Qing'an (pronounced CHING-AN) is a county located within the prefecture level city of Suihua in Heilongjiang Province, China. By train, it's about two hours northeast of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province's capital where I live. (Chinese geography can be a bit strange with counties located within cities instead of the other way around.) There really isn't much to see and do in Qing'an. In fact, Tripadvisor.com (for which I often write reviews of various places) doesn't even have Qing'an listed. Yet, Qing'an does have a certain charm that makes it worth a short trip.
My hotel, despite the name on the sign, was not a Marriott Hotel. It was, instead, Wanhao Hotel located at one end of Wanhao Hutong (a hutong in China is much like an alley in older American cities like my home city of Buffalo, New York; read more about hutongs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong). At the far end of this hutong is an entrance to a walking street with shops both above and below ground.
Farmers in the countryside surrounding Qing'an County often go into the county to shop or to sell some of their crops - for example, at the West Market.
But people are often attracted to the county's park, called The People's Park.
Besides the beauty of the lush trees and the walking paths and bridges, as well as the numerous places from which to take pictures, the park also has an ostrich enclosure where you can see ostriches up close.
The park is also a popular place for the locals to walk at night.
Heilongjiang Province is part of a region called Dongbei (literally "eastnorth"), a designation for the northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning, as well as the easternmost part of Inner Mongolia. One of the things that was interesting to see when I was in Qing'an was a traditional dance native to the region.
The county is small enough to where you could walk (if you're someone who enjoys walking, as I do) from one end to the other. There is a mix of old and new - old village houses and streets and modern high-rise apartments and other buildings. The contrast adds to the county's charm
Qing'an County makes for a nice little trip if you live in and around Harbin or even if you want something else to do while visiting Harbin (the county is about two hours northeast of Harbin by train).
Comments