Mongolian language in Inner Mongolia

In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, the Mongolian language is the official provincial language (alongside Chinese). Mongols are the second largest ethnic group (after Han Chinese), comprising about 17 percent of the population. There are at least 4.1 million ethnic Mongols in Inner Mongolia, including subgroups like the Chahars, Ordos, Baarin, Khorchin, Kharchin, and Buryats. While there is a standardized dialect of the Mongolian language in Inner Mongolia (in contrast to the standard language in the state of Mongolia, where the Khalkha make up most of the population), different Mongolian dialects continue to be spoken by different subgroups of the Mongols. Some proposed the Peripheral Mongolian dialect group to cover the Mongolian dialects in Inner Mongolia.