Posted 2018/7/23
Hoh Xil (kě kě xī lǐ 可可西里), which means "beautiful girl" in Mongolian, is one of the main sources of the Yangtze River and encompasses an area of 83,000 square kilometers between the Tanggula and Kunlun Mountains in the northwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is China's largest and the world's third largest uninhabited area. Being the paradise for wildlife and home to more than 230 species of wild animals, Hoh Xil has twenty of them under state protection, including the wild yak, the Tibetan antelope, the wild donkey, the white-lip deer, and the brown bear.
Hoh Xil, the last fairyland of wild lives in China, is one of the most primitive and well-preserved natural environment in the world. Moreover, it is the largest natural reserve area in China with highest altitude. Because of the high altitude and fierce weather, it is impossible for people to live there, and this is the very reason why Hoh Xil is the paradise of wild lives.
Overview
Hoh Xil is situated at the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (yù shù zàng zú zì zhì zhōu 玉树藏族自治州) in southwest Qinghai, and has an average altitude of more than 4600 meters. Low temperature, rare rainfall and strong wind are the major features of Hoh Xil. However, in such a fierce land, there are many animals which can only be seen on highland. According to the present observation, there are 29 kinds of mammals, 53 kinds of birds and 202 kinds of plants, of which 84 are the unique ones on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The importance and charm of this area is becoming more and more famous throughout the world, and the great significance in scientific research is irreplaceable in China and the world.
Geography
The Hoh Xil region covers 83,000 square kilometers at an average elevation of 4,800 meters, stretches in a meridional (east-west) direction between the Tanggula and Kunlun mountain chains in the border areas of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Northwest China's Qinghai Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The southeastern part of the Hoh Xil, drained by the Chumar River, is one of the major headwater sources of the Yangtze River. The rest of the region is endorheic, with drainage to numerous isolated lakes; this area sometimes described by hydrologists as the “Hoh Xil lake district”. 45,000 square kilometers of the Hoh Xil region, at an average elevation of 4,600 meters, were designated a national nature reserve in 1995.
