Nadam Fair: Inner Mongolia's Grassland Games of Strength

Somewhere in mid-summer, when the grass on the Xilingol plateau reaches knee height and the herds have finally put on fat, the grasslands of Inner Mongolia stop being empty. Families arrive in trucks and on horseback, dismantle their winter routine, and pitch white gers in loose rings. Milk tea goes on the boil. Mutton goes in the pot. And then men in embroidered wrestling jackets start throwing each other onto the turf.

This is Nadam — written variously as Nadam, Naadam or Nair — the most important festival of Mongolian communities in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The word means "games" or "recreation" in Mongolian, and the festival's traditional core is the eriin gurvan naadam, the "three games of men": wrestling, horse racing and archery.

From Military Muster to Summer Festival

Nadam's origins are governmental before they are recreational. The gatherings are generally traced to the early 13th century, the era of the Mongol confederation, when assemblies on the steppe served several purposes at once. Chiefs used them to promulgate laws, appoint and dismiss officials, distribute rewards, impose penalties, and settle disputes between banners. The athletic contests were part of the same event — a public audit of military readiness dressed as entertainment.

"The fair originated in the early days of the 13th century and is a traditional Mongolian festival. In the past many activities were taken on during the meeting, such as making laws and regulations, appointing and removing officials, giving awards and penalties, and the large Nadam Fair." — chinastory.cn

That dual function explains why the three games are the three games. A cavalry society needs riders who can hold a gallop, archers who can shoot from the saddle, and men strong enough to survive close combat. Nadam tested all three annually, in public, with prizes. Winners historically received horses, camels, sheep and other livestock — practical wealth on the steppe, not medals.

The festival was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, recognising it as a living tradition rather than a museum piece.

When and Where It Happens

There is no single national Nadam date, which surprises visitors expecting a fixed calendar entry. Timing follows pasture and livestock condition rather than the almanac. Most fairs fall in July or August, when the grass is at its best and the animals are strong enough to compete without harm. Some banners hold theirs on the fourth day of the sixth lunar month. Events typically run three to seven days.

Documented examples give a sense of the spread:

• Hohhot — the regional capital has hosted an annual Nadam Fair since 1990, partly to develop tourism and promote Mongolian culture.
• Horqin Right Wing Front Banner, Hinggan League — hosted fairs opening on 9 August 2023 and 8 August 2024, the latter a five-day event pairing sport with a music festival.
• West Ujimqin Banner — a July fair on the Xilingol grassland known for large wrestling brackets.
• Old Barag Banner — the outlier. A winter Nadam held in December 2012 ran at minus 41 degrees Celsius, with racing and archery on frozen ground.

The winter version deserves emphasis. It demonstrates that Nadam is not simply a summer harvest party; it is an identity event that communities will stage in conditions most people would call unsurvivable.

The Three Games, Examined

Bokh: Mongolian Wrestling

Wrestling is the prestige event and the one that draws the biggest crowd. Competitors wear the zodog, a tight, open-fronted jacket often studded with metal, plus shuudag shorts and heavy leather boots. Before a bout, wrestlers perform the eagle dance — arms spread, a slow circling stride, a gesture that reads as both warm-up and declaration.

The rules are brutally simple. There are no weight classes, no time limits, and no rounds. Any part of the body other than the feet touching the ground means defeat — in some regional variants, elbow or knee contact ends it. The tournament is single-elimination, so a small, technically gifted wrestler can be drawn against a giant in round one and that is simply the draw.

Because there is no weighing-in, the sport rewards balance, grip and timing over raw mass more often than outsiders assume. Titles accumulate across seasons: consistent winners earn honorifics translating roughly as "falcon," "elephant," and at the top, "lion" and "titan."

Horse Racing on Open Ground

Nadam horse racing bears no resemblance to a Western racecourse. Races run cross-country over open grassland, commonly 15 to 30 kilometres, with dozens or hundreds of horses starting together. There is no rail, no lane and no finishing straight in the conventional sense.

