Region containing Kunlun Mountains

The Kunlun mountain range (崑崙山) is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3000 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 (7719m), the Dingbei (7625m) and the famous Mutzagata (7546m).

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 Kuen-Lun 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 (1001-947BC) of the Zhou Dynasty. He supposedly discovered there the Jade palace of Huang-Di, the mythical Yellow Emperor, and met Hsi Wang Mu, the Royal Mother of the West, who also had her mythical abode in these mountains.

Huang Di sometimes known as the yellow emperor or the originator of the Chinese culture.