Xinjiang Tianshan, Group of protected areas and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Xinjiang, China

Xinjiang Tianshan is a mountain system in northwestern China made up of four separate protected areas inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The terrain ranges from permanent glaciers and alpine lakes at high elevation to forests and grasslands lower down.

The Tianshan range sat along the Silk Road and for centuries acted as both a barrier and a passageway for trade caravans moving between Central Asia and China. In 2013 the four protected areas were jointly recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Tianshan valleys are home to Kazakh, Uyghur, and Han Chinese communities whose way of life is built around seasonal herding. In summer, you can watch families move their flocks up to highland pastures, a practice that has shaped how the land looks and feels.

The Bogda area, with Tianchi lake at 1,980 m, lies about 60 km east of Urumqi and is the most accessible of the four zones. The other three — Tomur, Kalajun-Kuerdening and Bayinbuluke — are far apart in the range, so plan long road transfers. Bayinbuluke is a grassland basin at 2,400–2,600 m crossed by the Kaidu river.

Although the four protected zones cover a vast area, they were nominated together as a single World Heritage property, which is an unusual arrangement in the global heritage system. Each zone protects a different type of mountain environment, from desert-edged foothills to high glacial peaks.