Habahe County 哈巴河县

Setting and landscape

Mountains above 1,200 m fill the north, rising to Shagangla (沙刚拉山) at 3,396 m; hills form a middle band, and the south is plain below 600 m. Four main rivers cross the county: the Irtysh (额尔齐斯河), the Haba, the Beliezi (别列孜河) and the Alakebieke (阿拉克别克河). The Haba, about 216 km long, is listed as the second-largest tributary of the Irtysh after the Burqin River. The county culture and tourism bureau describes Habahe as the county where the Irtysh, China's only river flowing to the Arctic Ocean, leaves the country. Springs are dry and windy, summers short and hot, autumns cool and winters cold.

History

In the early Qing the area was grazing land of the New Torghut Mongols (新土尔扈特). A Habahe tunju (屯局), an administrative office, was set up in 1903, a Habahe administrative bureau followed in 1912, and Habahe became a full county in 1930.

What to see

The county's three core scenic areas are known together as the 'three whites' (三白): Baihaba and Baishahu, both national 5A areas, and the 4A Birch Forest (白桦林). Baihaba (白哈巴), in Tierekti Township (铁热克提乡), keeps the look of an old Tuvan village of log cabins on the border; China Daily calls it 'China's westernmost village'. Kazakh villagers there have converted houses into homestays that serve late-evening sets of milk tea, hand-held mutton (手抓肉), air-dried meat (风干肉) and milk skin (奶皮子).

Baishahu (白沙湖) is a small lake ringed by sand dunes, about 800 m north to south and 500 m east to west, fed by seeping groundwater. Creeping juniper grows on the dunes, and a belt of silver poplar, poplar and birch stands close around the water, which holds reeds, sweet flag and wild lotus. In the northern mountains, the Narenxia summer pasture (那仁夏牧场) lies in a mountain basin at 1,390 m on the Naren River (那仁河), backed by spruce, fir and pine taiga. In Saerbulake (萨尔布拉克) the Duogate rock art (多尕特岩画) comprises close to a thousand stone carvings and paintings scattered between Yushiaxia (玉什阿夏村) and Halonggou (哈龙沟村) villages.

Food and local products

The county culture and tourism bureau promotes sea-buckthorn banquets (沙棘宴) and dubaoji (肚包鸡) as its specialty dishes.

Highlights

• Baihaba Village 白哈巴: National 5A scenic area: a Tuvan log-cabin village on the border in Tierekti Township.
• Baishahu 白沙湖: National 5A scenic area: a groundwater-fed lake ringed by dunes and poplar and birch.
• Birch Forest Scenic Area 白桦林景区: National 4A scenic area, one of the county's three 'white' sights.
• Narenxia Summer Pasture 那仁夏牧场: Mountain-basin pasture at 1,390 m on the Naren River.
• Duogate Rock Art 多尕特岩画: Close to a thousand stone carvings and paintings in Saerbulake.