Haiyuan County 海原县

History

The Haiyuan earthquake (海原大地震) struck on the evening of 16 December 1920, when Haiyuan belonged to Gansu (甘肃). Chinese Wikipedia gives it a moment magnitude of 8.25 and the maximum intensity of XII, with the epicentre around Xi'anzhou (西安州). Official counts at the time recorded 234,117 deaths in Gansu, 73,604 of them in Haiyuan. Chinese Wikipedia puts the toll down mainly to cave dwellings (窑洞) in the easily collapsing loess, which could not withstand the shaking, and landslides formed dammed lakes. In 2007 the Ningxia government approved an earthquake geological park centred on the traces of the quake. China.com.cn's tourist routes for the county include the Shaomaying earthquake willow (哨马营震柳) and the great landslide at the Lianhe Haizi reservoir (联合海子水库).

What to see

Nanhua Mountain (南华山), 7.5 kilometres south of the county town, is an outlier of the Liupan range about 35 kilometres long. Its main peak, Mawan Shan (马万山), reaches 2,955 metres, which the county government ranks second in Ningxia after the Helan Mountains (贺兰山). Rainfall is around 600 millimetres a year, secondary forest covers the north-west, and springs in the Wuqiao gully (五桥沟) supply the county town's water. In the Song and Western Xia periods it was known, together with Xihua Mountain (西华山), as Tiandu Mountain (天都山). Remains on the mountain include the Neolithic Caiyuan site (菜园遗存) at its north-western end, the ruins of Shuichong Temple (水冲寺) to the south-east and the site of Lingguang Temple (灵光寺).

The Tiandu Mountain Grottoes (天都山石窟) in Xi'an township (西安乡) became a protected cultural relic of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on 15 September 2005. The Zhongwei culture and tourism bureau puts them on its cultural tourism routes together with Nanhua Mountain, the Caiyuan cultural area in Xi'an town and the earthquake-remains area; the Ganyanchi salt lake (甘盐池盐湖) also appears on local tourist routes.

Food and local culture

China.com.cn names melons, Xiangshui pears (香水梨), 'bread' lamb (面包羊羔肉) and clear-stewed mutton (清炖羊肉) as Haiyuan's best-known foods, and the pear-blossom town of Guanqiao (关桥梨花小镇) is on the county's tourist routes. Zhongwei's 2016–2018 tourism plan builds Haiyuan's offer around hua'er (花儿) folk song, and the city bureau has described a planned folk-culture street presenting hua'er duet singing, calligraphy, paper-cutting, embroidery and the mouth harp (口弦).

Highlights

• Nanhua Mountain 南华山: Main peak 2,955 m, ranked second in Ningxia by the county government; springs supply the county town.
• Tiandu Mountain Grottoes 天都山石窟: Cave temples in Xi'an, protected by Ningxia since 2005.
• Caiyuan Neolithic site 菜园遗存: Neolithic remains at the north-western end of Nanhua Mountain.
• Xiangshui pears 香水梨: Named among Haiyuan's best-known foods.