Hemu: The autumn scenery of the gods' private land

Hemu is known as the "God's private land." Four days and three nights, between Tuvan wooden huts and birch forests, encounter China's deepest and purest autumn.

Hemu Village is home to the Tuva people, with small log-roofed cottages scattered throughout the river valley. Morning smoke rises from the rooftops, intertwining with mist, birch, and snowy mountains, making it a "fairy bay" in the hearts of photographers.

Climbing up to the Harden platform to wait for sunrise, when the first rays of light shine on the village, wooden houses are gilded, cattle and sheep roam freely, rivers babbling gently—fairy tales are nothing more than this.

Walking along the Hemu River, the banks are covered with golden birch and orange-red larch trees, the autumn colors so intense they cannot be melted away. By chance, I encountered a herder riding across a wooden bridge, and the sound of hooves startled a flock of birds.

Go to Baihaba, the "Number One Village in the Northwest" on the China-Kazakhstan border, with the snow-capped mountains of Kazakhstan across the river. It's quieter here, even the wind is a beat slower.

The autumn of the grain trees is the palette of God's overturned. When you watch the smoke rise in the morning mist, you will believe that there truly is a "God's private land" in the human world—reserved only for autumn.