Erenhot, a small town on the border between China and Mongolia: How an international horseback shooting competition empowers the integration of culture and tourism in the free trade zone

China News Service, Xilin Gol, October 2 (Reporter Ao Lan) During the National Day Golden Week, Erenhot, a small town on the border between China and Mongolia, was very lively. 139 players from 23 countries and regions came here to compete in horse riding and shooting; more than 150 players from 22 domestic provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities also came here to compete in horse riding.

From October 1st to 7th, the 2026 First National Mongolian Horse Super League, the 2026 National Riding and Archery Tour (Xilingol Station) and the Erenhot International Riding and Archery Masters were held in Erenhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. For this border trade city with a population of just over 70,000 people, a large-scale international competition attracting the participation of many Chinese and foreign players is becoming a new scene for it to explore the integrated development of culture and tourism in the free trade pilot zone.

With the theme of "Burning Mongolian Horses and Blooming Free Trade Zone", this event has five major competitions: riding archery competition, national traditional endurance race, national speed horse racing team relay race, horse walking competition, and horseback riding skills competition. The whole day on October 2nd was the riding and archery competition (Chinese Three Positions). Chinese and foreign players were divided into multiple groups and competed in an orderly manner.

"Such a scale has not been seen in national riding and shooting sports in recent years; from a global perspective, this is also a large-scale competition." Wu Gangfang, president of the Horse Culture and Sports Committee of the China Ethnic Minority Sports Association, said that powerful countries such as France and Hungary have sent players to participate, and "the level of the competition is very high."

In Wu Gangfang's view, horseback riding and archery originate from the northern nomads, and many countries have related cultural heritage. It also contains cultural symbols such as horseback riding, archery, and national costumes. It is itself a sport that connects different cultures.

"We hope that modern equestrian events will collide and integrate with the vast grasslands and grassland culture of Inner Mongolia to create a diversified large-scale event." Wu Gangfang said that the event is not only a sports competition, but also a platform to showcase the city and promote tourism and service trade. "Through the event, we will improve border trade and tourism service capabilities and tell the story of Erenhot."

In April 2026, the State Council issued the "Overall Plan for China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), including 18.35 square kilometers of Erenhot within the scope of implementation. According to the "Plan", cross-border tourism is one of the key development contents of the Erenhot Area; in terms of "enhancing the vitality of the development of service trade", it is proposed to support the introduction of international high-quality sports events, develop characteristic sports tourism products, and promote the in-depth integration of horse racing, wrestling, archery and other sports with cross-border tourism.

"The free trade pilot zone is a good platform and a golden sign." Hugjile, a member of the party group of the Erenhot City Culture, Sports, Tourism, Radio, Film and Television Bureau, said that the local government has sorted out more than 50 tasks around the construction of the free trade pilot zone, 5 of which involve the cultural tourism industry. “What everyone is doing now is to explore and implement one by one to bring about qualitative changes in the development of Erenhot.”

"Erenhot is a border city and has a lot of interactions with Mongolia and Russia, but an event like this that attracts contestants from 23 countries and regions has never happened before." Hugjile said that on the one hand, we hope to rely on the National Day holiday passenger flow and use the event as a carrier to convert sports event traffic into cultural tourist flow; on the other hand, we also hope to use the international event platform to further build Erenhot's cross-border cultural tourism brand.

Wu Gangfang added that the significance of the event is not limited to the stadium.

"Erenhot is a border trade city, and more investors and traders need to know about it." Wu Gangfang said that before, Erenhot "had not a strong presence" for ordinary people. Now that it has been included in the free trade pilot zone, it is necessary to find cultural symbols that can represent the city as soon as possible. The riding culture and riding competition are a good attempt. "Similar cultural business cards can bring everyone together, communicate and mingle."

The reporter has interviewed many contestants these days, many of whom came to Erenhot for the first time because of the competition. Uwe Schneider of the Canadian Mounted Archery Federation is one of them. He said he was impressed by the hospitality, openness and friendliness of the locals. "I'm looking forward to having a very exciting, great time. I'm going to enjoy it."

"Although this competition is held in China, it is conducted in accordance with the international rules set by the International Horseback Archery Association (IHAA)." Uwe Schneider said that players from all countries are familiar with the rules and have prepared for the competition for a long time. "All countries have sent excellent players. This will be a very fierce competition."

What also impressed the players was the Mongolian horses. Due to the long distance, many contestants did not bring horses. For this reason, the event organizing committee specially coordinated about 80 Mongolian horses and improved horses from Xilingol, Hulunbuir and other places in Inner Mongolia to meet the contestants' needs. Competitors need to select and train their horses several days in advance, and then become "partners" on the field. Wu Gangfang said that Mongolian horses are smooth to ride with little bumps and are suitable for riding and shooting. "I believe this will also find new consumption scenarios for the Mongolian horse industry."