Zoige

The largest and best preserved plateau wetland in the world, Zoige lies in east China’s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau like a beautiful piece of jade.

With an area greater than 100 hectares and an elevation of 3, 400 to 3, 600 meters, Zoige lies on the boundary of Sichuan and Gansu Provinces and is a swamp wetland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau least affected by human activity. Travelling along the boundary of Sichuan and Gansu from east to west, a host of high mountain ranges will be encountered first, but hidden behind the mountains is a vast wetland as flat as a carpet-Zoige.

The magnificent Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, dubbed “the roof of the world,” reveals its gentle side at Zoige: numerous flowers bloom among the green grass, most of which are light yellow. When the wind blows, the flowers sway back and forth, like yellow waves surging on a green sea. The wetland also boasts tranquil lakes and winding rivers, in which the blue sky is reflected. Many People tend to use words like"frigid"and “barren” to describe a plateau, but Zoige is an exception.

In summer, when pasture crops thrive in Zoige, Tibetan herdsmen drive their oxen and sheep here and pitch their black tents in which to live. When they make milk teas, smoke spirals from the tents and dissipates in the air. At Zoige, visitors enjoy the grassland landscape and listen to the herdsmen singing on horseback, and the fortunate ones are invited by the herdsmen to join them in tasting cheese cakes, drinking butter tea and eating a whole roasted sheep.

For the wildlife, Zoige is also a rare highland haven Water nurtures a highland jade like Zoige, while Zoige nurtures much wildlife. Each summer, the world's only crane that calls the plateau its breeding place-the black-necked crane-arrives at Zoige to settle and breed.