Every season, photography enthusiasts flock here from all corners, quietly setting up tripods on hillsides, by forests, and near streams, their eyes bright as they strive to see as far as possible. The grassland never fails their dedication, transforming with each hour of the day into different sceneries that captivate the eye and lift the spirit.
Hulunbuir Grassland
Hulunbuir Grassland is located in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia, named after the nearby Hulun Lake and Buir Lake. It is one of the world’s three great grasslands and the finest quality grassland globally, as well as the birthplace of the Mongolian people. The area contains thousands of lakes, both large and small. The famed Hulunbuir Grassland stretches as far as the eye can see, a sea of green swaying gently in the breeze, dotted with flocks of sheep like drifting clouds and fluff. The scenery is incredibly magnificent and uplifting. The vast, boundless grassland resembles a huge, naturally woven green carpet. Walking on it, the soft and elastic feeling beneath your feet is marvelous. Where the green grass meets the blue sky, cattle and sheep chase each other, herdsmen sing while cracking their whips, and everywhere presents the view described as “where the wind blows low, revealing cattle and sheep.” It truly deserves to be praised as one of the most beautiful, largest, and least polluted grasslands in the world. Traveling through Hulunbuir will leave you in awe of the “thousands of miles of meadows paved with jade.”
Arxan
On the eastern side of Arxan lies the beautiful Hulunbuir Grassland. In summer, heading northeast from Arxan, you’ll experience the delightful sensation of descending from the Greater Khingan Mountains and entering the embrace of the grassland—vibrant flowers, lush trees, blue skies, and clear waters, even catching glimpses of perennial snow and ice. On the western side of Arxan is the expansive Xilingol Grassland, where the grass grows tall over the backs of sheep, offering a true taste of the vast, open landscape with “the sky so blue and the land so boundless, where the wind blows the grass low to reveal cattle and sheep.” To the south of Arxan is the heroic Horqin Grassland. “Horqin” means “arrowhead” in Mongolian and was the territory of Genghis Khan’s younger brother, Hasar. To the north of Arxan lies the sparsely populated Mongolian Grassland. This boundless expanse forms a striking contrast to the noise and crowding of city life.
Genhe Wetland
Genhe Wetland is known as the “No. 1 Wetland in Asia” and is currently the best-preserved and largest wetland in China in its natural state. In Erguna, there is the acclaimed Asia’s largest wetland—Genhe Wetland. The meandering, ribbon-like river within the wetland is called the Genhe River. It is said that this wetland is the most beautiful river valley wetland in China. The clear Genhe River flows quietly, encircling the grassy meadows, with low shrubs and dense vegetation flourishing along the banks. Wildflowers sway on the wetland, and birch forests stretch continuously across the mountains. It is a sanctuary far from the world, blending into nature, once vibrant and now serene.
Egret Island
Egret Island in Moerdaoga is a paradise for photography lovers. The forest park is divided into six scenic areas: Longyan Mountain, Cui ran Garden, Primeval Forest, Jiliuhe River, Folk Village, and Boundary River Tour. The park’s forest scenery features distinctive northern characteristics, preserving China’s last remaining bright coniferous primeval forest landscape in the cold temperate zone. Its prime location neighbors the Hulunbuir Grassland to the south and the China-Russia Erguna boundary river to the north. With rolling mountains, towering ancient trees, rich vegetation, and dense streams, the park showcases an atmosphere of seclusion, wildness, beauty, and novelty. Its summer scenery of forests, pine winds, blue skies, and white clouds, along with its winter charm of ice peaks, snowy ridges, bitter cold, and rime, offers an ideal destination for cooling off, vacationing, ecological studies, experiencing the cold, challenging limits, and reflecting on life.
Shiwei Russian Ethnic Township
Located on the banks of the Erguna River and just across the river from the Russian village of Olochi, it is China’s only Russian ethnic township. Over 1,700 of the township’s residents are Russian, accounting for 42% of the total population. Most of these Russian residents are descendants of those who came to China before and after the October Revolution in the former Soviet Union. The older generation is fluent in Russian and still retains traditional Russian lifestyle habits.
Russian Matryoshka Square
Manzhouli Russian Matryoshka Square is the only tourism, leisure, and entertainment square in China themed around the traditional Russian craft of matryoshka dolls. It fully embodies the regional characteristics of Manzhouli at the junction of China, Russia, and Mongolia, as well as the fusion of the cultures of the three countries.