The name of the city in Mongolian means "Blue City", although it is also wrongly referred to as the "Green City. The city is a seat of the Inner Mongolia University , the largest regional comprehensive university and the only Project University in Inner Mongolia.
The central city of Yunzhong was in the suburb of today's Hohhot. In early Han dynasty, the region saw frequent Xiongnu raids. However, from Emperor Wu 's reign onwards, it became an important base of military operations in the wars against the Xiongnu. The population totaled 38, households, or , people. In AD, the population was 5, households, or a population of 26, From his capital at Shengle near modern Helingeer.
His descendants would, step by step, conquer the north of China, divide the Later Yan realm into two parts, and subdue the Xia , the Later Qin and the many Liang and Yan empires. The Ming had been blockading the Mongols' access to Chinese iron, cotton, and crop seeds, in order to dissuade them from attacking the North China plain. The population of Guihua grew to over , in the early s as local Mongol princes encouraged the settlement of Han Chinese merchants.
There were occasional attacks on Guihua by Mongol armies, such as the total razing of the city by Ligdan Khan in Altan Khan and his successors constructed temples and fortresses in , and Hui merchants gathered north of the gate of the city's fortress, building a mosque in After the Manchus founded the Qing dynasty β , the Kangxi Emperor reigned β sent troops to control the region, [8] which was of interest to the Qing as a center of study of Tibetan Buddhism.
French missionaries established a Catholic church in Guihua in , but the Christians were forced to flee to Beijing during the antiforeign Boxer Rebellion of β A bubonic plague outbreak in and the connection of Guisui to railway links in Shanxi , Shaanxi , Hebei , and Beijing helped renew the economy of Guisui town by forming links with eastern China and western China's Xinjiang province.
