Wushao Ridge

Before coming here, I watched the Hexi Corridor documentary and was especially interested in Wushao Ridge. It's a pity that our group didn't pass by here. Later, I passed by by train from Zhangye. A nearly half an hour tunnel. Then it was downhill all the way to Lanzhou.

In the summer of 2010, I drove to Xinjiang and passed Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County. The sky was blue and the wild was vast, although it was midsummer and the north wind was cool. The land is broad, the mountains are high, and the road ahead is restored. The Qilian Mountains are missing.

The starting point of the Hexi Corridor is also the first barrier for the Central Plains to enter the Hexi region. It is windy and cold all the year round. It is very difficult to climb over, and there is an introduction in Journey to the West. The warm and humid air flow is blocked here, forming the possibility of large-scale rainfall.

In the non-monsoon area, that is, the area west and north of the geographical dividing line, due to the obstruction of the Himalayas, the water vapor from the Indian Ocean cannot pass through at all, and the water vapor from the Pacific Ocean can only reach Wushaoling at the easternmost end of the Qilian Mountains. .

The Loess Plateau and the Hexi Corridor are not seamlessly connected, and there is a stumbling block in the middle called Wushao Ridge. Before Zhang Qian dug through the Western Regions, people didn't know that there was such a passage on the west side of the Yellow River, let alone that the end of the corridor was the Western Regions. It seems so mysterious, the fundamental reason is because of the existence of this Wushao Ridge. When the Qilian Mountains surrounding the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau approached the Yellow River, three main branches extended to both sides, namely the Laji Mountain and Daban Mountain on both sides of the Huangshui Valley, and the Wushao Mountain extending eastward. ridge. Wushaoling stretches the Qilian Mountains at one end and the Tengger Desert at the other end, blocking the Loess Plateau from the mountains.

Wushaoling is located in the central part of Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, and belongs to the southeast end of Lenglongling, the northern branch of Qilian Mountains. It is the natural boundary between the Longzhong Plateau and the Hexi Corridor, as well as the transitional boundary from the semi-arid area to the arid area, and the westernmost point where the East Asian monsoon reaches. It is about 17 kilometers long from east to west, and 10 kilometers wide from north to south. The main peak is 3562 meters above sea level, and the average annual temperature is -2.2°C. There is a record in the chronicles of Wushaoling that "it is snowing in midsummer, and the cold air is piercing". It is the Hexi Corridor on the ancient Silk Road. An important pass leading to Chang'an.