Mountain range · Inner Mongolia · Heilongjiang
Greater Khingan Range
大兴安岭
China's northern forest frontier, from the steppe to the Amur
The Greater Khingan is a mountain range of about 1,200 km running from north-eastern Inner Mongolia to the Amur River in Heilongjiang, separating the Mongolian Plateau from the Northeast China Plain. Its northern half holds China's largest expanse of boreal larch forest; its highest point, Huanggangliang, reaches 2,029 metres at the southern end.
- UNESCO Global Geopark (Arxan) · 2017
- National nature reserves (several, including Hanma and Huzhong)
Key facts
Overview
The Greater Khingan is less a line of peaks than a broad, rounded upland, mostly between 1,000 and 1,400 metres, whose eastern flank drops towards the Nen River and the Songnen Plain and whose western side slopes gently onto the Hulunbuir steppe. Its northern part, in Hulunbuir and Heilongjiang's Daxing'anling prefecture, is covered in taiga-like forest of larch and birch; its southern part is drier, with grassland and volcanic fields.
The range is China's northern forest frontier and its coldest inhabited region: Mohe, near the Amur, is China's northernmost county, where winter temperatures can fall below −40 °C. It has been the homeland of hunting and reindeer-herding peoples, the source region of the Xianbei, and since the 1950s the country's largest timber base — logging that was halted in natural forests in 2015.
How the landscape formed
The range formed along a belt of Mesozoic volcanism and faulting, when granite and volcanic rocks welled up along the eastern edge of the Mongolian Plateau. Long erosion has rounded the mountains into gentle ridges with wide valleys. Around Arxan in the middle section, young basalt volcanoes, crater lakes and lava fields formed in the last few hundred thousand years. In the north, the climate is cold enough for discontinuous permafrost, which keeps the ground boggy in summer and supports the larch forest. The range divides the Amur and Nen river systems.
Highlights
Huanggangliang
黄岗梁
The highest peak, 2,029 metres, in Hexigten Banner at the southern end of the range.
Arxan
阿尔山
Volcanic landscape with crater lakes such as Tianchi and Dujuan Lake, lava flows and hot springs; a UNESCO Global Geopark.
Mohe Arctic Village
漠河北极村
A village on the Amur at China's northern tip, known for the midsummer solstice and occasional auroras.
Gaxian Cave
嘎仙洞
A large cave in Oroqen Banner, the ancestral shrine of the Xianbei, with an inscription of 443 CE left by envoys of the Northern Wei emperor.
Genhe forests
根河
Continuous larch forest around the coldest town in Inner Mongolia, home of the Aoluguya Ewenki reindeer herders.
Plants and wildlife
The northern Greater Khingan is the southern tip of the East Siberian taiga, dominated by Dahurian larch with birch, pine and willow. It shelters wildlife of the boreal forest, and its forests and wetlands regulate the headwaters of the Nen and Amur tributaries. A great fire in May 1987 burned more than a million hectares; the forest has been regenerating since.
Plants
Dahurian larch
兴安落叶松
Larix gmelinii, the dominant tree of the range, turning gold in September.
White birch
白桦
The first tree to recolonise burnt and logged areas.
Siberian dwarf pine
偃松
Pinus pumila, a creeping pine on exposed ridges.
Bog bilberry
笃斯越桔
Vaccinium uliginosum, gathered for jam and wine.
Wildlife
Reindeer
驯鹿
Herded by the Aoluguya Ewenki, the only reindeer herders in China.
Moose
驼鹿
The largest deer, in the northern forests and bogs.
Sable
紫貂
A valuable fur-bearer, historically the main quarry of forest hunters.
Culture and legend
The Oroqen and Ewenki hunted in these forests for centuries, living in birch-bark and hide conical tents (撮罗子, cuōluózi) and moving with the seasons; the Aoluguya Ewenki herded reindeer. From the 1950s state forestry turned the range into a timber base, with railway lines and forestry towns. Hunting was banned in the 1990s and commercial logging of natural forest ended in 2015; many former loggers now work in forest protection and tourism.
Aoluguya
敖鲁古雅
The Ewenki reindeer herders' settlement near Genhe.
Cuoluozi
撮罗子
Conical tents of poles covered with birch bark or hides, the traditional Oroqen and Ewenki dwelling.
History
Early centuries CE
Xianbei homeland
The Tuoba Xianbei, later founders of the Northern Wei, trace their origin to the Greater Khingan forests.
443
Northern Wei inscription at Gaxian Cave
Emperor Taiwu's envoys make sacrifice at the ancestral cave; the inscription was rediscovered in 1980.
1950s–1960s
State forestry opens the range
Railways and forestry bureaus make it China's largest timber base.
1987
Great Khingan fire
A fire in May burns vast areas of forest and several towns, changing forest policy in China.
2015
End of commercial logging in natural forests
The range's forestry economy turns to protection.
Through the seasons
Spring
Snow melts in May; azaleas (兴安杜鹃) flower pink on the slopes before the larches leaf out.
Summer
Short and mild, with near-white nights in the far north around the solstice; mosquitoes are thick in the forest.
Autumn
September brings gold larch and birch; the first snow often falls by late September.
Winter
Extreme cold, commonly below −30 °C in the north, with dry snow, hoarfrost and a chance of auroras at Mohe.
Routes and ways in
Hailar to Mohe forest road
A road north through Genhe and the Heilongjiang forest towns to the Amur, several days through near-continuous forest.
Arxan volcanic trails
Boardwalks and paths link the crater lakes, lava fields and rivers of the Arxan geopark.
Practical notes
- Winters are among the coldest in China: specialist cold-weather clothing is essential from November to March.
- Forest fire prevention is strict; in spring and autumn fire seasons some areas close and smoking outdoors is prohibited.
- Distances are long and settlements sparse; ticks in the forest can transmit encephalitis in early summer.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Greater Khingan Range — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People's Government — Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Arxan UNESCO Global Geopark — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Daxing'anling Prefecture Administrative Office — Daxing'anling Prefecture (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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