7 Days in Baicheng

Settle in, then the suburban resort whose Mongolian name Chaganhaote means white city and gave Baicheng its name — grassland, yurts and the Qing-era twin stupas before dinner back downtown.

1. baicheng chaganhaote resort

Run southwest into Tongyu County and out to the reserve for the evening flight of cranes over the reeds; spend the night at Xianghai so tomorrow starts at dawn.

1. baicheng xianghai nature reserve

Dawn is when the cranes lift off the marshes — then the visitor center exhibits, the drive back through Tongyu town for its calligraphy stele garden, and Baicheng by night.

1. baicheng xianghai nature reserve
2. baicheng tongyu mobao garden

East to Da'an on the Nenjiang for the riverside wetland park, then the fields where Liao emperors held their spring camps — a nationally protected archaeological site still being excavated.

1. baicheng nenjiang bay wetland park
2. baicheng liao chunnabo sites

North into Zhenlai County for the reed marshes where most of the world's Siberian cranes rest on migration; take the boardwalks slowly and stay for the late light over the water.

1. baicheng momoge nature reserve

A short hop to Taonan for the Qing-era Tian'en Diju office that once administered Mongolian banner affairs, and the Republican-era mansion of warlord general Wu Junsheng.

1. baicheng tianen diju
2. baicheng wujunsheng mansion

A slow last morning with the city museum's Liao and Jin finds, a market lunch, then the fast train from Baicheng toward Changchun or Ulanhot.

1. baicheng city museum
2. baicheng city markets