Dangnai Wetland Scenic Area

Dangnai Wetland is located in Yantongtun Town, Durbot Mongolian Autonomous County, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, right in the hinterland of Zhalong National Nature Reserve. Covering a total area of 570,000 mu, it has been verified as one of only two well-preserved primitive wetlands known in Asia to date. The wetland retains its intact primeval landscape, dotted with lakes of varying sizes and home to diverse species of organisms. More than 200 kinds of rare birds inhabit here, including red-crowned cranes, wild geese and wild ducks.

Thanks to the flat low-lying terrain, the Wuyuer River and Shuangyang River originating from the Lesser Khingan Range slow down and form numerous lakes here, evolving into an extensive wetland spanning over 30,000 hectares. The semi-humid and semi-arid environment formed by the interlaced aquatic ecosystems around the wetland is most vividly represented by vast grasslands and reed marshes, with tens of thousands of hectares of reed beds. It constitutes a highly distinctive tourist resource in western Heilongjiang Province.

The planning of Dangnai Human Settlement Ecological Village adheres to the principles of preserving the wetland’s original features and shifting from passive conservation to proactive developmental protection. The village is built to serve as the core wetland tourism zone of Daqing, a model scenic spot showcasing harmonious human-wetland relations in China, and an important base for wetland scientific research and popular science education. Local villagers are simple and honest, with traditional rustic dwellings. Dangnai’s cuisine features authentic farm-style dishes, including wild aquatic products naturally grown in local waters such as loaches, sleeper perch, crucian carp, minnow, phoxinus lagowskii, yellow catfish, and rare diving beetles. There are also home-dried eggplants, kidney beans, Chinese cabbages and other preserved vegetables. Staple foods include corn flatbread, crushed corn porridge and millet rice.

The municipal government of Daqing and the Party committee and government of Durbot County have attached great importance to the development of the scenic area this year. Following the guideline of "planning, construction and standardization carried out simultaneously", they have integrated tourism resources, increased investment and boosted comprehensive construction focusing on infrastructure. Over 4 million yuan has been raised from multiple sources to complete a series of projects, including the scenic area gate, parking lot, fishing pond, docks, Red-Crowned Crane Lodge, a 10,000-square-meter bird sanctuary, a 1,000-meter reed wetland corridor, a 100-meter tourist souvenir shopping corridor and a bird performance zone. More than 60 bamboo rafts from Wuyi Mountain have been introduced to launch a full range of tourism activities: poling rafts through reed marshes, lake fishing, crane watching in the bird sanctuary, lotus viewing along the corridor, casual shopping and tasting authentic farm food.

The scenic area receives more than 30,000 domestic and overseas tourists every year, and tourism has become a pillar industry driving income growth for local farmers.