Journey to the northeast

The Wooden House Village at the foot of Changbai Mountains. Photo: Courtesy of Xu Wei

Recent literature and film have renewed fascination in the desolate beauty of China's northeast

Huang Weiwen was blissfully submerged in an outdoor hot spring at the foot of snow-covered Changbai Mountains in China's northeastern Jilin Province, when she heard a sudden rustle.

From the desiccated bushes nearby, a black fox sprung out. Watching Huang with its shimmering, beady eyes, it approached. In one sudden movement, it made off with one of Huang's slippers, before disappearing in the mountains.

"We saw foxes all along the mountain ranges. They were quite adorable, and not afraid of humans at all," said Huang, a 23-year-old student who spent her New Year holidays in the Changbai Mountains. "It confirmed my belief that the Changbai Mountains is a mysterious place, full of wonders, [just as it's depicted] in The Grave Robbers' Chronicles."

The Grave Robbers' Chronicles is a best-selling Chinese novel by Xu Lei set in China's isolated northeast, about the tomb-raiding escapades of a young adventurer in pursuit of ancient treasures. The novel, along with the successes of recent Tsui Hark blockbuster The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014) and Ann Hui's critically acclaimed biopic The Golden Era (2014), has rekindled interest in the desolate beauty and hidden mysteries of the far-flung region.

Mysteries of the Changbai Mountains

The Changbai Mountains have long been known as a sanctuary for intrepid travelers keen to see its majestic peaks, but The Grave Robbers' Chronicles, currently being adapted into a television series due to air in February, has seen its popularity as a tourist destination soar.

Xu Wei, a freelance photographer and travel blogger with more than 330,000 followers on Sina Weibo, made the trek to the Changbai Mountains earlier this month. She said that The Grave Robbers' Chronicles was her favorite novel.

"Perched atop the Changbai Mountains, surrounded by snow on all sides, I suddenly felt quite scared. It's overwhelming and disorienting," said Xu Wei. "You start to think that deep in the mountains somewhere, there might really be an entrance to another world, like the Bronze Gate [in the novel]."

The Bronze Gate, in Xu Lei's novel, is the enigmatic entrance to a tomb from which no person who had entered has ever emerged again. Although a work of fiction, the sentiment it conveys of the region as a place with hidden mysteries is not entirely inaccurate.

Last January, it was reported by the Xinhua News Agency that an archaeological dig had unearthed the ruins of small city dating to a period between the end of Xixia rule (1038-1227) and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). An archaeologist in the report speculated that the city may have been the capital of the Dongxia State, a short-lived regime that might have ruled between 1215 and 1233. The Dongxia State is mentioned in The Grave Robbers' Chronicles, which was written before the archaeological discovery.

Adding to the aura of mystery in the Changbai Mountains is the existence of a small village in the ranges in which all of the buildings are constructed using only wood. Known as muwu cun, which some English publications have translated as "The Last Wooden House Village," the origins of the township are steeped in folklore and myth.

"A certain emperor in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) wanted to go on a hunting expedition in the Changbai Mountains, so a regiment of soldiers was dispatched to the region in anticipation of his arrival," said Huang, repeating a story she had heard from one of local villagers. "After waiting for a period of time, the soldiers asked their families to join them there, and built the village. They continued to wait. But the emperor never came, and the soldiers never left. This is how the village was founded."