Maqu County 玛曲县

Setting and landscape

The county ranges from 3,300 to 4,806 metres above sea level, with a mean annual temperature of 2.9°C and a cold, damp climate. It sits on the northern fringe of the Zoigê Marshes (若尔盖湿地). The county government counts about 5.6 million mu of wetland and some 12.88 million mu of natural grassland, and describes Maqu as the only purely pastoral county in Gansu.

The seat, Nima (尼玛镇), stands in the northeast of the county on the southern slopes of the Xiqing Mountains (西倾山) and the north bank of the west-flowing Yellow River. At the Hequ Horse Farm, the southeast-flowing river is blocked by the rising Songpan plateau (松潘高原) and turns north, creating what the county calls the largest wetland of the first bend.

What to see

Twenty kilometres from the seat, the Hequ Horse Farm (河曲马场), founded in 1958, became the breeding centre for the Hequ horse. Its grassland and wetland flats, Wanxiantan (万涎滩), Wenbaotan (文保滩) and Qiaoketan (乔科滩), are home to black-necked cranes, swans and Tibetan gazelles. In the south, Awancang (阿万仓镇) sits at an average of 3,501 metres, and its town government is 54 kilometres from the county seat; the town's name is shared by the Awancang yak breed. Manrima (曼日玛镇), in the southeast, has the Xiaxiu (夏秀寺) and Canzhihe (参智合寺) monasteries.

Maqu has been named "China's Home of Horse Racing" (中国赛马之乡), and by 2022 it had held 13 Gesar horse-racing festivals. Tibetan folk songs sung to instrumental accompaniment, also called Gesar singing (格萨尔弹唱), grew out of a long tradition of recitation here.

Food and local products

Milk, meat and tsampa (糌粑) are the staples of the herding families. Milk tea is brewed from Songpan tea (松潘茶) with fresh yak milk. Hand-held mutton (手抓羊肉) is boiled and eaten with salt, the diner cutting with a knife in one hand; the county singles out mutton from Ola sheep (欧拉羊) and Qiaoke sheep (乔科羊). Sausages come in meat and blood versions, and for rice with silverweed root (蕨麻米饭) the rice is part-boiled and steamed, then topped with boiled silverweed root, sugar and raisins and doused with melted butter. The county is also the source of the Hequ horse, Awancang yak, Ola sheep and Hequ Tibetan mastiff breeds.

Highlights

• Hequ Horse Farm 河曲马场: Founded in 1958 as the breeding centre for the Hequ horse; wetland flats with black-necked cranes and swans.
• Awancang 阿万仓镇: Southern town at an average of 3,501 metres, its government 54 km from the county seat; gives its name to the Awancang yak.
• Hand-held mutton 手抓羊肉: Boiled mutton eaten with salt, cut with a knife held in one hand; made from Ola and Qiaoke sheep.