Pamir Plateau

The Pamir Plateau was recorded as Congling in ancient Chinese books on the traditional Silk Road due to the wild green onions growing up. It is a large plateau in the Pamir mountain range at an altitude of about 3500 to 5000m with mountains up to more than 7000m. Due to its unique location, the Pamir Plateau always plays a strategic role on the Silk Road. The literally meaning of Pamir is "the roof of the world” from Tajik language. Together with Tibet Plateau, Pamir Plateau lies in Tashkurgan County in Kashgar, bestriding China, Afghanistan and Tajikistan with an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) to 7,700 meters (25,262 feet).
Actually the Pamir Plateau is composed of a series of connected mountains, valleys and basins, which can be divided into 2 parts according to geographical characteristics: west Pamir Plateau and east Pamir Plateau. The landform in the east Pamir Plateau is rather wide and plain, which is made up of two mountains and a basin with an even altitude of 5,000 meters (16,404 feet)-6,000 meters (19,685 feet). The west Pamir Plateau features some parallel valleys and mountains. There are more than 1,000 glaciers on the plateau, and the landscapes are in the vertical distribution characteristics. There are also vast pastures on the plateau, where the highland barleys can be planted and cows can be fed. It will take you all day form Kashgar City to Tashkurgan County which is on the plateau, the visitors can appreciate the snow-covered Mt. Kongur with an altitude of 7,719 meters (25,324 feet) and MuztagPeak with an altitude of 7,546 meters (24,757 feet) along the well-known Friendship Highway or Karakoram Highway that was constructed from Kashagr to Islamabad in 1960s.