Tianchi Lake

Tianchi Lake  is located half way up Bog […]

Tianchi Lake  is located half way up Bogda Peak in Fukang County, 110km east of Urumqi City. As a natural alpine lake, it has an elevation of 1,980 meters. In the shape of a half moon, the lake is 3,400 meters long, about 1,500 meters wide, and 105 meters at the deepest point. With limpid water, the lake shines like a sapphire under the sun and is surrounded by green mountains. At the southeast end of the lake is the magnificent Bogda Peak, meaning “Sacred Mountain” in the Mongolian language.

The Tianchi Lake scenic area can be divided into four natural view belts: lower mountain belt, mountain coniferous forest belt, alpine and subalpine belt, and ice and snow belt. Riding a horse, one can, within one day, arrive at the foot of 5445-m high Bogda Peak that is the highest peak of the eastern Tianshan Mountains. Bogda is a Mongolian word, meaning “God”. The 5445-m high Bogda Peak was covered by ice and snow all the year round and thus like wearing a body armor, so ancient Mongolians thought that this was “God” and named it “Bogda”. The Bogda Peak is one of the mountain peaks chosen by Chinese and foreign mountain climbers for climbing sports.

Tianchi literally means ‘ Heaven Lake ‘ or ‘ Heavenly Lake ‘ (in Mandarin Chinese) and can refer to several lakes in China and Taiwan.) Formerly known as Yaochi (Jade Lake), it was named Tianchi by Mingliang in 1783, the Qing Dynasty Commander of Urumqi Command.

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