Wuhai overview 乌海

About Wuhai

The lake created beside Haibowan gives the urban waterfront an unusually broad outlook, with the Ulan Buh sands beyond. The city also supports an active calligraphy culture, represented by the Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Art Museum in the Binhe district. Pairing a current art exhibition with the lakefront offers a compact introduction to Wuhai's cultural life and physical setting without requiring a separate desert expedition.

Wuhai formed through the 1975 merger (given as 1976 in English-language sources) of the mining town of Wuda, on the Yellow River's western bank, with Haibowan on the eastern bank. Wuda grew as a coal-mining settlement from around 1864, settled by Chinese laborers, while Haibowan was settled by Chinese farmers from around 1900.

The city sits in western Inner Mongolia at the southern edge of the Ulan Buh Desert and the western edge of the Ordos Plateau, bordered by Ordos to the east, Alxa League to the northwest, and Shizuishan (石嘴山市) in Ningxia to the southwest. The Yellow River flows from south to north through the city, joined near its southern boundary by the Duosi Tu River (都思兔河). The municipal government is seated in Haibowan District. Han Chinese make up 93% of the population and Mongols about 3.5%.

What to look for

• The Wuhai Lake waterfront and desert-facing horizon.
• The current calligraphy or painting programme at the Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Art Museum.

Location & getting there

Getting to Wuhai

Use the Binhe district for this city circuit: the calligraphy museum is on Xuefu Street, and No. 1 Wharf is the lakefront arrival point.

• Confirm the museum's current exhibition before travelling, then use a local transfer between the museum and wharf.