The Greater HInggan MOuntains,

also called west Hinggan Mountains, are the country's leading natural force area. Situated in northeast Inner Mongolia, the Greater Hinggan range is an important natural geographical dividing line between the Eastern coast and the northwestern inland regions. A watershed of the Inner Mongolia Plateau and the Songliao Plain, the Greater Hinggan range - 200-300 kilometeres wide - starts from the banks of the Heilng River in the south to the upper reaches of the Xilamulun River in the south, running 1200 kilometres in a northeast-southwest direction. The Greater Hinggan range is not is not high- 1500 metres above sea level - with its main peak, Mount Huanggangliang, reaching an elevation of 2029 metres. The mountain tops are round and the Eastern slopes steeper then the Western ones. though not so much a windbreak as the Qinling range in central China, it still influences the climate in the area since the summer monsoons blown over long distances from the southeastern coast are blocked by the mountains here from penetrating farther into the northwest. The Western section of the range, therefore, is dry, while its eastern section is humid and covered with dense woods.