Xianghai National Nature Reserve 向海

About Xianghai National Nature Reserve

Red-crowned cranes are the best-known birds, but the landscape is more varied than a single crane enclosure suggests. Xianhe Island is the established visitor focus, while Lanhaige offers a wider view of the wetland setting. Distinguish managed birds around visitor facilities from wild birds using the reserve: migration, water levels and access arrangements all affect what can be observed on a particular day.

In the early 2000s, successive years of drought caused severe shrinkage of the Xianghai wetland. Restoration measures were later introduced under a project diverting water from the Chaersen Reservoir (察尔森水库) into the wetland, and the wetland has since partially recovered. Xianghai lies in Tongyu County in western Jilin, bounded by the Huolin River (霍林河) to the south and the Emutai River (额木太河) to the north; seepage and evaporation leave no clear watercourse within the reserve except seasonal terminal wetlands and marshes formed in the rainy season.

The Daxianghai and Erchang lakes were dammed in 1971 and incorporated into an irrigation system fed by the Tao'er River, becoming known as the Xianghai Reservoir, which connects to the Huangyu, Dadu, Xiao and Hama lakes; water depth generally ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 meters, reaching more than 10 meters at its deepest point.

The reserve covers a total area of 105,467 hectares and provides habitat for 52 species of nationally protected wildlife. It was established with the approval of the Jilin provincial government in March 1981, became a national-level nature reserve in 1983, and was placed on the List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1992; it was rated a 4A tourist attraction in 2005.

What to look for

• Xianhe Island's reed-fringed water and crane interpretation; some cranes associated with the visitor area are managed birds.
• Lanhaige, the named lookout over the reserve's water-and-grassland landscape.
• Mongolian elm woodland, one of the distinctive habitats protected alongside the wetlands.

Location & getting there

Getting to Xianghai National Nature Reserve

Travel to Xianghai Township and Xianghai Village in Tongyu County, the local base for the reserve's established visitor sites.

• Use the open visitor circuit around Xianhe Island and Lanhaige; the reserve's conservation areas are not unrestricted walking country.