Wuchuan County 武川县

History

Daqingshan Township (大青山乡) keeps remains of a Northern Wei (北魏) site for sacrifices to Heaven, walls from the Qin and Han periods and a Wei emperor's travelling palace. In 1938 the Eighth Route Army's Daqingshan detachment entered Wuchuan and set up the Daqingshan anti-Japanese guerrilla base, commanded from Jing'ergou (井尔沟) and Deshenggou (得胜沟), where Mongol and Han soldiers and civilians waged a guerrilla war behind Japanese lines. The county has restored the base museum in Deshenggou Township (得胜沟乡) and the former headquarters, and improved a 3-kilometre hill trail.

What to see

Hadamen National Forest Park (哈达门国家森林公园), a 3A scenic area by Wudaogou Village (五道沟村) in Daqingshan Township, is at its best in September and October, when the birch and pine woods on its slopes turn colour. The same township has the alpine meadows of Jing'erliang (井尔梁) and a revolutionary martyrs' cemetery. The county also has its own museum, the Wuchuan Museum (武川博物馆).

Food and local products

Naked oats are Wuchuan's signature crop. The county lies at 1,600 to 2,200 metres, and the county government describes its cool upland climate and soils as ideal for them. Wuchuan has been named a 'home of oats' (燕麦之乡); its traditional dryland oat-farming system is listed among China's Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, and the craft of making youmian (莜面), food made from naked-oat flour, is on Inner Mongolia's intangible heritage list. Oats head the traditional 'three treasures of the back hills' (后山三宝), and the county promotes them through an oat culture festival.

Getting oriented

The county seat, Kekeyiligeng (可可以力更镇, usually shortened to Kezhen), is 33 kilometres north of Hohhot. Wuchuan borders Hohhot's Xincheng and Huimin districts and Tumed Left Banner to the south, Baotou's Tumed Right Banner and Guyang County to the west, Darhan Muminggan and Siziwang banners to the north and Zhuozi County to the east. The Hohhot–Bayan Obo (白云鄂博) and Hohhot–Xilinhot (锡林浩特) roads connect it with Hohhot, Baotou and the neighbouring banners and counties.

Highlights

• Hadamen National Forest Park 哈达门国家森林公园: 3A forest park in Daqingshan Township, best in September and October.
• Daqingshan anti-Japanese guerrilla base 大青山抗日游击根据地: Base set up by the Eighth Route Army in 1938; museum and former headquarters in Deshenggou.
• Jing'erliang meadows 井尔梁: Alpine meadow landscape in Daqingshan Township.
• Wuchuan naked oats and youmian 武川莜面: Oat-farming system listed as agricultural heritage; youmian-making on the regional intangible heritage list.