Jockeys are frequently children, often between five and thirteen, chosen for low weight and raised in the saddle. The logic is that the horse is being tested, not the rider's strength. Categories are set by the horse's age — two-year-olds run shorter distances than mature stallions. Riders sing to their mounts before the start, and the winning horse, not only the rider, is celebrated: praise songs are sung to it, and airag (fermented mare's milk) is sprinkled on its head and hindquarters.

Archery

Archers use traditional composite recurve bows, shooting at targets made of small woven leather cylinders stacked in a low wall on the ground. Judges stand beside the targets and signal hits with a raised arm and a sustained call — a practice that survives from an era before scoreboards.

Notably, archery and horse racing at Chinese Nadam fairs are open to women and girls, and have been for generations. The phrase "three games of men" is a historical label, not a current entry requirement.

Everything Around the Arena

Reducing Nadam to three sports misses most of what actually happens. A fair is simultaneously a trade market, a matchmaking opportunity, a music festival, a religious observance and a family reunion.

• Costume. Herders arrive in new deel robes, silk sashes and silver-mounted belts. Photographers at Hohhot fairs regularly capture young women in full ceremonial dress and headwear.
• Music and dance. Long-song (urtiin duu), throat singing and the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) accompany opening ceremonies. Recent fairs have added contemporary music stages.
• Food. Whole roast lamb, hand-torn mutton, milk tea, dried curd, and airag. Cooking begins while the gers are still going up.
• Other contests. Depending on the banner: shagai (ankle-bone shooting), Mongolian chess, camel racing, lasso work, and polo on the eastern grasslands.
• Ovoo worship. Many fairs open with a ceremony at an ovoo, a sacred stone cairn, circled three times clockwise with offerings of milk and blue silk scarves.

Tourism, Preservation and the Question of Authenticity

Since the regional government began hosting an annual fair in Hohhot in 1990, Nadam has carried a second job: cultural showcase and tourism driver. That creates the familiar tension. Large official fairs can feel staged, with grandstand seating, sponsor banners and choreographed opening spectacles involving thousands of performers.

The counter-argument is straightforward and, I think, correct. Banner-level and sum-level Nadam fairs — the small ones, held on ordinary pasture with a rope perimeter and a truck-bed stage — continue in parallel and vastly outnumber the televised versions. At those, the wrestling bracket is filled by men who herd sheep the rest of the year, and the prize really is a horse.

The measure of a living festival is not whether tourists attend, but whether locals would still hold it if they did not. On the Inner Mongolian grasslands, in July heat and in December cold, the answer is demonstrably yes.

Attending a Nadam Fair

Practical notes for anyone planning to go:

• Timing: Confirm dates locally. Fairs are announced weeks, not months, ahead, and vary by banner.
• Base: Hohhot, Xilinhot, Ulanhot and Hailar are the usual entry points; grassland camps near them run shuttle transport.
• Weather: Grassland summer means strong sun by day and genuine cold after dark. Layers and sun protection are not optional.
• Etiquette: Accept milk tea when offered. Walk clockwise around an ovoo. Ask before photographing wrestlers preparing for a bout.
• Language: Mongolian and Mandarin are both in use; signage at large fairs is usually bilingual.

Quick Reference

• Name meaning: "Games" or "recreation" in Mongolian
• Origin: Early 13th century steppe assemblies
• Core events: Wrestling (bokh), horse racing, archery
• Season: Usually July–August; duration three to seven days
• UNESCO listing: Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, 2010
• Notable hosts: Hohhot (annual since 1990), Horqin Right Wing Front Banner, West Ujimqin Banner

Sources consulted: Xinhua reporting on Nadam fairs in Hohhot (2016) and Inner Mongolia; Guangming Online coverage of the Horqin Right Wing Front Banner fair (August 2024); ecns.cn photo reports from Hinggan League (2023), Xilinhot (2016) and Old Barag Banner (2012); chinastory.cn overview of Nadam Festival history; UNESCO Representative List inscription, 2010.