The Nanling (), also known as the Wuling (), is a major mountain range in

Southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

that separates the Pearl River Basin from 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 ...

Valley and serves as the dividing line between south and central subtropical zones. The main range of Nanling Mountains stretch west to east about from

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...

and Hezhou of the eastern

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...

Ganzhou Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District. Hist ...

of the southern

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

, north to south about from Yongzhou and

Chenzhou Chenzhou () is a prefecture-level city located in the south of Hunan province, China, bordering the provinces of Jiangxi to the east and Guangdong to the south. Its administrative area covers , 9.2% of the provincial area, and its total populatio ...

of the southern

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

Qingyuan Qingyuan, formerly romanized as Tsingyun, is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong province, China, on the banks of the Bei or North River. During the 2020 census, its total population was 3,969,473, out of whom 1,738,424 lived in the ...

and

Shaoguan Shaoguan (; Hakka: Seukoan) is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong Province ( Yuebei), South China, bordering Hunan to the northwest and Jiangxi to the northeast. It is home to the mummified remains of the sixth Zen Buddhist patriar ...

of the northern

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

; With its branches, the whole mountains run west to east . There are trough basins in the Nanling, the most of the western basins in Nanling Mountains are composed of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

, where

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

regions are located. the most of the eastern basins are made up of red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

, where are

danxia landform The Danxia landform () refers to various landscapes found in southeast, southwest and northwest China that "consist of a red bed characterized by steep cliffs". It is a unique type of petrographic geomorphology found in China. Danxia landform i ...

areas. The Nanling are boundaries between the four provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi, and also the cultural boundaries, on the south of the mountains are Lingnan culture area.according to the ''Ecological Protection and Construction Planning on Forest and Biodiversity Ecological Functional Areas in Nanling Mountainous Area'' (南岭山地森林及生物多样性生态功能区生态保护与建设规划) (December 2013, by the SFA)
wenku.baidu
also se

/ref> The Nanling is a corridor where Chinese ethnic groups migrate and also the land of national amalgamation. In the Nanling, there form trough corridors, tectonic fault basins or watersheds, where are relatively low and not difficult to climb, between the natural gorge channels and the river systems in the north and south of the Nanling are natural channels, people-to-people exchanges are easy. Since the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

, from the Central Plains into

Lingnan Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern nort ...

(the south of the Nanling) there have been five ancient roads, which are ''YuechengLing Road''(), ''Mengzhuling Road'' (), ''Qitianling Road'' (), ''Lingling-Guiyang Path'' () and ''Dayuling Road'' (). At the same time, many tributaries of the

system and

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

system have also formed west to east passages.tsingming.com
o
aqmzzj.gov.cn
/ref> The mountains forming the ranges are generally of moderate altitude, the highest point being the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

Kitten Mountain Kitten Mountain (also ''Mao'er Mountains''; ) is a mountain located on the border between Ziyuan County and Xing'an County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) in the People's Republic of China that lies about from the prefecture-level city ...

at . The Nanling mountains are a regional biodiversity hot spot for

endemic species Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s and

amphibian Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...

Ranges

The five mountain ranges that make up the Nanling are the: *

Yuecheng Mountains The Yuecheng Mountains (), also known as Laoshanjie (老山界), are a mountain range that lies on the border between Hunan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, of the People's Republic of China. The range is part of the Nanling M ...

() *

Dupang Mountains The Dupang Mountains () are series of mountains located between the middle western Guilin of Guangxi and the southwestern Yongzhou of Hunan Provinces, one of the Five Large Ranges in the Nanling Ranges. The Dupang Mountains generally runs southwe ...

() *

Mengzhu Mountains The Mengzhu Mountains (), also known as ''Mingzhu Mountains'' (名渚岭) are a group of mountain ranges located in Guangxi and Hunan Provinces, one of the Five Ranges in the Nanling Ranges. The Mengzhu Mountains generally runs northeast to south ...

() * Qitian Mountains () * Dayu Mountains () The Nanling Mountains separate Central China from South China. Areas south of the ranges are

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

in climate, permitting two crops of

white rice White rice is milled rice that has had its husk, bran, and germ removed. This alters the flavor, texture and appearance of the rice and helps prevent spoilage, extend its storage life, and makes it easier to digest. After milling ( hulling), t ...

to be grown each year. Ion adsorption clays are mined by open-pit methods in the Nanling region, and form a major source of

rare earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides ( yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous sil ...

s in the world.Y. Kanazawa & M. Kamitani, J. Alloys Compounds 408-412, 1339 (2006).
/ref>

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of China Geography of Central China Geography of South China Mountain ranges of Hunan Mountains of Guangdong Landforms of Guangxi Mining communities in China

Ranges

See also

References