Kunlun Mountains

Coordinates: 36°N 84°E / 36°N 84°E / 36; 84
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
K'un-Lun
)
"Kunlun" redirects here. For the mythological mountain, see Kunlun (mythology). For other uses, see Kunlun (disambiguation).
Kunlun Mountains
View of Western Kunlun Shan from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway
Highest point
PeakLiushi Shan
Elevation7,167 m (23,514 ft)
Geography
CountryChina
RegionXinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet
Range coordinates36°N 84°E / 36°N 84°E / 36; 84
Borders onGobi Desert
Map
Kunlun Mountains
Tibetan
ཁུ་ནུ་རི་རྒྱུད
Uyghur name
Uyghurقۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى‎

The Kunlun Mountains[a] constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi). In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kunlun Mountains have been known as the "Forefather of Mountains" in China.[1][2]

The exact definition of the Kunlun Mountains varies over time. Older sources used Kunlun to mean the mountain belt that runs across the center of China,

Qin Mountains. Recent sources[4] have the Kunlun range forming most of the south side of the Tarim Basin and then continuing east, south of the Altyn Tagh. Sima Qian (Records of the Grand Historian, 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 Classic of Mountains and Seas
.

Extent

Kunlun range
Karakash River in the western Kunlun Mountains, seen from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway

From the

Khotan Oasis into the Taklamakan Desert. To the south of the Kunlun is the sparsely populated Changtang region, which forms part of the Tibetan Plateau
.

The Kunlun Pass

Yangtze River and the Yellow River
.

The highest mountain of the Kunlun Mountains is the

Keriya area of the western Kunlun Mountains. Some authorities claim that the Kunlun extends further northwest-wards as far as Kongur Tagh (7,649 m) and the famous Muztagh Ata (7,546 m). But these mountains are physically much more closely linked to the Pamir group (ancient Mount Imeon). The Arka Tagh (Arch Mountain) is in the center of the Kunlun Mountains; its highest points are Ulugh Muztagh (6,973 m) and Bukadaban Feng (6,860 m). In the eastern Kunlun Mountains the highest peaks are Yuzhu Peak (6,224 m) and Amne Machin
[also Dradullungshong] (6,282 m); the latter is the major eastern peak of the Kunlun Mountains and is thus considered as the eastern edge of the Kunlun Mountains.

The mountain range formed at the northern edges of the

Cimmerian Plate during its collision, in the Late Triassic, with Siberia, which resulted in the closing of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean
.

The range has very few roads and in its 3,000 km length is crossed by only two. In the west, Highway 219 traverses the range en route from Yecheng, Xinjiang to Lhatse, Tibet. Further east, Highway 109 crosses between Lhasa and Golmud.

Kunlun Volcanic Group

Main article: Kunlun Volcanic Group

Over 70

Damavand is the highest volcano in Asia, not the Kunlun cones.) The last known eruption in the volcanic group was on May 27, 1951.[6]

Mythology

Peak in Kunlun range
Main article: Kunlun (mythology)

Legendary and mystical mountains are a long-standing aspect of Chinese civilization. Kunlun is originally the name of a mythical mountain believed to be a

Taoist paradise
.

Kunlun is a semi-mythical region not far from the source of the Yellow River.[7] The Kunlun Mountains entered Chinese ideology during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), and have become closely integrated into Chinese culture.[8]

In the Book of Mountains and Seas, the Kunlun Mountains are mentioned:

崑崙之丘，是實惟帝下之都，神陸吾司之。

Which means "The hill of Kunlun, which is the capital of the emperor, and the god of the land."

Penglai
system based on the eastern and western regions. He believes that the myth of Kunlun

"originates in the western plateau, and its magical and magnificent stories spread to the east, and then follow the vast and boundless sea. The combination of these natural conditions has formed the Penglai mythology system in the coastal areas of Yan, Wu, Qi, and Yue."[9]

In mythology, Kunlun Mountain is the birthplace and ancestral place of the Chinese nation. In mythology, Kunlun Mountain is the center of heaven and earth. It goes up to the sky and is the staircase to the sky. The "Kunlun Mythology" system takes Kunlun Mountain as an iconic place, and mainly focuses on the myths and stories of related characters such as the Yellow Emperor and the

Xi Wang Mu
). Stories such as Kuafu chasing the sun, Gonggong's anger touching Buzhou Mountain, and Chang'e flying to the moon all originate from Kunlun mythology.

Mao Dun pointed out:

"The primitive people imagined that the gods lived in a group, and they also imagined that the gods lived on the extremely high mountains, so the highest mountain in the territory became the residence of the gods in mythology. The mystical idea of this is what happened. The Chinese myth is equivalent to that of Kunlun.

According to legend,

Hsi Wang Mu (Xi Wang Mu, the 'Spirit Mother of the West' usually called the 'Queen Mother of the West') who also had her mythical abode in these mountains. She was the object of a traditional religious cult which reached its peak in the Han dynasty
.

See also

Notes

  1. ^

References

  1. ^ "Kunlun Mountains". Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  2. ^ "Kunlun Mountain Range - A Forever Legend" (PDF). Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  3. OCLC 2281016
    .
  4. ^ National Geographic Atlas of China, 2008
  5. ^ "Kunlun Mountains". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  6. ^ "Kunlun Volcanic Group". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  7. ^ 贾海建. 神怪小说与山岳信仰关系研究 《中央民族大学》 2011 年博士论文.
  8. S2CID 244133983
    .
  9. ^ 许洋洋. 中国神话的地域文化透视.

Further reading

  • Munro-Hay, Stuart Aksum. Edinburgh: University Press. 1991.
    ISBN 0-7486-0106-6
    .

External links

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