Hoh Xil is a vast, almost uninhabited region of high plateau in the north-west of Qinghai, between the Kunlun and Tanggula mountains, at an average elevation above 4,500 metres. It is the main calving ground of the Tibetan antelope, whose near-destruction by poachers in the 1980s and 1990s — and the patrols that stopped it — made the area famous. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017.
- UNESCO World Heritage (natural) · 2017
- National nature reserve · 1997
- Part of Sanjiangyuan National Park · 2021
Key facts
Overview
Hoh Xil is a Mongolian name, usually translated as “blue ridge” or “blue mountains”; in Tibetan the area is part of the northern Changtang. It is one of the least disturbed large landscapes in the world: a cold, windswept plateau of grassland, desert steppe, lakes and glaciated peaks with no permanent settlements. The World Heritage property covers about 3.7 million hectares and adjoins the Changtang reserve in Tibet and the Arjin Shan reserve in Xinjiang.
The Qinghai–Tibet highway and railway run along its eastern edge, and it is from there that most people see it — often with Tibetan antelope, kiang and wild yak grazing within sight of the road.
How the landscape formed
The plateau lies at about 4,600–5,000 metres, with mountains rising above 6,000 metres in the ranges on its southern and western margins. Its climate is too cold and dry for trees; permafrost underlies much of the ground. Thousands of lakes, many of them salty, lie in shallow basins with no outlet, while the northern Yangtze tributaries drain the east. The area is geologically young and still active, as the uplift of the plateau continues; the Kunlun fault along its northern edge ruptured in a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 2001.
Highlights
Zonag Lake
卓乃湖
A saline lake in the interior that is the best-known calving ground of the Tibetan antelope.
Taiyang Lake
太阳湖
A remote lake in the far west, another calving area of the antelope.
Sonam Dargye Protection Station
索南达杰保护站
Ranger station beside the Qinghai–Tibet highway, the first built in Hoh Xil, named after the murdered official.
Kunlun Pass
昆仑山口
The pass of about 4,770 metres on the highway at the north-eastern edge of Hoh Xil.
Plants and wildlife
The Tibetan antelope, or chiru, is the flagship species. Each summer females from across the plateau migrate hundreds of kilometres to give birth around lakes in the interior, then return with their calves — one of the few great ungulate migrations left in Asia. Their underfur, shahtoosh, is the finest wool known, and was smuggled abroad to be woven into shawls; each shawl requires the killing of several animals. Poaching cut the population to perhaps a few tens of thousands by the mid-1990s. After the patrols, the end of the trade under international bans and strict enforcement, numbers recovered, and in 2016 the IUCN moved the species from Endangered to Near Threatened.
Plants
Purple feather grass
紫花针茅
Stipa purpurea, the dominant grass of the alpine steppe.
Cushion plants
垫状植物
Low, dense cushions that survive wind and frost on the highest ground.
Wildlife
Tibetan antelope
藏羚羊
Pantholops hodgsonii, found only on the Tibetan Plateau.
Wild yak
野牦牛
Large, dark wild yaks live in the remote interior.
Kiang
藏野驴
Tibetan wild asses, often seen in groups near the highway.
Tibetan brown bear
藏棕熊
A brown bear subspecies of the high plateau, sometimes raiding ranger stations for food.
Culture and legend
No one lives permanently in Hoh Xil, but its history is bound up with the Tibetan herders and officials of Zhidoi county in Yushu prefecture. In the late 1980s and early 1990s gold prospectors and armed poaching gangs moved into the plateau. Jiesang Sonam Dargye, deputy Party secretary of Zhidoi county, set up an anti-poaching team and led patrols deep into the area; on 18 January 1994, after arresting a group of poachers, he was killed in a gunfight with them. His brother-in-law Zhaba Duojie then founded the Wild Yak Brigade, a volunteer patrol that fought poaching until the reserve's official rangers took over. Lu Chuan's 2004 film “Kekexili: Mountain Patrol” drew on these events.
Jiesang Sonam Dargye
杰桑·索南达杰
The Tibetan county official killed by poachers in 1994, commemorated at the protection station and in Zhidoi.
Wild Yak Brigade
野牦牛队
The anti-poaching patrol founded in 1995 by Zhaba Duojie, disbanded after official rangers were established.
Wildlife passages
动物通道
Underpasses built beneath the Qinghai–Tibet railway so that migrating antelope can cross it.
History
18 January 1994
Death of Jiesang Sonam Dargye
The Zhidoi county official is killed confronting poachers, bringing national attention to the slaughter of the antelope.
1995
Wild Yak Brigade founded
A volunteer anti-poaching patrol takes up the fight in Hoh Xil.
1997
National nature reserve
Hoh Xil is raised to a national nature reserve with its own ranger force.
2001
Kunlun earthquake
A magnitude 8.1 earthquake ruptures the Kunlun fault for some 400 km along the northern edge of Hoh Xil.
2006
Qinghai–Tibet railway opens
The line along the eastern edge includes passages designed for antelope migration.
2017
UNESCO World Heritage
Qinghai Hoh Xil is inscribed as a natural site for its intact plateau ecosystem and the antelope migration.
Through the seasons
Spring
Extremely cold and windy; snowstorms are common well into May.
Summer
The antelope migrate to their calving lakes in June and return in July and August; the only season with mild days.
Autumn
Clear and cold; the antelope gather for the rut in late autumn and early winter.
Winter
Among the harshest conditions in China, with deep cold, strong winds and snow.
Routes and ways in
Qinghai–Tibet highway corridor
The road from Golmud over the Kunlun Pass towards Tibet crosses the eastern edge of Hoh Xil and is the only route most visitors take; wildlife is often visible from it.
Practical notes
- The interior of Hoh Xil is closed to unauthorised entry; independent off-road travel is prohibited.
- The eastern corridor lies at 4,500 metres and more; altitude sickness is a real risk, and nights are freezing even in summer.
- Do not stop on the highway to approach or feed animals, and keep to designated viewing points.
- Golmud is the nearest base on the Qinghai–Tibet road and railway.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Qinghai Hoh Xil — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Pantholops hodgsonii (Tibetan antelope) — IUCN Red List (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Hoh Xil — Wikipedia (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Qinghai Provincial People's Government — Qinghai Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More mountains and nature in Qinghai
- LakeQarhan Salt Lake察尔汗盐湖A salt plain the size of a province in the Qaidam Basin
- LakeQinghai Lake青海湖China's largest lake, a saline inland sea on the Tibetan Plateau
- National parkSanjiangyuan National Park三江源国家公园The high plateau where the Yangtze, Yellow River and Mekong begin
- Mountain rangeQilian Mountains祁连山The glaciated wall whose meltwater feeds the Hexi Corridor
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