Dengkou County 磴口县

Setting and landscape

The county government lists the Ulan Buh Desert as one of China's eight great deserts, with 2,846 square kilometres inside Dengkou and more than 200 lakes. Licorice, cistanche, sea buckthorn and saxaul grow there. Nalin Lake (纳林湖) is a national 4A scenic area, national wetland park and national geopark. The main farm crops are tomatoes and oil sunflowers.

History

In the Qianlong reign of the Qing, Dengkou was chosen as the river wharf for shipping salt from Jilantai Salt Lake (吉兰泰盐湖) in Alxa (阿拉善). The county itself was created in January 1929 under Ningxia province, and in 1958 Bayan Gol became the seat of Bayannur League. The local Chinese dialect belongs to the Wutai group of Jin and is known locally as Houtao speech (后套话).

In early 1969 a regiment of the Inner Mongolia Production and Construction Corps (内蒙古生产建设兵团) was set up at today's Ulan Buh Farm (乌兰布和农场), drawing educated youth from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and elsewhere. The regiment's original buildings at the farm headquarters now form a Corps culture area that includes the three-storey Inner Mongolia Corps Museum (内蒙古兵团博物馆); the area is protected at autonomous-region level.

What to see

The Sanshenggong barrage was built between 1959 and 1961. The county government describes it as the only large irrigation-led plain barrage with a single intake on the Yellow River; it secures water for nearly 9 million mu of Hetao (河套) farmland. The Ministry of Water Resources named it a national water-conservancy scenic area in 2005. Its scenic area holds the 27-metre "Concentric Lock" sculpture, made from retired sluice gates.

In the Ge'eraobao (格尔敖包沟) and Molihetu (默里赫图沟) gullies of the Yin Mountains, nearly ten thousand Yinshan petroglyphs (阴山岩画), a national protected site, are carved into boulders and cliffs. The Northern Wei geographer Li Daoyuan (郦道元) recorded them in the early sixth century. They run from the Bronze Age to the Qing and show more than 20 kinds of animals, hunters, dancers, carts, riders and felt tents.

Agui Temple (阿贵庙), begun in 1798, belongs to the Nyingma or "Red" school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its name comes from the word for cave: five natural caves open in the cliffs around the main hall. The county government calls it the largest Red-school temple in north-west China; temple fairs fall on the 10th day of the seventh lunar month and the 25th day of the ninth.

Highlights

• Sanshenggong barrage 三盛公水利枢纽: Yellow River barrage built 1959–1961; national water-conservancy scenic area since 2005.
• Ulan Buh Desert 乌兰布和沙漠: 2,846 square kilometres of the desert lie in the county, with more than 200 lakes.
• Yinshan petroglyphs 阴山岩画: Nearly ten thousand rock carvings from the Bronze Age to the Qing; national protected site.
• Agui Temple 阿贵庙: Nyingma temple begun in 1798 with five natural cliff caves.
• Inner Mongolia Corps Museum 内蒙古兵团博物馆: Museum of the 1969 Production and Construction Corps at Ulan Buh Farm.
• Nalin Lake 纳林湖: National 4A scenic area, wetland park and geopark.