Kunlun Mountains

Region containing Kunlun Mountains

The Kunlun mountain range (simplified Chinese: 昆仑山; traditional Chinese: 崑崙山; pinyin: Kūnlún Shān) is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3000 km.

It runs along the western border of China southwards beside the Pamir range, then curves to the East, to form the border range of northern Tibet. It stretches along the southern edge what is now called the Tarim Basin, the infamous Takla Makan or "sand-buried houses" desert, and the Gobi desert. The range has over 200 peaks higher than 6,000 metres. The three highest peaks are the Kongur Tagh (7,719m), the Dingbei (7,625m) and the famous Mutzagata (7,546m). These highest peaks are in the Arkatag range of the range complex.

Peak in Kunlun range

A southern branch of the Kunlun Mountains forms the watershed between the catchment basins of China's two longest rivers, the Yangtze River and the Huang He.

The mountain range formed at the northern edges of the Indian Plate during its collision, in the late Triassic, with the Eurasian Plate, which resulted in the closing of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean.

Mythology

The Kunlun mountains are well known in Chinese mythology and are believed to be Taoist paradise. The first to visit this paradise was, according to the legends, King Mu (1001-947 BCE) of the Zhou Dynasty. He supposedly discovered there the Jade Palace of Huang-Di, the mythical Yellow Emperor, and met Hsi Wang Mu, the Royal Mother of the West, who also had her mythical abode in these mountains.

Huang Di sometimes known as the Yellow Emperor or the originator of the Chinese culture.