Mulan County 木兰县

Setting and landscape

The county is named after the Mulanda River (木兰达河) that runs through it; "Mulanda" is a Mongolian word meaning a horse pasture or hunting enclosure. The seat is Mulan Town (木兰镇), and the county has six towns and two townships. Xinhua describes Mulan as an agricultural county growing mainly rice, soybeans and maize, and the county culture and tourism bureau held its first "Beautiful Hometown" tourism and culture festival at the Songhua River Wetland Park (松花江湿地公园).

What to see

Jiguan Mountain, whose name means "cockscomb mountain", sits at the southern foot of the Lesser Khingan (小兴安岭) on the border with Tonghe County (通河县). China National Radio says the scenic area takes its name from its cockscomb-shaped peaks and covers 38.6 square kilometres in four parts: Big Jiguan Mountain (大鸡冠山), the Jiguan Stone Forest (鸡冠石林), the Jiguan Stone Sea (鸡冠石海) and Jiguan Ding (鸡冠鼎). The area has granite rocks shaped like figures, old-growth forest and a cliff-side plank walkway, which CNR calls the only one in Heilongjiang. Xinhua reports that the national geopark became a 4A scenic area in 2023.

The mountain was a base of the Third Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army. Harbin Daily reports that Zhao Shangzhi (赵尚志) set up a guerrilla base centred on Jiguan Mountain after leading his troops west in 1936, and that searches since 2015 have found 10 camp sites, 1,610 metres of trenches and over ten thousand relics in 13 categories, including more than 6,000 shell casings. The camp site was listed as a Heilongjiang provincial protected heritage site in February 2024. At the foot of the mountain, Guangxin village (广信村) in Jianguo Township (建国乡) has been turned into a "red" (revolutionary-history) themed village.

Getting oriented

For a long time the Songhua cut Mulan off from Harbin: before 2016 the county had no bridge across the river, and people crossed by ferry or drove round through Bayan (巴彦) and Hulan (呼兰). The Mulan Songhua River Bridge (木兰松花江大桥) opened on 19 October 2016, shortening the road from central Harbin to 117 kilometres. Jiguan Mountain lies 157 kilometres from Harbin.

Highlights

• Jiguan Mountain 鸡冠山: Granite national geopark with cockscomb-shaped peaks, promoted to a 4A scenic area in 2023.
• Jiguan Mountain Anti-Japanese United Army camp site 鸡冠山东北抗联密营遗址: Base of the 1936 western expedition led by Zhao Shangzhi; provincial protected site since 2024.
• Mulan Songhua River Bridge 木兰松花江大桥: Opened in 2016 as the county's first bridge across the Songhua.
• Songhua River Wetland Park 松花江湿地公园: Park where the county held its first "Beautiful Hometown" tourism and culture festival.