Heishui County

Heishui County is a county under the administration of the Aba (Ngawa Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.The county has an area of 4,356 square kilometers.It has jurisdiction over 3 towns and 14 townships. As of 2016, the county has a population of 61,744.

It is named after the Heishui River in its territory. “Heishui” means the black water. In Tibetan, Heishui is called as “Tsochu”, “Tso” means “Pig Iron”, and “Chu” means “Water”. Because the river runs through the whole territory, and its color looks black hence it is called as “Heishui”. Heishui River is a tributary of the upper Minjiang River.

Heishui is located in the middle of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture on the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, connected to Songpan(松潘) in the north, adjacent to Hongyuan(红原) and Maoxian (茂县) in the east and west, neighboring Lixian (理县) and Barkham (马尔康) in the south and southwest. It is 310 kilometers from the provincial capital Chengdu, and 176 kilometers from Barkham – the capital town of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. It is about 85 kilometers from east to west and 72.5 kilometers from north to south. It is inclined from northwest to southeast, with an average elevation of 3,544 meters, a highest altitude is of 5,286 meters, and the lowest altitude is of 1,790 meters. The capital of this county is Luhua township which is 2,350 meters above sea level.

The natural scenery is magnificent in Heishui county. There are mainly San Ao Snow Mountain (三奥雪山), Karst landscape, the world’s lowest altitude in the same latitude, the largest area, the youngest Dagu Glacier (达古冰川),Naizigou valley (奶子沟) color forest, Seergu（色尔古）ancient Tibetan villages and Yakexia(雅克夏) National Forest.

Heishui county is a monsoon climate with high prototypical climate, with an average annual temperature difference between the peaks and valleys of 20°C. The average temperature is 9°C of Luhua town. The annual highest temperature is 33.5°C, and the lowest temperature is -14.4°C. It rains mainly in summer time.

View spots

Kalonggou valley (卡龙沟) Kalonggou valley in Tibetan “Karolo”, it means “the sea of flower.” Located in the Kalonggou valley (卡龙沟) Senic Area in Maizha village, which is some 70 kilometers northeast of the Luhua townshi. It has a total area of 403 square kilometers.The travertine waterfall, hot spring water-flowing, stalactite are splendid and varied. The dense virgin forest and canyons in autumn are colorful and constitute 20 kilometers long color-forest landscape. The Yulong Waterfall, which is with height of more than 250 meters, is majestic and constitutes a travertine landscape of 33 square kilometers. Kalonggou valley is consists of Changlonggou (长龙沟), Shilili Color-Forest (四十里彩林), Hot-water ditch(热水沟), Dagu Snow Mountains

Dagu Glacier (达古冰川) Dagu Glacier is located on the Dagu Snow Mountain in Sandagu Village (三达古村),some 30 kilometers from Luhua township. It is with elevation from 3800 to 5100 meters. The whole scenic area is 119 square kilometers. The peak of the Dagu Snow Mountain is covered with snow all year round. Modern mountain glaciers with a thickness of 60-200 meters are developed on the northern and southern slopes of the snow-capped mountains. Among those, there are three parts of glaciers, which the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 glaciers, have an area of about 8.25 square kilometers.

Sanao Snow Mountain （三奥雪山） The main peak is of 5285 meters above sea level, 16 kilometers away from the town of Luhua in Heishui County. Sanao Snow Mountain is also known locally as Holy Mount, and being consisted of three independent snow-capped mountains. All of those are pyramid-shape like peaks and are all next to each other forming up a “triangle” shape. The main peak Aotaiji (奥太基) in Tibetan means the father of the mountains, with altitude of 5286 meters. Aotaimei peak 奥太美 in Tibetan means the mather of the mountains, with altitude of 5257 meters; Aotaina Peak (奥太娜) in Tibetan means the son of the mountains, with altitude of 5200 meters. “Sanao” means Three Ao, it meant the three mountains with initial word of “Ao “, those are also called “Ao Tai Snow mountain (奥太雪山)”

Local Flavor food and products

Fermented vegetables (酸菜) It is the most commonly used dish in Heishui county. It has a good acidity and can be eaten as it is. It is more often to be used for cooking cornmeal soup and wheat flour. taste slightly acidic

Butter Tea (酥油茶) First, making the boiled tea, then put it in the wood-made barrel, and then put yak butter, salt, milk; and continuously stirred in the barrel, so that all the ingredients are fully mixing with each other, then after put into a pot and placed on the pot to Keep warm on fire and drink at any time.

Corn MoMo (玉米馍馍) The corn MoMo is like a bread being made of cornmeal. It is to put the MoMo into the fire pits, buried in fire ash, slowly baked, turn up and down several times until cooked.

Recommended hotels

How to get Heishui County

The closest airport to Heishi county is Hongyuan airport, which approximately 150 kilometers Northeast, it is convenient to take flight to this airport and switch to local vehicle get to Heishui county;

Optional, the overland journey is one great option for enjoying the unforgettable nature view along the drive

Distance from Heishui County to

• To Chengdu : 310 kilometers, about 5 hours’ drive
• To Langmu Si: 350 kilometers, about 8 hours’ drive
• To Barkham: 176 kilometers, about 4 hours’ drive
• To Huanglong: 260 kilometers, about 5.5 hours’ drive
• To Jiuzhaigou Valley : 350 kilometers, about 7 hours’ drive
• To Aba County : 210 kilometers, about 5 hours’ drive
• To Hongyuan Airport : 150 kilometers, about 4 hours’ drive