In the minds of many people, Gansu is a typical inland province. In fact, there is a 65.018 kilometer long border at the northernmost end of Subei Mongolian Autonomous County in Jiuquan City, Gansu Province. To the north of the border is the Gobi Altai Province of Mongolia, and to the south is the only border town in Gansu, Mazongshan Town. Subei is very special, with a permanent population of only about 15000, but it is the largest county in Gansu Province, accounting for about 1/6 of the total area of the province. There are also three "unique" counties in Gansu: the only Mongolian autonomous county, the only border county, and the only county with two independent administrative divisions separated by the Hexi Corridor, which includes Yumen and Guazhou, both of which belong to Jiuquan. The Qilian Mountain area in the southern part of Subei County and the Mazong Mountain area in the northern Tianshan Mountains, commonly known as "Nanshan" and "Beishan", are like open arms, forming the "gateway" that guards the Hexi Corridor on both sides of the north and south, and are important nodes of the ancient Silk Road. The vast territory of the two mountains has also turned Subei into a "geological landscape garden", with grassland wetlands and Gobi snow capped mountains complementing each other. What is even more attractive is that here, such as the "Cultural Secret Realm", traditional arts of the Mongolian ethnic group such as long tunes, songs and dances, and congratulatory speeches are all inherited and promoted in their "original ecology". The unique cultural atmosphere has also become a unique advantage for cultural exchange. Border "Village BA" - a cross-border sports event. On the evening of July 13th, the village square of Dangcheng Village in Dangchengwan Town, Subei was brightly lit, and the stadium lights illuminated the outline of the snow capped mountains. The cheers and melodious horsehead fiddle intertwined, bringing a successful conclusion to the 2025 Subei Snow covered "Village BA" Championship. The popular "village BA" has invited neighboring teams to participate. In April 2023, Subei County signed a letter of intent to establish friendly city relations with Bayinwuendar County in Bayanhonggar Province, Mongolia. In May 2024, the "Village BA" Basketball Championship held in Subei, Gansu Subei Division Basketball Tournament, achieved a good story of communication between the two places. In the past two years, friendly interactions between Subei County and neighboring regions of Mongolia have become increasingly frequent, with mutual visits, exchanges, and trade exhibitions held. ”Sukhbaatar, the first level chief clerk of the Commerce Bureau of Subei County, introduced to reporters that the 2024 "Village BA" Football King Championship has set up a competition area for the first time in Subei, Gansu. Mongolia was invited to send an international sister city basketball team to play a friendly match against the Subei Snow Vanguard. In addition to the competition, members of the Mongolian International Friendship City team also visited the Subei County Museum and the Qilian Mountain National Park Subei Area Nature Education and Ecological Experience Hall to gain a deeper understanding of local history, culture, and folk customs. Mongolian team members expressed that this form of sports exchange not only helps improve their skills, but also deepens their understanding of Subei. The beautiful scenery, delicious food, and people's enthusiasm in Subei are unforgettable. At the opening ceremony of the "Village BA" Basketball Championship Gansu · Subei Division Basketball Tournament in 2024, the Ulan Cavalry of Subei also performed the dance "Dynamic Qilian", showcasing the local cultural characteristics. Hua Na, a representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage at the county level in Subei County, also brought handmade embroidered souvenirs outside the competition venue, attracting many domestic and foreign tourists. This kind of competition can not only better inherit traditional culture, but also enhance the popularity of Subei and attract more people to travel here, "said Hua Na. On the evening of August 8th, the "Grassroots Literature and Art" of Ulan Muqi took to the stage of the external "big stage", and the Nadam Cultural Performance in Subei Mongolian Autonomous County in 2025 was held. The Ulaanmu Cavalry, directly under the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, brought a cultural feast that spans thousands of miles and is touching. The Ulan Muqi in Subei performed the long tune "Hundred Rivers Birds", women's group dance "Heshuote Girl", solo singing "Father's Hometown" and other programs, showcasing the profound cultural heritage and vigorous artistic vitality of Subei. Founded in 1974, the Subei Ulan Cavalry is the only Ulan Cavalry in Gansu and the only ethnic minority border county literary and artistic group in Gansu. The original meaning of "Ulan Muqi" in Mongolian is "red tender sprouts", later used specifically to refer to red cultural work teams, active in rural pastoral areas. Nowadays, with the development of various exchange activities, the Ulan Pastoral Cavalry in Subei has become increasingly active. We have to complete more than 100 performances every year and often go to the countryside to provide services. The towns and villages in Subei are far away, sometimes it takes more than 1000 kilometers to travel back and forth to the countryside, usually taking three or four days, "said Wuliji, the leader of the Ulan Pastoral Cavalry Troupe." In the past, Ulan Pastoral Cavalry mainly 'went down' and performed for herdsmen in pastoral areas. Now, we are rooted at the grassroots level and also stand on a higher stage, and the quality of the programs continues to improve. "43 year old Wuliji is a native of Subei, and his aunt is one of the earliest actors of Ulan Pastoral Cavalry in Subei. The veteran actors in the group often tell Uliji the story of the early days of the group's establishment: the actors worked for the herdsmen during the day and