Beipiao 北票市

History

In the early Qing the land belonged to the Tumed Right Banner (土默特右翼旗), and from 1904 it was part of Chaoyang County. A Communist county government for Beipiao was set up in 1946 within Rehe (热河) province, and in 1985 the State Council replaced the county with the county-level city of Beipiao.

Folk tales collected here were added to the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008 as Beipiao folk stories (北票民间故事); the city's cultural department had compiled a collection, "Songs of Tumed" (吐默特的歌声), in 1984.

What to see

In October 1998 the state approved a bird-fossil nature reserve of 46.3 square kilometres centred on Sihetun, and in 2007 a bird-fossil geological museum was set up there. Fossils of Sinosauropteryx (中华龙鸟), Protarchaeopteryx (原始祖鸟) and Confuciusornis (孔子鸟) are the main objects of protection. The city is also building the Longniao Guguo fossil museum (龙鸟古果化石博物馆) for the Jehol Biota.

In town, Beipiao Museum (北票市博物馆) holds a memorial hall to Yin Zhanaxi (尹湛纳希), a popular-science hall on fossils and a pterosaur gallery, and a separate hall covers the history of the Beipiao coal mines. Daheishan (大黑山), a 4A scenic area on the border with Aohan Banner (敖汉旗) in Inner Mongolia, is an area of rolling ridges and crowded peaks whose core has over 93 percent forest cover. Since 2016 swans have wintered on the Daling River (大凌河) at Hong village (红村) in Nanbajiazi (南八家子乡), home of the Tian'ewan (天鹅湾) scenic area, and the Beipiao government reported nearly 1,000 there at the end of 2025. Quanyongshan (泉涌山) is a 3A area built around Mongolian themes such as ovoo cairns (敖包).

Food and local products

The food street at Hong village serves dishes such as goose braised in an iron pot (铁锅炖大鹅) and pork-slaughter stew (杀猪菜). Longtan mung-bean vermicelli (龙潭绿豆粉丝) is a Chinese geographical-indication product, and pictures made from maize husks (玉米皮画) are a local intangible-heritage craft.

Highlights

• Beipiao Bird Fossil National Nature Reserve 北票鸟化石国家级自然保护区: 46.3 square kilometres around Sihetun, approved in 1998, protecting Sinosauropteryx, Protarchaeopteryx and Confuciusornis fossils.
• Daheishan Scenic Area 大黑山旅游景区: 4A forested mountain area on the Inner Mongolia border.
• Tian'ewan 天鹅湾: Swan wintering ground on the Daling River at Hong village since 2016.
• Longtan mung-bean vermicelli 龙潭绿豆粉丝: A Chinese geographical-indication product.