The Most Beautiful Grassland in China

Vast grasslands provide peaceful places where people can escape into nature and experience a closer relationship with the natural world. In spring, when fresh grass turns the landscape bright green, these open plains become especially beautiful. China is home to many remarkable grasslands, each with its own scenery, climate, plants, wildlife, and cultural traditions. The following are some of the country's most beautiful grasslands and offer wonderful opportunities to appreciate their landscapes and unique character.

1. Hulun Buir Grassland

Hulun Buir Grassland extends from the western side of the Great Khingan Mountains in the east toward the areas near Mongolia and the Russian border in the west. Its northern section begins south of Genhe City, while its southern reaches extend toward the China-Mongolia border. The grassland stretches approximately 300 kilometers from east to west and about 200 kilometers from north to south. Its vast territory contains extensive natural pasture, with roughly 80 percent of the area covered by natural grazing land.

Hulun Buir is recognized as one of the three great grasslands in the world. Its enormous landscape is filled with beautiful scenery, including more than 3,000 rivers winding across the region and over 500 lakes scattered throughout the plains. Together, these waterways and grasslands create an impressive natural landscape.

It is also regarded as one of the best-preserved grassland regions in China today. More than 120 varieties of nutritious forage plants grow here, earning Hulun Buir the nickname “grass kingdom.” The region remains a remarkably clean and unpolluted natural environment, with its enormous expanses of thick and flourishing vegetation creating scenery that is difficult to match elsewhere. Visitors to this beautiful, fertile, and fascinating region can experience the meaning of a “blue sky and green land” and understand why it is described as a pure green paradise.

The climate is pleasant and makes Hulun Buir an attractive destination during the summer. Autumn brings another kind of beauty, particularly across the wetlands, birch forests, and Great Khingan Mountains, where changing colors create what looks like an enormous continuous oil painting. During winter, the region becomes a snowy northern landscape and offers opportunities for activities such as skiing and hunting.

2. Ili Grassland

The Ili Grasslands of Xinjiang are considered one of the most beautiful grassland regions in the country and are also counted among China's six most beautiful grasslands. Like other grasslands in Xinjiang, Ili stands in striking contrast not only to the surrounding deserts but also to the nearby snow-covered mountains. The combination of these different landscapes creates a rich and varied form of natural beauty.

Ili is surrounded by mountains on its eastern, northern, and southern sides, while its western side opens outward in a trumpet-like shape. It is one of the wettest parts of Xinjiang, receiving an average annual rainfall more than twice the regional average. This makes Ili a genuine “wet island” surrounded by the dry desert environment of Central Asia and helps support the development of a complete range of vertical ecological zones across the grasslands.

The Ili Grasslands include Nalati Grassland, Tangbula Grassland, and Gongnaisi Grassland. Whether visiting the famous Nalati, the increasingly popular Tangbula, the traditional Gongnaisi, or Zhaosu Grassland, travelers can discover distinctive landscapes and an exceptional sense of vitality throughout the Ili River Valley.

Nalati Grassland lies in eastern Xinyuan County of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The name Nalati means “the place to see the sun first.”

Tangbula Grassland refers collectively to the grassland scenery in Nilka County's Kashgar River Canyon. It takes its name from the Tangbula Grand Canyon, an area where forests, grasslands, rapids, and rock formations combine to create a distinctive natural landscape. On the eastern side of the valley, enormous rocky ridges resemble an imperial seal, which is the origin of the name Tangbula, meaning “seal” in Kazakh. Its cool and comfortable temperatures have also made it a well-known summer retreat.

In the eastern section of the Ili River Valley lies Gongnaisi Grassland, one of the world's four major valley grasslands.

3. Xilingol Grassland

Xilingol Grassland, whose name means “rivers on the highlands,” is situated around Xilinhot City in central Inner Mongolia. Covering more than 10,786 square kilometers, it is regarded as one of China's most representative temperate grassland regions.

The landscape contains marshes, grasslands, sand dunes, and wetlands, and more than 1,200 plant species grow throughout the area. Xilingol is internationally recognized as one of the world's famous prairies and is one of China's four major grasslands. It also forms an important part of the natural grassland system of Inner Mongolia.

On October 23, 2005, a list of China's most beautiful destinations was announced in Beijing, and Xilingol Grassland was selected as one of China's six most beautiful grasslands.

Xilingol represents one of the country's characteristic warm-temperate bunchgrass and rhizomatous grassland ecosystems. It is also a well-preserved example of the Eurasian grassland system in the eastern Asian region. The protected area contains distinctive ecological environments and grassland communities, allowing it to clearly demonstrate the structure and ecological processes characteristic of the Inner Mongolian plateau grassland ecosystem.

