Khu săn bắn Mộc Lan

Mulan Paddock is a storied stretch of grassland and forest in the north of the Chengde region, famous as the imperial hunting ground where the Qing emperors, beginning with Kangxi, held their great autumn hunts. For more than a century it was one of the most important ritual arenas of the dynasty, a place where the court reaffirmed its Manchu martial traditions and met the Mongol princes whose loyalty underpinned the empire's hold on the frontier. For travelers drawn to the romance of the steppe and the history of the Qing, the name still carries real weight.

The landscape here is a mix of open grassland, rolling hills, patches of forest, and quiet wetlands, with a sense of space and sky that feels a world away from the cities. Today the area is known less for its single sights than for its overall atmosphere: long drives through open country, horseback rides across the meadows, sunset views from the ridges, and the cool, clean air of the high plateau. The season changes the character completely, from lush green in summer to gold in autumn and deep snow in winter.

Most visitors come by car and base themselves in one of the surrounding townships or guesthouse clusters, since the sights are spread across a large area and there is no single entrance or ticket that covers everything. Summer and early autumn are the best times, when the grass is high and the weather is comfortable; autumn in particular draws photographers for the famous golden light on the rolling hills. Bring layers for the cold nights, and plan to drive slowly and stop often, as the pleasure of Mulan is in the landscape itself rather than in rushing between named points.

Mulan Paddock sits at the heart of the wider Bashang and Saihanba region and is often combined with nearby forest parks, wetlands, and grassland resorts into a two- or three-day loop. For travelers with the time to venture beyond Chengde city itself, it offers the most evocative glimpse of the northern frontier that the Qing emperors came here to command.