Atlas of China
Alxa 阿拉善Ālāshàn
Towering dunes, a poplar oasis and the ruined Black City
- Type
- League
- Region
- Inner Mongolia
- Seat
- Bayanhot
- Featured places
- 2
- Listed sites
- 1311 rated 4A · 4 national heritage
About Alxa
Alxa is Inner Mongolia's western desert league, home to the Badain Jaran Desert, where some of the tallest stationary dunes on Earth rise above more than a hundred spring-fed lakes, and to the Tengger Desert's lake resorts near Bayanhot. In Ejin Banner the Ejin River feeds a desert poplar forest and Juyan Lake, and the Western Xia city of Khara-Khoto, the 'Black City', stands in the Gobi. At Bayanhot, the walled Qing garrison town of Dingyuanying was the seat of the Alxa Mongol prince.
What to eat in Alxa
- Alxa roast whole lamb (阿拉善烤全羊)
Featured places in Alxa
-
Badain Jaran Desert 巴丹吉林沙漠
Some of Earth's tallest dunes, with lakes tucked into the hollows between them
-
Ejin Poplar Forest 额济纳胡杨林
Golden Euphrates poplars along a Gobi river, at their best for three weeks in October
Listed sites in Alxa
13 sites in Alxa are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Ancient Juyan Marsh 古居延泽 4A scenic area · on the map
Ancient Juyan Marsh is a scatter of small lakes among dunes and red-grass flats in Ejin Banner, in the old Juyan area. - Ceke Port International Cultural Tourism Area 策克口岸国际文化旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
Ceke is a road and rail land port of entry (kou'an) in the Gobi of Ejin Banner, used mainly for coal imports. - Dingyuanying Old Town 定远营古城 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
Dingyuanying, also called Wohu Cheng, is a walled Qing-dynasty garrison town in the old centre of Bayanhot, founded in 1730 and handed to the Alxa Mongol prince as his seat the following year. - Dongfeng Space City 东风航天城 4A scenic area · on the map
Dongfeng Space City is the tourism name for the area around the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Ejin Banner, the launch site for China's crewed Shenzhou spacecraft. - Fuyin Temple (Beisi) 福因寺 4A scenic area · on the map
Fuyin Temple, known as Beisi (North Temple), is a Gelug-school Tibetan Buddhist monastery in a mountain valley of the Helan range, founded in 1804 and named by the Jiaqing Emperor in 1806. - Guangzong Temple (Nansi) 广宗寺 4A scenic area · on the map
Guangzong Temple, known as Nansi (South Temple), is a Gelug-school Tibetan Buddhist monastery in a pine-wooded valley on the western side of the Helan Mountains, built in the 1750s–1760s and named by the Qianlong Emperor in 1760. - Juyan Lake 居延海 4A scenic area · on the map
Juyan Lake is the end of the Heihe, or Ejin, River, which runs more than 800 km through Qinghai, Gansu and Inner Mongolia before filling two hollows in the Gobi to form an east and a west lake, together called Juyan Hai. - Khara-Khoto (Heicheng) 黑城遗址 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Khara-Khoto, or Heicheng ('Black City'), is a ruined walled city in the Gobi beside the Ejin River, founded under the Western Xia and expanded under the Yuan, when it was the seat of Yijinai Circuit; it was abandoned after the Ming army took it in 1372.
On the map
Open Alxa on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Alxa on the map