4. Highland Grassland in Western Sichuan

The highland grasslands of western Sichuan were selected by Chinese National Geography magazine as one of China's six most beautiful grasslands. The region includes areas west of Ya'an and parts of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Since ancient times, this area has served as an important migration corridor and a significant trading and cultural exchange route connecting Han, Tibetan, and Yi communities. It is also considered a central region on the route toward Shangri-La. The book Shangri-La Journey, published in 2002, described Kangding as the gateway to Shangri-La, suggesting that once travelers reach Kangding, the legendary destination is no longer far away.

The western Sichuan highlands feature imposing mountains and flowing rivers. The headwaters of the Yangtze River and many of its major tributaries have supported ancient and mysterious civilizations in this region. The Dadu River, Yalong River, and Jinsha River flow from north to south through landscapes of snow-covered mountains and grasslands.

From the mountain ranges toward the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, this north-south region is generally known geographically as the Hengduan Mountainous Region. Its distinctive scenery is shaped by both geography and climate. The highlands experience complex plateau weather, where different seasons can appear across different elevations and dramatic changes in weather can occur within a single day.

5. Nagqu Grassland

Nagqu Grassland is located in Nagqu and is one of the tourist regions of Tibet that is open to international visitors. Every August, which corresponds to June in the Tibetan calendar, the northern Tibetan grasslands enter one of their most important periods of the year. This is when the famous horse racing festival is held, bringing together local nomadic communities and visitors from different places.

During the festival season, travelers can enjoy the scenery of the northern Tibetan grasslands, experience the festive atmosphere and local ethnic traditions, and visit the famous Xiaodeng Monastery in northern Tibet.

The Nagqu region contains the immense Qiangtang Grassland as well as the mysterious northern no-man's-land. Its seemingly endless open spaces and wildlife, including wild yaks, Tibetan antelopes, and wild asses, add to the distinctive character of this remarkable landscape.

Nagqu means “Black River” in Tibetan. The wider region extends across the Tangula Mountains, Nyaingentanglha Range, and Transhimalaya. It covers more than 40 square kilometers of land within the area commonly known as Qiangtang. The terrain generally slopes from higher elevations in the west toward lower and flatter areas in the east, while the average elevation exceeds 4,500 meters.

Fed by the Black River, Nagqu Grassland provides an important habitat for numerous plants and animals. Yaks and sheep can be seen throughout the enormous grasslands. The local vegetation consists of short grasses that have an especially high protein content compared with many other types of grass.

Nomadic camps are scattered across the grasslands. In addition to traditional yak-hair camps, visitors can see nylon tents in different shapes and sizes, decorated in colors such as red, blue, yellow, green, and white. Multicolored flags flutter from the tops of many camps in the breeze, adding another vivid element to the landscape.

6. Qilian Mountain Grassland

Qilian Mountain Nature Reserve extends across Wuwei, Zhangye, and part of Jinchang. The reserve stretches for more than 1,200 kilometers from east to west and is approximately 120 kilometers wide from north to south, covering a total area of about 2,653,000 hectares.

Its principal conservation objectives include the water-conservation forests of the Qilian Mountains, grassland vegetation, and the Qilian Mountain Grassland ecosystem. Forests cover approximately 111,000 hectares. Although the overall forest coverage is relatively low, these forests are exceptionally important in the arid environment.

The presence of Qilian Mountain forests allows melting snow and rainfall to be stored and gradually released into rivers. In this way, the forests help regulate runoff, reduce the effects of sudden floods, and maintain a relatively stable supply of water throughout the year.

The primeval forests of the Qilian Mountains are particularly impressive. Once summer arrives, the valleys and hills become covered in a vast expanse of green. The ancient forest region covers around 157,000 hectares and contains more than 200 cubic meters of forest resources, making it one of the largest forest areas in Qinghai Province.

The vegetation includes spruce, Sabina chinensis, poplar, whip hemp, blackthorn, mountain willow, and various shrubs. The dense forests also support a rich ecosystem where herds of animals can be seen moving through the landscape or grazing peacefully.

The Qilian Mountain range generally reaches elevations between 4,000 and 5,000 meters above sea level. Snow-covered peaks and glaciers form a spectacular high-altitude landscape. Areas above 4,000 meters are generally known as the snow line, and the region above this boundary displays remarkable biological adaptations.

In the shallow layers around the snow-covered mountains, visitors can find alpine meadow plants and valuable medicinal species such as Saussurea involucrata, as well as snow mountain grass growing among wind-eroded rocks. Saussurea involucrata, silkworm, and snow mountain grass are collectively known as the “three hardy winter plants” found around the Qilian Mountain snow line.

The Qilian Mountain Grassland, including the representative Damaying Grassland, lies in the basin between Yanzhi Mountain and the Qilian Mountains. Every July and August, snow still covers parts of the Qilian Mountains, while the surrounding grasslands become filled with horses, cattle, and sheep grazing across the green landscape.

Exploring China's Grasslands

These are among the most beautiful grassland regions in China, each offering its own combination of scenery, wildlife, culture, and outdoor experiences. Many domestic travelers visit these open landscapes to photograph the scenery, ride horses, experience traditional grassland life, and discover the distinctive culture and traditions of Mongolian communities.