Mohe () is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

Daxing'anling Prefecture Daxing'anling (), also known as Da Hinggan Ling, is the northernmost Chinese prefecture-level division, located in northwestern Heilongjiang Province. It covers and had a population of 520,000, as of 2004. It is named after the Greater Khinga ...

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

province. It is the northernmost city in China. As of the

2020 Chinese Census The Seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), also referred to as the 2020 Chinese Census, was the seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, national census conducted by the National Bure ...

, it has a population of 54,036.

Administrative divisions

Mohe City is divided into 6

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Geography

Mohe is located in the far northwest of Heilongjiang at latitude 52° 10'−53° 33' N and 121° 07'−124° 20' E. It forms a border with Russia's

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

and

Zabaykalsky Krai Zabaykalsky Krai is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the Russian Far East. Its administrative center is Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, Chita. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, the population was ...

, where the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

flows for . A village, the northernmost Chinese settlement, at the latitude of 53° 29' N and known as the Beiji Village (, literally "North Pole Village" or "Northernmost Village"), lies in this city, on the

. On extremely rare occasions, the

aurora borealis An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

can be seen. Mohe spans from north to south and has a total area of , occupying 21.6% of the prefecture's (Daxing'anling) area and 3.9% of the provincial (Heilongjiang) area. This creates a population density of only 4.64 persons/km² (12.0 persons/sqmi).

Maps

Climate

Mohe, by virtue of its far northern location and proximity to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, is one of the few locations in China with a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dwc'', Trewartha ''Ecbd''), closely bordering on extreme humid continental, with long, dry, severe winters, and short, warm, wet summers. Winter begins in early to mid-October and lasts until late April or early May, and temperatures then are normally the coldest nationwide. Average temperatures stay below freezing for a total of nearly seven months of the year, and the frost-free period is just short of 90 days; in addition, the

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

is large, averaging annually. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, with an annual mean of , so that the city is only a little south of the line of continuous

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

. Extreme temperatures have ranged from to . The record low temperature of , registered on 22 January 2023, was also the lowest temperature recorded in China. December and January have never recorded an above-freezing temperature, and all 12 months have had sub-freezing temperatures at some point.

Demographics

As of the

, Mohe has a population of 54,036. Per the census, members of 18 different

ethnic groups An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...

live in Mohe, including the Han, the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...

, the Sibe, the Oroqen,

Evenks The Evenki, also known as the Evenks and formerly as the Tungus, are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Evenki are recognised as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, indigenous peoples of the Russi ...

, and

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

Transportation

Mohe railway station, opened in 1972, is the northernmost railway station in China. It has regular passenger service to

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

Qiqihar Qiqihar (also spelled Tsitsihar) is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, w ...

, and

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

Mohe Gulian Airport Mohe Gulian Airport is an airport serving Mohe County in Heilongjiang Province, China. It is the northernmost airport in China and the first Chinese airport built on permafrost. Construction started in June 2006 with a total investment of 2 ...

, opened in 2008, is the nation's northernmost airport and the first Chinese airport built on

Notable people

* Chi Zijian

In popular culture

* Mohe is the destination of both the main character and his fictional hero in Xiaolu Guo's film '' How Is Your Fish Today?'' (''Jin tian de yu zen me yang?'') (2006). * Mohe Dance Hall 漠河舞厅 was destroyed by a major forest-fire on 6 May 1987 which killed 211 people and injured another 266 people. The dance hall was subsequently rebuilt, and is immortalised in the popular song
Mohe Dance Hall
', written and sung by Liu Shuang 柳爽, which was a viral hit in 2020, with over 2.3 billion views. It tells the story of a widower dancing alone after losing his wife in the fire. Liu dedicates the song to Zhang Dequan, whom he met when Zhang was dancing alone in the Mohe Dance Hall in 2019."Song tells heartbreaking story from devastating blaze" by Chen Nan and Zhou Huiying, ''China Daily Global'', 6 Dec2021. Retrieved 21 May 2025.

Sources

External links

Mohe People's Government website
{{authority control County level divisions of Heilongjiang