Kunlun Mountains
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The Kunlun mountain range (Simplified Chinese: }}}; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3,000 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 Muztagh Ata (7,546m). These highest peaks are in the Arkatag range of the range complex. 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.
The Arka Tagh is in the centre of the Kunlun Shan with Ulugh Muztagh (6973 m). The highest mountain of the Kunlun Shan is the so-called "Kunlun Goddess" (7167) in the Keriya area. The above three peaks are in the Kashgar Range and are not linked with the Kunlun Shan. If somebody can, please edit further on!
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 (976-922 BCE) of the Zhou Dynasty. He supposedly discovered there the Jade Palace of Huang-Di, the mythical Yellow Emperor and originator of Chinese culture, and met Hsi Wang Mu, the 'Spirit Mother of the West' usually called the 'Queen Mother of the West', who was the object of an ancient religious cult which reached its peak in the Han Dynasty, also had her mythical abode in these mountains.
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