PLACE GUIDE

Hemu Village 禾木

Hemu (禾木) is a village in Hemu Kanas Mongol township, Burqin County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, on the Hemu River and surrounded by forest and grassland.

An elevated view down the 禾木 valley: a scattered village of dark log houses with plank roofs along a road, green meadows and a strip of crops at the right, dense spruce forest and steep slopes at the left, and snow-streaked mountains closing the valley under a deep blue sky streaked with cirrus.
An elevated view down the 禾木 valley: a scattered village of dark log houses with plank roofs along a road, green meadows and a strip of crops at the right, dense spruce forest and steep slopes at the left, and snow-streaked mountains closing the valley under a deep blue sky streaked with cirrus. · Yanxutong1215 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo adjustments

Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

Explore the region

Xinjiang · 新疆维吾尔自治区 →

About Hemu Village

The village is one of the two administrative pastoral villages of Hemu Kanas Mongol township, which was established in 1984 in the north of Burqin County, borders Mongolia and Russia, and has its seat 167 kilometres from the county town. Hemu village lies one kilometre north-west of the township seat and 167 kilometres from the county town, with a registered population of 584 households and 1,804 people, among them 1,032 Kazakh, 724 Mongol, 20 Han, 19 Hui and 4 Tatar.

The Hemu River divides the Hemu grassland, with dense forest on the sunny mountain slope and grass and livestock on the shaded slope. Xinhua states that Hemu village is China's largest Mongol Tuvan village, that the Tuvans live in wooden houses and retain old customs, and that the village is known as 'God's own reserve'; the superlative is the source's own and is attributed as such here.

In winter, after sustained snowfall, the peaks, village and forest lie under snow.

What to look for

  • The Tuvan wooden houses the Xinhua report describes
  • The Hemu River and the two differing slopes of the Hemu grassland it divides
  • The village under snow, which the Xinhua photograph shows after sustained winter snowfall

Location & getting there

Getting to Hemu Village

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

  • Search for 禾木 with 阿勒泰地区 and 布尔津县.
General visit reminders

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

Historic towns & villages · 古镇古村／民族聚落 →

Find Hemu Village

禾木 · 布尔津县

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No reliable map pin yet: search by the Chinese name.

Sources & visit information

The linked sources support the identity and background described in this introduction. Opening hours, admission, activity availability and exact arrival arrangements have not been comprehensively checked. Confirm current visitor information with the venue; the original catalogue locality and editorial review flag are retained.

China Revealed · Editorially updated 2026-10-07