A forecast, not a festival rule On 30 September 2025 the China Meteorological Administration published a forecast from the Alxa bureau. It expected the poplars in Ejin Banner to enter a better viewing period around 28 September, with more than half the leaves yellow. Around 4 October it expected the best period, more than 80 percent yellow. Around 15 October it expected a good time to see the fallen leaves, and around 22 October the end, with more than 80 percent of the leaves down. The whole window was about 24 days, the best about 11.

Ejin Banner, not the whole league The trees in the forecast are in Ejin Banner. Alxa League also holds the Badain Jaran dunes, which are a different county-scale landscape and a World Heritage property. Turning yellow is not the same story as a 460-metre dune. The poplar page is about a meteorological service: stations, a satellite index, and a model that tries to say when the colour will turn. It does not freeze 4 October as a permanent holiday.

Read the year Anyone planning a later autumn should read the year on the forecast. The 2025 note is evidence that the bureau publishes a season, not evidence that every October repeats it. The trees are still the reason to know Ejin Banner. The date is a tool, and it expires.