Tourist Resources Along Tibet Railway

The regions alongside Qinghai-Tibet Railway and its surrounding areas are endowed with brilliant culture and profound history. The breathtaking natural scenery, craggy and steepy landform and the characteristic and diversified human landscape make this advantaged lands a big treasure house of tourist resources. The typical advantages embody in the following aspects. 

 Unique Human Landscape
The origin of Qinghai-Tibet Railway-Xining and the scenic spots westwards including the Riyue Mountain, Daotang River, Qinghai Lake, Nachitai south of Golmud, the stretch from Nakchu to Lhasa are all closely linked with the Tangfan Old Path - the intermarriage route of Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) and the King Srongtsen Gampo of Tufan. In Lhasa, the renowned Potala Palace and Jokhang Monastery were initially built for Princess Wencheng.

The regions along Qinghai-Tibet Railway are basically resided by Tibetan, Hui, Mongolian, Sala minorities, developing the most distinctive and attractive ethnic history, the folk custom and festive celebrations such as traditional Tibetan Opera, Tibetan Bonfire Dance, Kangba Dance, North Tibetan Dance, Nakchu Horse Racing Festival, Tibetan New Year, Shoton Festival. All these tourist resources are unique throughout the world.  

 Rich Scenic Spots
Winding through the hinterland of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a nice photo galley clustering all sorts of natural scenery. The magical and magnificent landscapes will fascinate you a great deal. Those attractions alongside include the colorful Qinghai Lake - the first largest inland salt lake in China; the wondrous sunrise on the Gobi wilderness 177 kilometers (110 miles) west of Dehaling; the snow falling on Kunlun Mountain in June; the precious Tibetan Antelopes in Hohxil Wildlife Nature Reserve; the First Bridge of the Yangtze River on Tuotuo River; the highest Railway Station in the world on Tanggula Mountain, the reflections of the blue sky and white cloud on Cuona Lake - the origin of Nu River; miles of the picturesque grassland in Qiangtang; Kangsangkangdan Snow Mountain facing the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the great Yangbaijing Geothermal Power Station and hot spring. 

 Rich Religious and Cultural Features
Tibet Buddhist culture is prevailing in Qinghai province and Tibet. The holy and solemn religious atmosphere has gradually evolved into the particular human landscape with high tourism value. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway facilitates the Buddhists' pilgrimage to a great extent by connecting the Ta'er Monastery, Jokhang Monastery, Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery together. The religious activities thus become more meaningful and spectacular. Qinghai Lake, Cuona Lake, Namtso Lake, Nyenchen Tanggula Mountain are believed to be holy and divine in Tibetans' eyes. The pious pilgrims are often seen crawling forward to the reach the holy land. 

Yuxu Peak among Kunlun Mountain is the ancestor court of Chinese Taoism. The Palace of Immortals has clear water and accommodates packs of waterfowls. Each year, numerous domestic and overseas Taoists flock there to look for their roots, sacrifice their ancestors as well as pay homage. In a word, the elusive religious culture has great appeal to the tourists.

 Imposing natural landscape and multiple ecosystem 
The geography of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is complicated and multiple. Lots of rivers in South Asia and China originate from the glaciers and snow here. Vast grassland, meadows, mountains and deserts nourish large amounts of rare animals and plants from Frigid Zone to tropical zone. The primitive and peculiar ecosystems along Qinghai-Tibet Railway are ideal for ecological tourists in quest of experience and exploration. 

Cha'erhan Salt Lake in Chaidamu Basin is the largest sylvinite production base in China. Here, wind is salty, so it is the same with the rain and air. Neither a tree nor a drop of drinkable fresh water is available here. However, it boasts of a 32 kilometers (20 miles) long salt railway bridge, which doesn't use a ton of steel, a timber in construction. The carrying capacity for each square meter is 60 tons. 

Naturally the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang and the E'erjnaqi Desert in Inner Mongolia are home to the long-lived diversifolious poplar trees. Whereas, the rarely seen diversifolious poplar ecosystem can feast your eyes in west suburb of Golmud - the place that rivers converge.

Hohxil Nature Reserve is amid Kunlun Mountain and Tanggula Mountain. It is the habitat and breeding place for Tibetan Antelope under national protection, wild yak, kiang, Tibetan gazelle and so forth, which is magnetic to photographers, wildlife observers. 

Crossing the railroad pass of 5,072 meter-high (16, 640 feet) Tanggula Mountain, and comes to the Qiangtang Grassland north Tibet. Compare with the regions north of the mountain, the air here is wetter with more oxygen; the vegetation is lush and green. For visitors, they go from a world with mountain desert and cold grassland to another world with alpine meadow, swamp wetland and dissimilar ecosystems. It is definitely the optical enjoyment and physically contentment. 

Besides the above-mentioned tourist resources along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Tibet owns 7 Nature Reserves of the state level, 8 Nature Reserves of the provincial level and 23 Nature Reserves of County level. The coverage of the Nature Reserves reaches up to 407,700 square kilometers (157,413 square miles), taking one third proportion of the area of Tibet. It is ranked the first in China.