Nianzishan District 碾子山区

Setting and landscape

Longjiang County surrounds the district on the east, south and west; Gannan County (甘南县) lies to the northeast and Zalantun (扎兰屯) in Inner Mongolia to the northwest. By rail the city centre is 113 kilometres away. The hills are mainly Hercynian granite with Yanshanian granite porphyry, and the land is low mountain and rolling hill country with more than 170 hills. The low mountain Dahei Mountain (大黑山) is known as the first peak of Hecheng (鹤城), the 'Crane City'.

The Yalu River (雅鲁河) runs about 35 kilometres through the district from northwest to southeast, and the man-made Qiyi Canal (七一运河) crosses the urban area from west to east. The district government notes that Nianzishan is the only one of Qiqihar's seven districts set between hills and water.

History

A settlement formed here in 1897 and first appeared on Longjiang County maps in 1913. After 1946 it was a district of Longjiang County, then a town from 1952; it passed to Qiqihar in 1960 as Hua'an District (华安区) and took the name Nianzishan District in 1983. Stone tools from Shedong Mountain (蛇洞山), a Palaeolithic site, were identified by the archaeologist Jia Lanpo (贾兰坡). A local legend says the Blue Dragon and the White Tiger fought each other here and were then made gods of the stone roller and the millstone, which, the story goes, is why farmers never keep the two together.

What to see

The Yalu River National Wetland Park (雅鲁河国家湿地公园) has a campsite with the Shedong Mountain and Dahei Mountain scenic areas behind it, and a camping festival held at the campsite on 5 August 2017 included rafting among its activities. In Century Square (世纪广场) stands the Century Tripod (世纪宝鼎), a granite vessel 5 metres tall and 4.5 metres across, completed in June 2002.

Food and local products

Quarrying and stone-working are the district's mainstay industry. Stonemasons from Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia arrived in 1881, and the district works granite into hundreds of products. Maifan stone (麦饭石) occurs at Erdaogou village (二道沟村) and is made into tea sets, wine vessels and bottled mineral water; in 2001 the district was named China's home of maifan stone. The brewing technique of Beiguosong liquor (北国颂酒) is on the district's first intangible heritage list.

Highlights

• Dahei Mountain 大黑山: Low mountain known as the first peak of Hecheng, the 'Crane City'.
• Shedong Mountain 蛇洞山: Palaeolithic site whose stone tools were identified by Jia Lanpo.
• Yalu River National Wetland Park 雅鲁河国家湿地公园: Riverside campsite that hosted a camping festival with rafting in August 2017.
• Century Tripod 世纪宝鼎: Granite tripod 5 metres tall in Century Square, completed in 2002.
• Maifan stone 麦饭石: Mineral worked into tea sets and mineral water; China's home of maifan stone since 2001.