Yearning for glimpse of nomadic life 渴望游牧生活

The sun was about to set over the grasslands of Ordos.

鄂尔多斯草原上的落日即将来临。

It was the right setting for my first experience of a traditional Mongolian tent house, except that the yurt I entered was far from the real deal.

对于初次体验传统蒙古包的游客来说，我所在的现代蒙古包内部设施还算传统，只是与真正的圆顶蒙古包相去甚远。

It was a fancy commercial establishment that had large banquet tables and delicate chandeliers, not a weather-beaten dwelling made of bamboo or wood and felt, the way it used to be when nomads roamed the steppes with their portable homes and livestock.

从前，牧民们会带着他们的蒙古包和牲畜在大草原上自由迁徙。但是，现在蒙古包不再是曾经的样子了，已经变身为别致的商业场所，有大型的宴会桌和精致的吊灯，而不是用竹子或木头建成的饱经风霜的住所。

During my recent visit to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region for a report, I had sought to interview some nomads, but local officials in Ordos, which is in the region’s south, told me that most such groups have settled down over the years and the handful remaining at best lead semi-nomadic lives in the northeast, along the Russian border.

为了完成一则报道，我最近到访了内蒙古自治区。我想采访一些游牧民，但内蒙南部的鄂尔多斯当地官员告诉我，这些年来，大多数游牧民群体已经定居下来，而剩下的人最多也是半游牧生活状态，他们生活在内蒙古东北部，靠近俄罗斯边境。

Back to the modern yurt: Its round base was a concrete structure on which a wooden frame had been inserted and its outer top was covered by a white cloth-like material, with printed blue horse motifs, seemingly for an authentic effect. Air-dried (rather wind-dried) salted mutton, Mongolian tea (salted), flour snacks and walnuts were on offer.

再回过头来看现代的蒙古包：圆形底座是水泥结构，其上架着一个木质框架，外顶覆盖着一层白色的布样材料，上面印着蓝色的马图案，似乎是为了效果逼真。提供的食物有晾干的（而非风干）咸羊肉、奶茶、面食和核桃等。

Anywhere I looked I saw sheep -- grazing on fields outside and as meat on plates indoor.

目之所及都是羊——在外面的田野上吃草，或是沦为盘中之物。

The yurt is no longer emblematic of grassland life in the region, at least not in its southern part. In today’s version, it usually serves as a hotel or homestay for tourists.

蒙古包不再是该地区草原生活的象征，至少在南部地区是如此。在今天，它通常是为游客服务的酒店或寄宿家庭。

Two herders, who also manage such accommodations in their villages, told me that tourists, including Japanese, experience Mongolian culture in summer.

两名牧民在他们的村子里管理着这种蒙古包，他们告诉我，每逢夏季，许多游客都会来体验蒙古文化，还会有许多日本游客。

 The grasslands dry up in winter and the frigid air then is unlikely to make horseback riding fun either. Although the region had many more horses in the 1970s than it does now, visitors still pay for such thrills, unavailable readily in many other places both in China and abroad. Equestrian shows on average cost 100 yuan ($16) in rural Ordos.

因为冬季枯草连天，天气寒冷，游客们很难获得骑马的乐趣。在20世纪70年代，该地区的马匹数量比现在多很多，但游客们目前仍然愿意为这种刺激的体验付费，因为现在这种体验在中国和国外的许多地方都无法获得。在鄂尔多斯农村，观看一场马术表演平均花费100元。

“I want to protect the tradition and present it to tourists,” a local, who started to rent out the new yurts last April, said.

“我想保护这个传统，把它展现给游客，”一位当地人说，他从2017年4月开始出租这些新蒙古包。

Another pastoral herder, who is also in his early 40s, said he missed traditional Mongolian clothing. He only wears them for festivals or weddings these days. His grandparents were nomads, he added, but his childhood memory was too faint to recall stories of the time before they settled down.

另一位四十出头的农村牧民说，他怀念传统的蒙古服饰。近几年，他只在参加节日或婚礼时才会穿上传统服饰。他补充说，他的祖父母是游牧民，但他童年时的记忆太模糊，无法回忆起他们定居下来之前的故事。

The 51-year-old Party chief of a village, while speaking in Mongolian through a translator, said she spent her teens herding sheep. Her son, who is 30, has a different life that is supported by machines and cellphones. Many ethnic Mongolians speak Mandarin but some still use their mother tongue.

这位51岁的村支书通过翻译用蒙古语说，她十几岁的时候就在放羊。随着机器和手机的普及，她三十岁的儿子过着不同的生活。许多蒙古人讲普通话，但有些人仍使用母语。

Tourism would become more important if Inner Mongolia’s reliance on coal declines in future owing to China’s stated desire to move toward cleaner fuel. A local official estimated that vast reserves under the grasslands, which cover an area of 80 million hectares, have yet to be mined.

由于中国希望更多地转向清洁燃料，因此，如果内蒙古地区对煤炭的依赖降低，旅游业将占据更重要的地位。一名当地官员估计，在占地8000万公顷的草原下，仍有大量矿藏尚未开采。