Introduction

During the modern period of national or regional state formation in Asia, the relationship between religion and politics was thoroughly reconstructed. To understand the transformation of this relationship it is necessary to consider region-specific factors, such as the impact of nationalist forces, various models of government, and individual activities. For example, it is well known that the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Eighth Jebtsundamba's activities were vital to the movements for the independence of Tibet and Mongolia.

The situation of Inner Mongolia was very complicated. By the end of World War II, the Communist Party of China had gained control over Manchukuo and the Mongol United Autonomous Government after the collapse of Japanese rule in Inner Mongolia. In 1947, China established the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with decisive diplomatic and military support from the Soviet Union. For these reasons, the modern history of Inner Mongolia is generally understood in terms of the wider context of the history of the liberation of China. Recently the history of this period has also been reviewed from the perspective of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, a political party in Inner Mongolia active in the 1920s and resurrected after the surrender of Japan. But it is difficult to agree with their conclusion that the emergence of the current Inner Mongolia region was the result of the late 1940s autonomy movements led by the Communist Party of China or the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.