Greater Khingan Explained

Greater Khingan Range
Map:China
Location:Located in Northeast China
Elevation M:2035
Coordinates:49.3824°N 123.1567°W
Type:Tilted block faulting

The Greater Khingan Range or Da Hinggan Range (; IPA:), is a 1200adj=onNaNadj=on-long volcanic mountain range in the Inner Mongolia region of Northeast China.[1] It was originally called the Xianbei Mountains, which later became the name of the northern branch of the Donghu, the Xianbei.[2] [3] [4]

Geography

The range extends 1200km (700miles) from north to south. It is the watershed between the Nen and Songhua river systems to the east, and the Amur and its tributaries to the northwest.[5]

Population

Its slopes are a relatively rich grazing area. The Khitan people lived on the eastern slopes before establishing the Liao Dynasty in the tenth century. Oroqen, a Tungusic people, live along the Greater and Lesser Khingan range in northeastern China and belong to the oldest autochthonous populations of the region. On the western slopes lived the nomadic people, who raised sheep and camels and used the Mongolian plateau for their pastoralist economy.[6]

In fiction

The Greater Khingan Range is a key setting in the science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem (novel) by Chinese author Liu Cixin.

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: The Greater Khingan range in winter. 28 December 2015. China Daily. 30 December 2015.
  2. Hou Hanshu vol. 90 "鮮卑者,亦東胡之支也,別依鮮卑山,故因號焉" "the Xianbei people branched off from the so-called 'Eastern Hu' and came to settle around Mt. Xianbei after which name they were designated" translated by Toh (2005)
  3. Weishu vol. 1
  4. PhD. Tseng. Chin Yin. The Making of the Tuoba Northern Wei: Constructing Material Cultural Expressions in the Northern Wei Pingcheng Period (398–494 CE). 2012. University of Oxford. 1.
  5. Web site: Da Hinggan Range . . 17 September 2020.
  6. Book: Mote, F.W. . 1999 . . Harvard University Press. 32s . 0-674-01212-7.