A banner (Chinese: 旗; pinyin: qí) is an administrative division of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China, corresponding to the county level. Banners were first used during the Qing Dynasty, which organized the Mongols into banners except those who belonged to the Eight Banners. Each banner had sumu as nominal subdivisions. In Inner Mongolia, several banners made up a league. In the rest, including Outer Mongolia, northern Xinjiang and Qinghai, Aimag (Аймаг) was the largest administrative division. While it restricted the Mongols from crossing banner borders, the dynasty protected Mongolia from population pressure from China proper.