China: Hulunbuir Grassland Destroyed by Coal Mining Activities · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hulunbuir Grassland, located in the northeast of Inner Mongolia, provides beautiful scenery of vast grassland, forests, rivers and lake where the Mongolian shepherds herd their cattle and sheep. It is also a famous tourist site. However, as a result of coal mining near the surface of the ground, the grassland is eroding rapidly.
The vanishing Hulunbuir Grassland
On September 12, 2012, a Shanghai based micro-blogger, Baoyi, posted [zh] a number of photos in his Weibo and urged others to pay attention:
多次被删，请速转||呼伦贝尔草原是世界上著名的三大草原之一，生长着碱草、针茅、苜蓿、冰草等120多种营养丰富的牧草，素有“牧草王国”之称。这里也是夏季游客们最喜欢去的地方，蓝天白云，绿草如茵。策马奔腾的牧民，这种广袤又洒脱的意境是呼伦贝尔所独有的。正在建设的煤炭基地改变了这一切。
Hulunbuir Grassland destroyed by coal mining activities. Baoyi's Weibo Photos.
Famous blogger, Zhai Ming Lei, joined [zh] the discussion:
太惨了，呼伦贝尔草原是内蒙唯一剩下的两片草原（另一片是锡林郭勒），而且是生态最好的，为什么偏偏是这儿开矿，当局真是无脑透了。宝贵大草原不珍惜，小小的一个芝麻岛，大动肝火。
Zhai explained [zh] the ecological conditions in the grassland:
草原为啥挖不得，内 草原黑土层很薄，薄的地方甚至只有半米。黑土下面就是古海洋的沙层。所以草原很容易沙化。现在保护还来不及，来挖矿是加速沙化。加速 沙尘暴。尼玛的，当地政府人员死绝了吗？没人管吗？
He added [zh]:
知道吗，蒙古人自古以来是不挖地，不挖井的。他们视大地为母亲，天空为父亲。所以不会用金属开挖土地。连植物与药材的根都不吃。开挖草原不仅是破坏自然，而且是侵犯少数民族的文化。（当年日本关东军打进来，怕中国人投毒，才第一次在内蒙草原挖井，现在是开矿，比日本人还狠。）制止对草原的犯罪！！