Hailun 海伦市

Setting and landscape

Hailun lies at the north-eastern end of the Songnen Plain, at the western foot of the Lesser Khingan. Winters are long and severe with north-westerly winds, and the recorded low is -40.3°C; summers are humid and rainy, and 88 per cent of the year's rain falls from May to September. The frost-free season is about 120 days. The city's culture and tourism bureau uses the slogan "black soil, selenium capital" (黑土硒都) for the city.

History

The town takes its name from the Hailun River (海伦河) south of the city, which in turn comes from a Manchu word for "otter", after the otters that lived in it. In 1898 the area came under the newly founded office of the Tongken deputy lieutenant-general (通肯副都统); it became Hailun prefecture in 1909 and Hailun county in 1912, and in 1932, after the Japanese invasion, it was placed in Manchukuo's Binjiang province. The culture and tourism bureau highlights the anti-Japanese general Ma Zhanshan (马占山), who set up a national resistance command in Hailun and exposed the nature of Manchukuo to the League of Nations.

What to see

Hailun paper-cutting (海伦剪纸) was added to the national intangible heritage list in 2021. China's national intangible heritage website traces it to an old custom of the Manchu's forebears of cutting animal hides into ornaments. Local cutters developed multi-colour layered carving, and themed series range from Manchu wedding customs to ice-and-snow scenes; "Manchu Wedding Customs" (满族婚俗图) is listed as a representative work.

For the outdoors, the culture and tourism bureau points to a canyon waterfall at the Jingjiadian forest farm (景家店林场), flower fields at the Chenjiadian forest farm (陈家店林场), a ten-li birch wood at the Tongkenhe forest farm and the wetlands of the Tongken and Zhayin (扎音河) rivers. It also lists Sanshenggong (三圣宫), a temple that unites the "three teachings" of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, the western-style St Joseph's Church (圣约瑟教堂) and the Dongtai Korean village (东太朝鲜民族村).

Food and local products

Products the bureau promotes as selenium-rich include Hailun baijiu (海伦白酒), sweet groundcherries from Sanshenggong (三圣宫甜菇娘), shallots from Qianjin (前进毛葱) and rice from Changfa (长发大米).

Highlights

• Hailun paper-cutting 海伦剪纸: National intangible heritage since 2021; traced to Manchu hide-cutting ornaments.
• Sanshenggong 三圣宫: Temple uniting the three teachings, promoted by the city's culture and tourism bureau.
• St Joseph's Church 圣约瑟教堂: Western-style church listed among Hailun's religious sites.