National 5A Scenic AreaNorthwest China
Heavenly Lake of Tianshan (Tianchi)
天山天池 · Xinjiang, Changji
An alpine lake beneath the snow-capped Bogda Peak, with Kazakh yurt meadows in the Tianshan range.
Tianshan Tianchi is a crescent alpine lake at about 1,900 metres in the Tianshan Mountains, ringed by spruce forest and backed by the snow and ice of Bogda Peak (5,445 m). Kazakh families graze livestock on the summer meadows around it, offering horse rides and yurt stays just a few hours from the regional capital, Ürümqi.
Known since ancient times as the 'Jade Pool', the lake sits in the high Tianshan, the mountain range that divides Xinjiang into two basins and which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2013 as the Xinjiang Tianshan. It became one of the region's earliest and most accessible alpine resorts, blending scenery with Kazakh nomadic culture.
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