Current Time in Baicheng, China

Baicheng lies in the far north-west of Jilin Province in north-eastern China, where the black soil of the Songnen Plain gives way to the sandy grasslands of the Horqin steppe and the border with Inner Mongolia. The name means White City, a translation of the Mongolian Chaghan Khota, and the landscape suits it: open, treeless and enormous, with wide skies, shallow lakes and reed beds, and a climate of blazing summers and long winters when temperatures fall far below freezing.

The prefecture-level city administers a large territory with a population of well over a million, of whom several hundred thousand live in the urban districts. Baicheng matters as an agricultural and energy centre. Its farms produce maize, rice, sunflowers and millet on land reclaimed from the steppe, while the constant wind that sweeps the plain has made the area one of the largest wind power bases in China, with turbines visible in every direction.

This was Mongol grazing country for centuries, part of the Khorchin banners, and permanent towns appeared only in the late Qing dynasty when the imperial government opened the frontier to Han Chinese farmers. Baicheng was formally established at the beginning of the twentieth century and grew as a railway settlement. It fell under Japanese control during the occupation of Manchuria and became an important junction of the north-eastern rail network, a role it retains today, with lines radiating towards Changchun, Qiqihar and Ulanhot.

The greatest attractions are natural. The Xianghai National Nature Reserve, recognised internationally as a biosphere reserve and wetland of importance, protects a mosaic of marshes, dunes and elm groves where red-crowned cranes breed. The Momoge reserve to the east is one of the most significant migration stopovers in Asia, and in spring and autumn tens of thousands of birds pass through, including the rare Siberian crane, drawing photographers from across the country. Chagan Lake, sand dunes and the Tao'er River add to the appeal, and horse riding and grassland tourism are promoted in the summer months.

Culture in Baicheng reflects its frontier position. Mongolian, Manchu and Han traditions overlap, and visitors encounter Mongolian wrestling and archery at local festivals alongside north-eastern Chinese opera and the comic duets known as errenzhuan. Winter brings ice fishing on the lakes, a custom that has become a tourist spectacle, and hearty stews, mutton and freshwater fish dominate the table.

Expressways and the railway connect the city to Changchun in a few hours, and Baicheng Chang'an Airport offers flights to Beijing and other major cities. Within the city, buses are the main form of transport. Baicheng Normal University and several vocational colleges educate teachers, agricultural technicians and engineers for the region.

Baicheng is not a conventional tourist city, but for travellers interested in wetlands, birdlife and the meeting of Chinese and Mongolian worlds on the northern grasslands, it offers something few other places in China can match.