A Hohhot sports squad marches into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the Ninth Traditional Games of Ethnic Groups held in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on July 12, 2017. The Traditional Ethnic Games, held every four years, has been organized by Inner Mongolia Sports Bureau and Inner Mongolia Ethnic Affairs Commission since 1985. [Photo/Xinhua]

Mongolian wrestlers perform at the opening ceremony in Hulunbuir on July 12. During the four-day event, more than 1,800 athletes and trainers attended 14 competitions including Bohk (Mongolian wrestling), horsemanship, shatar (Mongolian chess), camel racing, high swing, archery, foot shuttlecock, and bulu (Mongolian boomerang). [Photo/Xinhua]

Athletes from the Daur ethnic group play boyikuo, or beikuo –– a traditional game similar to field hockey which can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The sport gradually disappeared during the reign of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), but Inner Mongolia’s Daur people kept the game alive. Nowadays, Daur Autonomous Banner of Morin Dawa is a designated national center for development of the sport. [Photo/Xinhua]

Performers demonstrate a bear-fighting dance, a cultural tradition of the Oroqen ethnic group, who are traditionally skilled hunters. During the dance, the performers howled like bears and squared up to each other as if to fight. [Photo/Xinhua]

A group of young wrestlers hold up their hands and roar, at the ceremony in Hulunbuir on July 12. [Photo/Xinhua]

Dancers in traditional Mongolian clothing dance at the ceremony in Hulunbuir on July 12. [Photo/Xinhua]