The Qinling () or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in southern
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
s of the
Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
and
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...
systems, providing a natural boundary between
North and South China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climate ...
and support a huge variety of plant and wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else on earth.
To the north is the densely populated
Wei River
The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization.
The source of the Wei River is close to ...
valley, an ancient center of Chinese civilization. To the south is the Han River valley. To the west is the line of mountains along the northern edge of the
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...
. To the east are the lower
Funiu
The Funiu Mountains, also known by their Chinese name Funiu Shan, are a mountain range in southern Shanxi and western Henan provinces in China.
Geography
The Funiu are an eastern extension of the Qins, running south of the Yellow River after its ...
and
Dabie Shan
The Dabie Mountains () are a major mountain range located in central China. Running northwest-to-southeast, they form the main watershed between the Huai and Yangtze rivers. The range also marks the boundary between Hubei Province and its neighbo ...
which rise out of the coastal plain.
The northern side of the range is prone to hot weather, however the physical barrier of the mountains mean that the land to the North has a
semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
climate, with the lack of rich, fertile landscape that can not support a wealth of wildlife. The mountains also acted as a natural defense against nomadic invasions from the North, as only four passes cross the mountains. In the late 1990s a railway tunnel and a
spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:Mount Taibai
Mount Taibai () is a mountain located on the border between Mei, Taibai and Zhouzhi counties in the south west of Shaanxi Province, China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world ...
at , which is about west of the ancient Chinese capital of
Xi'an
Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...
. Three culturally significant peaks in the range are
Mount Hua
Mount Hua () is a mountain located near the city of Huayin in Shaanxi Province, about east of Xi'an. It is the "Western Mountain" of the Five Great Mountains of China and has a long history of religious significance. Originally classified as ...
(),
Mount Li
Mount Li () is a mountain located in the northeast of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, China. The mountain is part of the Qinling mountain range and rises to a height of 1302 metres above sea level. It is one of the eight scenic spots of the Guanzhong ...
(), and
Mount Maiji
The Maijishan Grottoes (), formerly romanized as Maichishan, are a series of 194 caves cut in the side of the hill of Maijishan in Tianshui, Gansu Province, northwest China.
This example of rock cut architecture contains over 7,200 Buddhist s ...
().
Environment, flora and fauna
The environment of the Qin Mountains is a
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
.
The Qin Mountains form the
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
between the
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...
basin, which was historically home to deciduous broadleaf forests, and the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
basin, which has milder winters and more rainfall, and was historically home to warm temperate evergreen broadleaf forests. Therefore the Qin Mountains is commonly used as the line separating
northern and southern China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climates ...
.
The low-elevation forests of the foothills are dominated by temperate deciduous trees like oaks (''
Quercus acutissima
''Quercus acutissima'', the sawtooth oak, is an Asian species of oak native to China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Indochina (Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia) and the Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan, northeastern India). It is widely planted in many lands ...
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
(''Ulmus'' spp.), common walnut (''Juglans regia''),
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
(''Acer'' spp.),
ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
(''Fraxinus'' spp.) and ''
Celtis
''Celtis'' is a genus of about 60–70 species of deciduous trees, commonly known as hackberries or nettle trees, widespread in warm temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus is part of the extended hemp family (Cannabaceae).
De ...
'' spp. Evergreen species of these low-elevation forests include broadleaf chinquapins (''Castanopsis sclerophylla''), ring-cupped oaks (''
Quercus glauca
''Quercus glauca'' ( syn. ''Cyclobalanopsis glauca''), commonly called ring-cupped oak or Japanese blue oak, is a tree in the beech family (Fagaceae). It is native to eastern and southern Asia, where it is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, nor ...
'') and conifers like ''
Pinus massoniana
''Pinus massoniana'' (English: Masson's pine, Chinese red pine, horsetail pine; Chinese: 馬尾松) is a species of pine, native to Taiwan, a wide area of central and southern China, and northern Vietnam.
Description
It is an evergreen tree ...
''.
At the middle elevations, conifers like ''
Pinus armandii
''Pinus armandii'', the Armand pine or Chinese white pine, is a species of pine native to China, occurring from southern Shanxi west to southern Gansu and south to Yunnan, with outlying populations in Anhui. It grows at altitudes of 2200–3000 ...
