Kunlun Shan

Kunlun Mountains
崑崙山
View of Western Kunlun Shan from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway
Highest point
Peak	Liushi Shan
Elevation	7,167 m (23,514 ft)
Naming
Native name	Kūnlún Shān
Geography
Country	China
State/Province	Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang
Range coordinates	36°N 84°E / 36°N 84°E / 36; 84Coordinates: 36°N 84°E / 36°N 84°E / 36; 84
Borders on	Gobi Desert

Kunlun Mountains
"Kunlun" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese	昆仑山
Traditional Chinese	崑崙山
Postal	Kwenlun Mountains
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Kūnlún Shān Wade–Giles K'un1-lun2 Shan1 IPA [kʰwə́n.lwə̌n ʂán]

The Kunlun Mountains (simplified Chinese: 昆仑山; traditional Chinese: 崑崙山; pinyin: Kūnlún Shān, pronounced [kʰu̯ə́nlu̯ə̌n ʂán]; Mongolian: Хөндлөн Уулс, Khöndlön Uuls) 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.

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.

From the Pamirs of Tajikistan, it runs east along the border between Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions to the Sino-Tibetan ranges in Qinghai province. It stretches along the southern edge of what is now called the Tarim Basin, the infamous Takla Makan or "sand-buried houses" desert, and the Gobi Desert. A number of important rivers flow from it including the Karakash River ('Black Jade River') and the Yurungkash River ('White Jade River'), which flow through the Khotan Oasis into the Taklamakan Desert.