City guide · 漠河 Mohe
Mohe
China's northernmost border town, the pole point of aurora, boundary river and the Greater Khingan forests
Mohe City is the northernmost county-level city on China's map, under the Greater Khingan Prefecture of Heilongjiang Province, facing Russia across the Heilongjiang (Amur) River to the north. Its annual average temperature is around −5 °C, extreme lows can reach about −50 °C, and winter lasts seven months. The first morning light at the source of the Heilongjiang, the rumours of aurora around the summer solstice, and the check-in coordinates of the northernmost post office and the northernmost sentry post make up Mohe's travel imagination. Primeval forest, boundary river and the character of a Sino-Russian border town coexist, and the folkways of the Oroqen people and the descendants of Russian settlers are the human warmth beneath this far-northern town.
History
How the city came to be
Mohe lies at the northern foot of the Greater Khingan Range, on the south bank of the upper Heilongjiang; in ancient times it was hunting ground of northern peoples such as the Suolun and Oroqen. In the Guangxu years of the Qing, the discovery of the Mohe gold mines led to the Mohe gold-tax office and the beginnings of a Mohe county administration; the mining of the Laogou gold mine drew large numbers of migrants from inside the passes, and the place was known as "Rouge Ditch". In 1908 the Qing government formally established the Mohe Subprefecture. In 1981 the State Council approved the establishment of Mohe County (today's Mohe City; it became a county-level city in 2018), administered by the Greater Khingan Prefecture of Heilongjiang. In 1987 the "May 6" catastrophic forest fire in the Greater Khingan Range first broke out within Mohe (at Gulian Forest Farm), shaking the whole country; from then on forest fire prevention became the city's top priority. Beiji Village ("Arctic Village") rose to fame in the tourism market as China's northernmost geographical coordinate.
- Qing, Guangxu eraMining began at the Mohe Laogou gold mine; Rouge Ditch became famous, and the administration took embryonic shape
- 1908The Qing established the Mohe Subprefecture, under the Aihui deputy commander-in-chief
- 1914Mohe was changed to an administrative bureau, later evolving through county grades
- 1981The State Council approved the establishment of Mohe County (under the Greater Khingan Prefecture)
- 1987On 6 May the catastrophic Greater Khingan forest fire broke out within Mohe
- 2008Mohe Gulian Airport opened to traffic
- 2018Mohe was converted from a county into a county-level city
- Around the summer solsticeThe Beiji Village aurora festival and boundary-river tourism gradually became branded festivals (for specific years, refer to official announcements)
Stories
Stories of the city
'Mohe Ballroom'
History · Arctic Village, Mohe
On 6 May 1987 a huge forest fire broke out in the Greater Khingan Range, and the Mohe dance hall was destroyed, with 211 people killed and 266 injured. Years later a song called 'Mohe Ballroom', about an old man who lost his wife in the fire and dances alone in the hall, made many more people remember the disaster.