set up a stage to perform at night; Without hotel accommodation, the herdsmen would bring camels to pick up the actors to stay at their homes. Being as close as a family to the herdsmen and having intimate communication, even under difficult conditions, everyone has no complaints. This is the spirit of Ulan pastoral cavalry, "sighed Uliji. Nowadays, Ulan Muqi, who stands on a higher stage, also plays an important role in cultural exchanges with foreign countries. Since its inception, Ulan Muqi has been responsible for eight functions: performance, promotion, coaching, service, creation, innovation, inheritance, and external exchange. Now this last function is even more prominent. "Wuliji introduced that the" Basketball Dance "sitcom" Me and My Village BA "at the opening ceremony of this year's" Village BA "is an original work tailored by Ulan Muqi for the competition. The drama tells the dream chasing story of a grassland basketball boy, integrating Mongolian art forms such as horsehead fiddle performance, dance, and hula, making the basketball court a "big stage" for inheriting national culture. Uliji introduced that Mongolia does not have the Ulanqab Cavalry, but there are similar cultural and artistic troupes. "Last year, a troupe from the Gobi Altai Province of Mongolia drove more than 100 kilometers to Subei for exchange after a performance in Dunhuang. Although many of our performances were of the same traditional art content, there were some differences in artistic expression, such as the horseback riding movement in the 'Sawerden' dance. We are used to cross the waist and tie the horse, and their movements are more relaxed and casual." To improve the artistic level, the Ulanqab Cavalry in Subei pays attention to absorbing and drawing on the characteristics of different art forms. The team once specially invited a Mongolian dance teacher who studied ballet in Russia to come to Subei to provide basic skills training for the actors. We focus on ethnic dance, but we also need to use ballet and other art forms as the foundation to hone our physical expression, so as to reflect professionalism. We can walk into the fields and stand on the big stage of provincial and capital cities. Uliji said that in the future, we will continue to invite experts from Mongolia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to come to northern Suzhou to help actors improve their skills in dance, singing, playing and singing. Through exchanges, we will make the program of this' Red Literary Light Cavalry 'more and more exciting. Snow Mountain Intangible Cultural Heritage - A Bridge and Link for Promoting Cultural Exchange in the Surrounding Areas. The Mongolian people living near the Qilian Mountains in northern China have a name that fits their regional characteristics - "Snow Mountain Mongolian". The geographical location here is relatively remote, and many unique primitive cultural styles have been preserved. Narenqiqige, 67 years old this year, is a representative inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage of Mongolian costumes. She has been learning how to make clothing from her grandmother since she was seven or eight years old, and has been doing it for decades. Each piece is adorned with her own Shaquille embroidery. Shagela embroidery is a unique decoration of the Mongolian ethnic group in northern Suzhou, with three horizontal bars symbolizing the "Three Treasures of Auspiciousness" and surrounding decorations symbolizing "preserving auspiciousness". A Mongolian friend visited and saw this embroidery pattern, saying, "Our elderly people also embroidered it, but now it has long been lost." "It is too precious, it should be put in a museum, so that more people can see this treasure." Similarly committed to protecting traditional culture, there is also Shanxi, a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of the Mongolian people in Subei. At last year's National Praise Competition held in Xinjiang, he performed "Bayin Song" with props and won first prize. Experts told him that "Bayin Song" could be heard in many places 50 years ago, but now most of it has been lost, except for the complete preservation in Subei. Nowadays, this congratulatory poem has become a reserved program for large-scale events in northern Suzhou. When the Mongolian Ambassador to China visited, he praised his performance and said, "It's very rare that only a few thousand Mongolian people in northern China have protected their traditional culture so well!" In the hall of the Subei County Museum, a huge sand table of Subei's terrain and landforms is particularly prominent. Curator Sai Yijilgli pointed to the sand table and introduced, "Subei County is located about 500 kilometers north of Mongolia, east of Jiuquan City, west of Hami, Xinjiang, and south of Golmud, Qinghai. It is not only the geographical intersection of the Mongolian Plateau and the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, but also the blending hinterland of Western and Central Plains cultures. It has always been a center of multicultural exchange." He also shared a supporting evidence, "There is a unique deer pattern on the Mazong Mountain rock paintings, which is similar in style and shape to the deer pattern on Mongolian rock paintings. Yaks, which are common only in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, also appear in the Mazong Mountain rock paintings. This indicates that as early as ancient times, Subei has been different from other places. The region has initiated extensive cultural exchanges. In the future, the genes of this cultural exchange will continue to evolve in a more dynamic, diverse, and profound way In the long river of history, the border town of Subei has guarded its unique cultural form. Nowadays, cultural exchange is unleashing innovative vitality in the inheritance of the "cultural treasure trove" hidden in this border town. The unique cultural atmosphere is becoming a bridge and link to attract Chinese and foreign tourists and promote cultural exchanges with neighboring countries. (New Society)