Kunlun

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kunlun Mountains
昆仑 山脉
Western Kunlun Shan;  seen from the Tibet-Xinjiang road

Western Kunlun Shan; seen from the Tibet-Xinjiang road

Highest peak Liushi Shan ( 7167  m )
location Xinjiang , Tibet , Qinghai ( PR China )
Kunlun Mountains .mw-parser-output .Hans {font-size: 110%} 昆仑 山脉 (Xinjiang)
Kunlun Mountains .mw-parser-output .Hans {font-size: 110%} 昆仑 山脉
Coordinates 36 ° 0 ′  N , 84 ° 0 ′  E Coordinates: 36 ° 0 ′  N , 84 ° 0 ′  E
The Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau

Kunlun , outdated: Kuenlun , ( Chinese  崑崙 山脈  /  昆仑 山脉 , Pinyin Kūnlún Shānmài  - "Kunlun Mountains", short 崑崙 山  /  昆仑 山 , Kūnlún Shān , Tib. ཁུ་ ནུ་ རི་ རྒྱུད) is almost 3000 km long and up to 7167  m high mountain range in China ( Asia ).

geography

The high mountains run from the Yarkant River , which forms the natural border to the Pamir , and from the Karakorum Pass ( 5575 m ), which defines  the boundary to the Karakoram , along the northern border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China to the east. It forms the border with the highlands of Tibet for about 2500 km , the remaining eastern part is in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang .

The Kunlun Mountains essentially consist of the western Przhevalsky Mountains , which meet the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and the eastern Marco Polo Mountains , which border the same highlands and meet the southern edge of the Qaidam Basin . The Nan Shan branches off from the Prschewalski Mountains towards the northeast . The eastern continuation is known as the Qinling Shan .

mountains

The mountain ranges of the Kunlun Shan have over 200 peaks of over 6000  m height. The mountains include:

f1Georeferencing Map with all coordinates of the mountains section : OSM

Geological history

The Kunlun Mountains were created when the plate of the Indian subcontinent collided with the Eurasian plate , thereby closing the primordial ocean known as Tethys .

The mountain range, rich in natural resources, is largely a high mountain desert.

mythology

The mountains are also known as Daoist paradise in Chinese mythology . According to legend, the first traditional journey there was made by King Mu Wang (1001 to 946 BC) from the Zhou dynasty . There he allegedly discovered the Jade Palace of Huáng Dì , the mythical Yellow Emperor, and met Xiwangmu , the royal mother of the West , who also had her mythological abode there. The Kunlun Mountains were therefore seen as the place where one could attain immortality. According to mythology, the Xian , the immortals , lived here .

Inspired by this legend, the British writer James Hilton relocated the fictional location of Shangri-La to the western end of the Kunlun Mountains in his 1933 novel Lost Horizon . Hilton's utopia was so successful that many believe in the existence of Shangri-Las to this day and go in search of the mystical place in the Kulun.

European research

In 1855 the Bavarian Alpine explorers Hermann Schlagintweit and his brother Robert Schlagintweit crossed the Kunlun Mountains. After his elevation to the hereditary Bavarian nobility, Hermann von Schlagintweit added the name of the mountain to his family name in the form of Schlagintweit-Sakünlünski .

literature

  • Josef Guter: Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Chinese. Marix, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-04-5 , p. 199

Web links

Commons : Kunlun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Aboutbooks: The Lost Horizon by James Hilton. In: lovelybooks.de, accessed on October 29, 2018
  2. ^ Claudia Frickel: Mystery. The hidden paradise of Shangri-La . Web.de-Magazin, June 7, 2017. In: web.de Magazine, accessed on October 31, 2018
  3. Michael McRae: The Siege of Shangri-La. The Quest for Tibet's Sacred Hidden Paradise. Broadway Books, 2002.