Standing on the vast Hulun Buir Grassland, you may feel Somewhat puzzled at its boundlessness.The brocade-like clouds look so near-as if they were just a stone's throw away,giving you the impulse to catch them.Eagerly you jump up,and start to Fun.But you soon find that they are retreating at the same speed at which you are running toward them.A little disappointed,you stop and look around. Alas. in all directions you see the horizon in the distance. At that moment, you'll feel that, except for the sky and the earth. you are the only being in this borderless universe, and you can gallop freely like a horse without a bridle and grow vigorously like a tree.

Besides changing patterns of cloud clusters high above, this fertile land is also adorned with hundreds of silver chains and numerous pearls:The rivers and lakes originating from the Greater Xing'an Mountains that range across eastern Inner Mongolia and northern Heilongjiang. Rivers in Hulun Buir share one feature: they all dash down the mountains,but when they get to the flat terrain,they become mild and take their time meandering through the meadows.

The Mergel Gol River in Chen Barag Banner is said to have "the most bends on earth." but the Yimin River, which runs from Ewenki Banner into the city of Hailar,has even more bends. Looking down from an airplane, you'll see that the upper reaches of the Yimin River form a pattern of tortuous ribbons.The fiat terrain enables the rivers to linger on as long as they wish, nurturing the land on both banks and supporting the numerous flocks and herds of Hulun Buir.

The Hulun Nur ("nur" means "lake" in Mongolian). on the Orxon Gol River,is the fifth-largest freshwater lake in China. Covering 2.339 square kilometers,the lake is also referred to by the Mongols as a "dalai fsea". Also on the Orxon Gol River but upstream in the south is Buir Nur, the boundary lake between China and Mongolia. When spring comes, shoals of fish in the Buir Nur will swim downstream along the Orxon Gol River to lay their eggs in the Hulun Nur.

Between the two lakes is the Dalai Lake Nature Reserve.The abundant food and high reeds here have made the large marshes an ideal habitat for birds and an important stopping-off place on their migration route.

In spring,thousands of white swans hover in the sky here;in summer, flocks of cranes,egrets and storks gather;and in autumn,wild geese fly over in tight formations to their havens in the south.

The Ergun River in Chen Barag Banner flows north,forming part of the boundary between China and Russia.On the way,the 700-kilometer-long watercourse is joined by other smaller ones flowing across the Hulun Buir Grassland,and plunges through deep valleys and past precipitous cliffs in the Greater Xing'an Mountains, before joining the Heilong River and emptying into the sea.Rich water resources have brought vitality and vigor to Hulun Buir,and more than 600 kinds of high grassland plants,including aneurolepidium chinense, stipa baicalensis, stipa capillata and filifolium sibiricum,make it one of the richest grasslands in the world. "The sky is blue,the land is vast,the cattle stand out when the grass bends in the wind"--this depiction of the prairie in an ancient folk song is still alive in Hulun Buir today.

Summer is the most spectacular season on the grassland:Green waves of grass wave in the wind,larks sing by the waters,and blue butterflies dance on the petals of the flowers,forming a peaceful and harmonious scene in which horses and sheep graze serenely.

The birds fly over,leaving no trace of their passage in the sky;the grass thrives and withers every year,leaving no trace of change on the prairie. However,the legends about the prairie are alive in the memories of the local people. Hulun Buir, the cradle of the Mongols,was also a realm of the Xianbei people in the 4th-6th centuries. Ancient spearheads and the rains of the fief of one brother of Genghis Khan,who founded the Yuan empire in the l3th century,all tell stories of war.

Today,also living on the grassland are the descendents of the Daur and Ewenki peoples,who used to hunt in the nearby forests,and Russian-Chinese families.The traditional ceremony of building aobao(cairns)and the Nadam fair held in Xin Barag Left Banner and Xin Barag Right Banner,and the summer carnival and winter Nadam fair held in the Ewenki Autonomous Banner are all grand events on the grassland. Wrestling matches,sled,horse and camel races,and dairy and lamb delicacies will feast both the eyes and stomachs of everybody. Hulun Buir offers charming attractions all year round.