When is the best time to visit Mulan Paddock?

The best time to visit Mulan Weichang: April to October is the best

It is located in Weichang County, the northernmost part of Hebei Province, on the border with Inner Mongolia, about 120 kilometers north from Chengde. The paddock has been a famous natural garden with abundant water and grass and numerous animals since ancient times. In 1681 AD, Emperor Kangxi established a hunting ground here with an area of ??10,000 square kilometers and 72 enclosures. By the 25th year of Jiaqing (AD 1820), "Mulan Autumn" had been held 105 times around 140 years ago. In 1690, Kangxi held the famous Battle of Ulanbutong to quell the Galdan rebellion here. The beautiful scenery of Mulan Paddock has also attracted the attention of film and television artists, including "The Bell Princess", "Four Crosses of Chishui", "The Legend of Jianghu" (starring Zheng Shaoqiu), "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" (starring Zhang Fengyi and Gong Li), "Huanzhu Gege" "More than 200 episodes of film and television dramas were completed here.

Mulan Paddock is a mixed name in Manchu and Chinese. Mulan means "whistle deer" in Manchu. Mulan means whistle deer in Manchu. What is a whistle deer? When hunting, the Eight Banners soldiers wear stag antlers on their heads and imitate the call of a male deer in the woods to lure the female deer. This is a trap hunting method. The paddock was where the Sentinel Deer was located, where the emperor hunted. Mulan Paddock was a virgin forest and vast Mongolian grassland in the Qing Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty, the court ordered that the original forest of Mulan Paddock be cut down. By the late Qing Dynasty, all the virgin forests had been cut down. After the liberation of the country, in 1962, the state decided to build a large-scale mechanized forest farm here. After decades of hard work by forest farm workers, Mulan Paddock has now become the largest artificial forest farm in the country, and the vast forest has regained its former vitality. The vast Mongolian grasslands are full of youth and vitality. Mountain flowers all over the mountains and plains welcome tourists from all over the world with smiles. National leaders commented on this: "The hometown of clouds, the world of flowers, the ocean of forests, and the source of water." Mulan Paddock is a paradise for animals and the best location for film and television dramas.

The Mulan Paddock at that time was divided into 72 enclosures based on the terrain and the distribution of animals. At the beginning of each hunt, the encirclement minister would lead the cavalry to form an encirclement within a pre-selected range, which would gradually shrink. Qing soldiers wearing antler masks were hidden deep in the dense forest inside the circle, blowing long wooden whistles and imitating the stag's courtship sounds. The female deer heard the sound and came to find a mate, the stag came to seize the mate, and other wild animals came. Eat deer and gather together. When the encirclement could not be smaller and the wild beasts became denser, the ministers would ask the emperor to shoot first, followed by the prince and grandson, and then other princes and nobles would shoot on horseback, and finally a large-scale siege. There is one in the Chengde Summer Resort Museum. "Qianlong Mulan Autumn Picture" vividly depicts the spectacular hunting scene in the Qing Dynasty. Each hunt usually lasts for more than twenty days. After the hunt, a grand celebration and farewell banquet was held at Zhang Sanying Palace (now in Longhua County), with drinking, singing, dancing, and wrestling competitions. He also hosted banquets for Mongolian and other princes and rewarded them according to their military achievements.

Today, the paddock still retains more than a dozen cultural relics and monuments from the Qing Dynasty emperors’ hunting and northern patrol paddocks, including the Dongmiao Palace, Qianlong’s Tiger Hunting Cave and stone carvings, and the ancient Great Wall stele, as well as the Pointing Platform , Jiangjun Paozi, twelve company camps and other ancient battlefield sites. The paddock is not only a famous hunting park, but also a tourist attraction with four distinct seasons, pleasant climate and beautiful scenery. The beautiful natural scenery was praised by Vice Chairman Tian Jiyun as "the source of water, the hometown of clouds, the world of flowers, the ocean of forests, and the paradise of rare birds and animals." The Saihanba Scenic Area has more than one million acres of forest and more than one million people. Mu grassland provides tourists with a beautiful place to return to nature and travel.

