Kunlun Mountains
| Kunlun Mountains | |
|---|---|
| 崑崙山 | |
View of Western Kunlun Shan from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway
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| Highest point | |
| Peak | Kongur Tagh |
| Elevation | 7,649 m (25,095 ft) |
| Naming | |
| Native name | Kūnlún Shān |
| Geography | |
| Country | China |
| State/Province | Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang |
| Range coordinates | 36°N 84°E / 36°N 84°ECoordinates: 36°N 84°E / 36°N 84°E |
| Borders on | Gobi Desert |
| Kunlun Mountains | |||||||||
.svg)
"Kunlun" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
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| Simplified Chinese | 昆仑山 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 崑崙山 | ||||||||
| Postal | Kwenlun Mountains | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Kūnlún Shān |
| Wade–Giles | K'un1-lun2 Shan1 |
The Kunlun Mountains (simplified Chinese: 昆仑山; traditional Chinese: 崑崙山; pinyin: Kūnlún Shān, pronounced [kʰu̯ə́nlu̯ə̌n ʂán]; Mongolian: Хөндлөн Уулс Hundlun) are one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi). In the broadest sense, it forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin and the Gansu Corridor and continues east south of the Wei River to end at the North China Plain.
The exact definition of this range varies. An old source uses Kunlun to mean the mountain belt that runs across the center of China, that is, Kunlun in the narrow sense: Altyn Tagh along with the Qilian and Qin Mountains. A recent source has the Kunlun range forming most of the south side of the Tarim Basin and then continuing east south of the Altyn Tagh. Sima Qian (Shiji, scroll 123) says that Emperor Wu of Han sent men to find the source of the Yellow River and gave the name Kunlun to the mountains at its source. The name seems to have originated as a semi-mythical location in the classical Chinese text Shanhai Jing.
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