage in two different border regions of China to compare and contrast how it is employed in the sometimes seemingly contradictory missions of creating local identity and promoting sinification as a national unity policy.  Due to many factors, the non-Han ethnic minority populations of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China’s far northwest and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China’s north are at different stages in their political, cultural and economic integration into the modern Chinese state.  The presentation and interpretation of cultural heritage in each region’s museums and historical sites has been affected by these differing degrees of integration and the oftentimes competing need to create or maintain a local identity to promote the region and reap financial gains through tourism.