Kangbao County 康保县

Setting and landscape

The ground falls gently from northeast to southwest, from Xianghuangqi Mountain (镶黄旗山), the highest point at 1,784 metres, to a salt lake in Erhaobu (二号卜) township at 1,282 metres. Outliers of the Yin Mountains (阴山) run across the county and form its watershed; the hills have rounded tops and gentle slopes with valleys and basins between them. The south is a wide rolling plain where water collects in shallow, saucer-shaped inland lakes, known locally as nao (淖). Volcanic activity in the Cenozoic left basalt lava sheets more than 450 metres thick.

History

Through much of its early history the area was grazing land for nomadic peoples such as the Xiongnu, the Tuoba Xianbei and the Turks. Around 1122 Jin troops fought the Liao near Yuanyang Lake (鸳鸯泊), in today's Kangbao area. Under the Qing it was pasture of the Chahar Mongol banners until 1902, when Mongol princes were allowed to open their land to Han farming settlers. A reclamation office was set up in 1922, carved out of Zhangbei (张北) and Shangdu (商都), and it became Kangbao County in 1925, part of Chahar. In June 1933 the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Allied Army (察哈尔民众抗日同盟军) recaptured Kangbao from Japanese forces. Kangbao passed to Hebei in 1952.

What to see

The Kangbao section of the Jin Great Wall (金长城), known locally as the "third wall" (三道边), runs east to west for 65 kilometres through 7 townships and 47 villages. It was built of rammed local earth with a ditch on its outer side and beacon platforms along it; surviving stretches of wall still stand about 1.5 to 2 metres high. Hebei listed it as a provincial protected site in 1956.

Kangbaonuoer National Wetland Park (康巴诺尔国家湿地公园) lies on the southern edge of the county town. The county government records about 7,000 relict gulls (遗鸥), a nationally protected species, breeding on its lake island each year and calls it the largest breeding site of the species in the world.

Nantianmen (南天门), 20 kilometres north of the county town at 1,600 metres, is formed by two contrasting rock peaks; a gorge runs for three to four kilometres, its mouth forms a natural gate, and a spring and a waterfall flow from the rocks. The Kangbao county gazetteer records that Mongols built Puci Temple (普慈寺) here in 1672; a new temple, Duobao Temple (多宝寺), was begun in 2006.

Highlights

• Jin Great Wall, Kangbao section 金长城（康保段）: A 65-kilometre rammed-earth wall and ditch across the county; provincial protected site since 1956.
• Kangbaonuoer National Wetland Park 康巴诺尔国家湿地公园: Lake beside the county town where about 7,000 relict gulls breed each year.
• Nantianmen 南天门: Two rock peaks and a gorge whose mouth forms a natural gate, 20 kilometres north of the county town.