Shangdu County 商都县

Setting and landscape

The county covers 4,353 square kilometres. Sonid Right Banner (苏尼特右旗) and Xianghuang Banner (镶黄旗) of Xilingol lie to the north, Xinghe (兴和县) to the south and Chahar Right Back Banner (察哈尔右翼后旗) to the west; to the east are Huade (化德县) and the Hebei counties of Kangbao (康保), Zhangbei (张北) and Shangyi (尚义). The county government gives the climate as temperate continental monsoon, with about 329 millimetres of rain a year, a mean temperature of 4.5°C and some 120 frost-free days.

The Budong River (不冻河), whose Mongolian name the county government glosses as "big river", winds 85 kilometres from northwest to southeast across almost the whole county, centred on the Budong River Reservoir at Qitai. The county government calls it the "mother river" of the Shangdu people; its eco-tourism scenic area lies two or three kilometres northeast of the town.

History

The name is said to come from a Manchu word meaning "whirlpool", given because the area had many lakes. In the early Qing the land was carved out of the Chahar Plain Yellow and Bordered Yellow banners as a pasture for the imperial stud, known as the Shangdu Dabsun Nor (达布逊诺尔) ranch, Dabsun Nor meaning "salt lake" in Mongolian. In the Qianlong reign Shangdu was an important trading hub on the northwest branch of the Zhangjiakou–Kulun road (张库大道).

Shangdu became a county in 1918. It was placed under Hebei's Zhangjiakou prefecture in November 1952, merged into Zhangbei in 1958, re-created in 1960 and handed to Ulanqab League in Inner Mongolia on 7 March 1962.

Food and local products

The county government's recipe for shanyao yu (山药鱼, "shanyao fish") has cooked shanyao (山药) peeled and kneaded with oat flour (莜面) into a smooth dough, which is rolled into pieces about 6 cm long and 3 cm wide, pointed at both ends like small fish, then steamed and dipped in mutton broth. Shangdu is also the largest vegetable-growing county in Ulanqab, and its Xiaohaizi town (小海子镇) is billed as Inner Mongolia's leading celery town.

Getting oriented

The county government puts Qitai 160 km from Zhangjiakou, 200 km from Hohhot, 260 km from the Erenhot (二连浩特) border crossing and 300 km from Beijing. The Jining–Tongliao railway (集通铁路) crosses the county, the Jining–Erenhot line (集二铁路) touches its edge, and the Ji'a expressway (集阿高速) runs through it.

Highlights

• Budong River 不冻河: Winds 85 km across almost the whole county; its scenic area lies two or three km northeast of Qitai.
• Qitai 七台镇: County seat; historically the seventh post station between Zhangjiakou and Ulaanbaatar.
• Shanyao fish 山药鱼: Fish-shaped pieces of shanyao and oat-flour dough, steamed and dipped in mutton broth.
• Shangdu celery 商都西芹: Grown in eight townships; Xiaohaizi is billed as Inner Mongolia's leading celery town.