The 2014 China (Inner Mongolia) Leather Tourism Handicrafts and Souvenirs Design Competition was officially launched in the city of Ulanqab, North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. A works exhibition meanwhile will feature an awards ceremony to be held on Aug 30, 2014 in Jining International Leather City, one of the competition’s organizers, while the other one is the Inner Mongolia Tourism Association, and the event is sponsored by the Inner Mongolia Tourism Bureau.

From living to clothing, leather and fur are closely connected with the nomadic people’s lifestyle. Handicrafts made from leather and fur are recognized as an important part of the grassland culture.

In the last twenty years, many tourism souvenirs and handicrafts that combined traditional grassland culture characteristics with updated fashion elements have been developed, diversifying the leather and fur tourism products market.

Meanwhile, based on traditional techniques, some handicrafts that were closely related with leather products such as carved ox-horn and carved bone artifacts regularly keep on being updated. Now, leather handicrafts featuring unique Mongolian characteristics are popular in the Mongolian tourism market, according to Zheng Jianing, deputy inspector of the Inner Mongolia Tourism Bureau.

Zheng said that Inner Mongolia has taken part in the China International Tourism Commodities Fair for six successive years and won 17 awards, of which 16 among them were leather handicrafts. Actually, all the winners surrounding the leather (fur or bone) handicrafts in this fair came from Inner Mongolia. So it is a good choice to hold a leather tourism handicrafts and souvenirs design competition in the region.

There are 86 million hectares of grassland in Inner Mongolia, accounting for 27 percent of the total of China’s grasslands. The animal husbandry industry has always been a key part of Inner Mongolia’s economy. By using the abundant raw materials such as fur, horn and bone in the region, the development of tourist products can pass on time-honored fur related skills and grassland culture, enriching the tourism products market and increasing the incomes and job opportunities for local people.

Also, the event was carried out in accordance with Inner Mongolia’s development strategy, which aims to develop the autonomous region into a destination for tourism, sightseeing and recreation with typical grassland culture elements.

The exhibitors from such foreign countries as Mongolia and Russia will also be invited to the competition. The sign-up for the competition will last until the end of July, while the works collection period lasts from Aug 10 to 20. Intending participants can download application sheets through: www.nmgtour.gov.cn.