In spring and summer, there are vast hectares of pine trees and cool breeze; the vast grassland is full of flowers. Visitors wander among them, feeling relaxed and happy, unaware of the heat. In the golden autumn of August, the mountains are covered with red leaves and the frosty forests are verdant, attracting countless domestic and foreign tourists and artists to come for sightseeing, photography and sketching. In winter, the forests, seas and snowfields are vast and colorful, and the snow-covered jade trees are endlessly interesting. Rich ice and snow resources provide people with ideal places for skiing and hunting.

In 1991, the Ministry of Construction designated Mulan Paddock as a national scenic spot through expert evaluation. As people's desire to return to nature increases, the number of tourists here continues to increase. By 1998, the annual number of tourists reached 450,000. At the same time, the beautiful scenery of Mulan Paddock has also attracted the attention of film and television artists, including "The Bell Princess", "Four Crosses of Chishui", "The Legend of Jianghu" (starring Zheng Shaoqiu), "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" (starring Zhang Fengyi and Gong Li), "The Return" More than 200 episodes of film and television dramas including "Zhugege" were completed here.

A Green Great Wall

Mulan Weichang Nature Reserve is located in the upper reaches of the Luanhe River, a famous river in North China. It is concentrated in the west of Weichang County, Hebei Province, with a total area of ??50,000 It is a forest ecological nature reserve that mainly protects forest ecosystems and endangered rare wild animals and plants.

The protected area is located in the transition zone between the Inner Mongolia Plateau and the Northern Hebei Mountains. From a distance, it looks like a series of dams stretching between the Northern Hebei Mountains and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. Therefore, it is also known as "On the Dam". From the "ba" root to the south, there are hilly and mountainous areas connecting the Bashang Plateau and the northern Hebei mountains. The mountains are composed of ancient granite gneiss covered with thick sand and are in a round shape. This is also the core area of ??the reserve. Due to the rich forest vegetation, the sandy soil layer has been firmly locked, preventing it from forming quicksand. The southern part of the reserve is the northern end of the northern Hebei Mountains. This area is mostly covered with high mountains, steep slopes, steep terrain, deep ravines, and lush forests, forming a unique natural landscape.

Because the vegetation in the reserve is well preserved and the forest coverage rate is high, regional microclimate characteristics are formed and precipitation is relatively abundant. The air quality in the reserve is high, the blue sky, white clouds, and green grass outline the picturesque and magnificent picture of the reserve.

The geographical location of Mulan Weichang Nature Reserve determines that this reserve must shoulder the important task of protecting the ecological security of Beijing and Tianjin as an ecological special zone. The reserve borders Hunshandake Sandy Land to the north and Chengde, the summer resort of the second political center of the Qing Dynasty to the south. It is 384 kilometers away from Beijing and 504 kilometers away from Tianjin. Its ecological strategic location is very important. Looking down from a high altitude, the vast sand dunes on the Hunshandake Sands are like yellow waves, surging and swallowing southward. Dots of S. elata are struggling helplessly in the sea of ??sand, and a few pieces of new green are like solitary leaves falling in the sea of ??sand. The southern end of the sand sea is the three major wind and sand channels connecting the wind outlet due north of Beijing: the Xiaoluan River Basin Wind Channel, the Imatu River Basin Wind Channel, and the Yisun River Basin Wind Channel. The average altitude of the southern edge of the Hunshandake Sandy Land is more than 1,400 meters, while the average altitude of the Beijing-Tianjin area is less than 50 meters. The windy sand in the Hunshandake Sandy Land is like being blown by a machine under the influence of cold high-pressure airflow from Siberia. The powerful blowers blow along three windy sand channels, pressing down on the Beijing-Tianjin area fiercely. The Mulan Weichang Nature Reserve, stuck at the entrance of the three major wind and sand passages, is like a green Great Wall, blocking the sand from the Hunshandake Sand Land from invading Beijing and curbing the southward invasion of the Hunshandake Sand Land. Standing at the commanding heights of the reserve and looking to the north, the sand dunes of the Hunshandake Sands in the distance are like huge waves set off by a tsunami. They are rolling in with force and force. They have to be defeated when they reach the feet of the loyal forest guards of the Mulan Weichang Nature Reserve. Go down and calm down. The forests, grasslands, and wetlands in Mulanweichang Nature Reserve not only block wind and sand, stabilize local quicksand, and play an important role in preventing wind and sand, but they also have the ecological function of blocking floods, storing water, and conserving water sources, becoming the Luanhe River. main water source. The rich animal and plant resources make Mulan Weichang Nature Reserve a natural biological resource, genetic resource and plant germplasm resource bank. The intact natural state of vegetation and the perfect forest ecosystem in the reserve, as a component of global biodiversity, are precious natural resources for mankind, the future heritage of mankind and the basis for sustainable development.

