Aobao

Travelers to inner monglia are impressed by pillbox-shaped heaps that stand singularly or in clusters on the grassland. The local people call them “aobao” ,and they are built of stone abounds, and sand and earth and encircled with willow branches where there is no stone.

Buried inside an aobao is a Buddhist stature or metal weapon, and the top of it and area around it are decorated with streamers and what resemble totem poles. In the beginning they were used as road signs or boundary marks; later, local herdsmen began to worship them as dwellings of a certain divine protector , legend has it that every time Gengghis khan launched an expedition , the first thing he did was to offer libation to an aobao and pray for victory