Yilan County 依兰县

History

The name comes from the Manchu ilan hala, "three clans", which Chinese rendered as Sanxing (三姓). Under the Liao dynasty the town was Wuguo Toucheng (五国头城), the chief town of the Five Nations (五国部) Jurchens, and it is remembered in Chinese history as Wuguo City (五国城): the Jin held the captured Song emperors Huizong (宋徽宗) and Qinzong (宋钦宗) there, and Huizong died there in 1135.

In 1714 the Qing walled Sanxing, and from 1731 a Sanxing deputy lieutenant-general (三姓副都统) ruled from here over lands reaching north to the Outer Khingan range and east to Sakhalin (库页岛). The garrison town became Yilan Prefecture (依兰府) in 1905 and Yilan County in 1912; it was transferred to Harbin on 1 April 1991.

Setting and landscape

The Zhangguangcai Range (张广才岭) and the Wanda Mountains (完达山脉) close the county on the west, south and east, and outliers of the Lesser Khingan (小兴安岭) cut it off to the north, and the county government describes a basin that is high all round and low in the middle. The Balan River (巴兰河) is the fourth main river. The climate is a temperate continental monsoon type, with long springs and winters, cold dry winters and warm, wet summers.

What to see

North of the Songhua, opposite the county town, lies Yinglan Korean Ethnic Township (迎兰朝鲜民族乡), where rafting on the Balan River and the Sikuaishi (四块石) site of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army are the two attractions the county names; the Sikuaishi site is a provincial patriotic education base. The same township grows green-certified rice under the Balan River brand, and its hills yield wild vegetables, mushrooms, wood-ear fungus and lion's mane mushroom.

Getting oriented

The county government puts Yilan 251 kilometres east of Harbin and 76 kilometres west of Jiamusi (佳木斯). The Harbin–Tongjiang (哈同) and Yilan–Boli (依勃) highways cross the county town, and national roads G221 and G229 pass through the county.

Highlights

• Wuguo City 五国城: Liao-era Jurchen town where the Jin held the captive Song emperors; Huizong died here in 1135.
• Balan River rafting 巴兰河漂流: River trip in Yinglan Korean Ethnic Township, north of the Songhua.
• Sikuaishi Anti-Japanese United Army site 四块石抗联遗址: Provincial patriotic education base in Yinglan township.
• Balan River rice 巴兰河牌大米: Green-certified rice grown in Yinglan township.