'' are mixed with broadleaf
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
(''Betula'' spp.) oak (''
Quercus
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...
'' spp.) and hornbeam (''
Carpinus
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Origin of names
The common English name ''hornbeam' ...
'' spp.). From elevation, these mid-elevation forests give way to a subalpine forests of fir (''
Abies fargesii
''Abies fargesii'' () is a species of fir, a coniferous tree in the family Pinaceae. Its common name is Farges' fir, after the French missionary, botanist and plant collector, Paul Guillaume Farges. ''Abies fargesii'' can grow very large and b ...
Cunninghamia
''Cunninghamia'' is a genus of one or two living species of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae. They are native to China, northern Vietnam and Laos, and perhaps also Cambodia. They may reach in height. In vernacular ...
'', and
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
(''Betula'' spp.), with rhododendron ('' Rhododendron fastigiatum'') abundant in the understory.
The region is home to a large number of rare plants, of which around 3,000 have so far been documented. Plant and tree species native to the region include
Ginkgo
''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus within ...
Qinling panda
The Qinling panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis'') is a subspecies of the giant panda, discovered in the 1960s but not recognized as a subspecies until 2005. Besides the nominate subspecies, it is the first giant panda subspecies to be r ...
s, a sub-species of the
giant panda
The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...
, which are protected in the region with the help of the Changqing and Foping
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
s, between 250 and 280 giant pandas live in the region, which is estimated to represent around a fifth of the entire wild giant panda population. The mountains are also home to the
golden takin
The golden takin (''Budorcas taxicolor bedfordi'') is an endangered goat-antelope (takin), native to the Qin Mountains in China's southern Shaanxi province. Golden takins have unique adaptations that help them stay warm and dry during cold Hima ...
,
golden pheasant
The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...
,
golden snub-nosed monkey
The golden snub-nosed monkey (''Rhinopithecus roxellana'') is an Old World monkey in the subfamily Colobinae. It is endemic to a small area in temperate, mountainous forests of central and Southwest China. They inhabit these mountainous forests ...
,
Temminck's tragopan
The Temminck's tragopan (''Tragopan temminckii'') is a medium-sized, approximately 64 cm long, pheasant in the genus ''Tragopan''. The male is a stocky red-and-orange bird with white-spotted plumage, black bill and pink legs. The male's disp ...
,
crested ibis
The crested ibis (''Nipponia nippon''), also known as the Japanese crested ibis, Asian crested ibis or toki, is a large (up to long), white-plumaged ibis of pine forests, native to eastern Asia. Its head is partially bare, showing red skin, and ...
,
golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...
clouded leopard
The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...
.
The
Chinese giant salamander
The Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus'') is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.critically endangered as it is collected for food and for use in
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
. An environmental education programme is being undertaken to encourage sustainable management of wild populations in the Qin Mountains and captive breeding programmes have been set up.
Weapons of mass destruction
According to the Nuclear Information Project, China "keeps most of its nuclear warheads at a central storage facility in the Qinling mountain range, though some are kept at smaller regional storage facilities."
See also
*
Gallery road
The archaeological gallery roads () were roads through remote mountain areas of China. They consisted of wooden planks erected on holes cut into the sides of cliffs. They were most notably used in the Qin Mountains linking the Wei River and the ...
*
Huaqing Pool
Huaqing Pool, or the Huaqing Hot Springs, are a complex of hot springs located in an area characterized by mild weather and scenic views at the northern foot of Mount Li, one of the three major peaks of the Qinling. The Huaqing Hot Springs are lo ...
*
Qinling Orogenic Belt
The Qinling orogenic belt is a tectonic feature that evolved throughout the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic eons due to a variety of tectonic activities. It is a part of the Central China Orogenic Belt, aligned in an east–west orientation across ...
*
Qinling panda
The Qinling panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis'') is a subspecies of the giant panda, discovered in the 1960s but not recognized as a subspecies until 2005. Besides the nominate subspecies, it is the first giant panda subspecies to be r ...