The dense forests and pristine ecological environment of the reserve are a paradise for various wild animals to thrive. According to surveys, there are 317 species of terrestrial wild animals and 970 species of insects in the reserve. Among them, there are 5 species of national Class I protected animals, namely black stork, golden eagle, bald crane, great bustard and golden leopard. There are 40 species of national Class II protected animals.

The grand Royal Hunting Garden

Mulan Weichang Nature Reserve has a long historical origin. Mulan means "whistle deer" in Manchu, and the paddock is the place where the sentry deer is surrounded by wicker edges or boundary posts. The history can be traced back to more than 300 years ago. At that time, Mulan Paddock had beautiful mountains and clear waters, dense forests and abundant grass, with birds singing in four seasons and the fragrance of flowers in three seasons. "The stick beats the roe deer and the gourd scoops out the fish, and the pheasant flies into the rice pot", "The mountains are high and the forests hide the birds and animals, and the wind blows the grass and the cattle and sheep appear low" are true portrayals of Mulan Paddock at that time. It is this unique human scenery and beautiful natural scenery that attracted a generation of Qing Emperor Kangxi to establish the world's first and so far the world's largest royal hunting garden here. This place was originally the territory of Mongolian Karaqin Duling King Zhaxi and Wengniute Town Duke Wu Tate. In the 20th year of Kangxi (1681), when he accompanied the holy ancestor Xuanye on a tour outside the Great Wall, he dedicated it to the park in the name of offering pasture. Emperor Kangxi set up Mulan Paddock, and this royal hunting garden of the Qing Dynasty was established. From the 20th year of Kangxi to the 46th year of Qianlong (1781), with more than a hundred years of new construction and expansion, Mulan Paddock was gradually defined into 72 enclosures.

Since its establishment, Mulan Paddock has followed the principles of maintaining natural ecology, maintaining ecological balance, and living in harmony between man and nature. This is mainly reflected in the following: First, establishing a strict protection system. After the establishment of Mulan Paddock, successive emperors from Kangxi to Jiaqing, including Emperor Yongzheng who had never been to Mulan Paddock, strictly ordered that "people are not allowed to enter indiscriminately", "wood cutting and animal husbandry", and "logging and colonization" were prohibited, and the Eight Banners soldiers were sent to strictly enforce the Mulan Paddock. Add guards; the second is to hunt in a planned way. Each autumn, only a dozen of them are selected for hunting, while the remaining many areas are used to recuperate and recuperate, allowing wild animals and plants to reproduce and recover; thirdly, they do not hunt excessively and do not hunt indiscriminately. During the Mulan Autumn Festival, the cavalry accompanying the march were strictly ordered to "release any young deer they encounter", and a gap was left when setting up a siege so that young and strong animals could escape. At the end of each siege, "the deacon asked for orders for the animals that had not been captured, allowed them to survive and multiply, and then withdrew his troops and called off the siege." These all reflect the simple and natural ecological protection awareness of the ancients, so that the forests, natural ecology, and wild animal and plant populations here are protected. In this sense, this should be the earliest and most practical nature protection area in China, which is also very rare and pioneering in the history of world nature protection.

Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty chose Mulan Paddock as the royal hunting garden for its far-reaching political purpose and strategic significance. Mulan Paddock controls Mongolia in the north and Beijing and Tianjin in the south. It is a strategic location in history. Since the establishment of Mulan Paddock in the Qing Dynasty, military exercises have been carried out here every year in the form of round-up hunting, and the national policy of "exerting martial arts and vassal supremacy" has been implemented here, thereby achieving the purpose of controlling Mongolia, frightening Tsarist Russia, strengthening national unity, and consolidating the northern border defense. At this time, Mulan Paddock has actually become the main political and military activity site of the Qing government, and an important part of the political activities of Beijing-Summer Resort.