Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (青藏高原) is the world's highest plateau. With an average altitude of 4,000 meters, the plateau is also known as the Roof of the World (世界屋脊) and Third Pole (第三极). The Plateau is about 2800 kilometers long from east to west, and 300 to 1500 kilometers wide from north to south. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with a total area of about 2.5 million square kilometers, includes all of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and parts of Qinghai Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc. Another important feature of the Plateau is its numerous lakes. These lakes are mainly replenished with ice and snow from the surrounding mountains. Most of these lakes are inland saltwater lakes, which are rich in salt, borax, and thenardite, and many lakes are also rich in fish. There are large green grasslands around lakes, mountain basins, and gentle slopes, so this Plateau is an important pastoral area next to Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. The Plateau is also the birthplace of many gigantic rivers in Asia.
The book has 10 chapters in the following order:
Chapter 1: The Roof of the World (第一章：世界屋脊)
Chapter 2: Protecting the Tibetan Plateau (第二章：保护青藏高原)
Chapter 3: Qinghai-Tibet Railway (第三章：青藏铁路)
Chapter 4: Tibet Autonomous Region (第四章：西藏自治区)
Chapter 5: Lhasa (第五章：拉萨市)
Chapter 6: Traveling to Tibet (第六章：前往西藏)
Chapter 7: Qinghai (第七章：青海)
Chapter 8: Xining (第八章：西宁市)
Chapter 9: Qinghai Lake (第九章：青海湖)
Chapter 10: Chaka Salt Lake (第十章：茶卡盐湖)
The current book volume, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is a Chinese reading practice book. It would introduce you to numerous important features of the world's highest plateau (such as geography, economy, population, Tibet, Qinghai, Qinghai Lake, etc.). The 6th volume in the Introduction to Chinese Geography Series (中国地理百科全知道) includes both the Chinese text (simplified characters) and pinyin Romanization. With about over 1000 unique Chinese characters, the volume would be suitable for the beginners, lower intermediate and advanced level Chinese language learners (HSK 1-6). Overall, the reading series offers you a variety of elementary level books (Level 1/2/3/4/5/6) to understand China as well as practice Chinese reading fast.
