History amid the mountains

Between the northeastern part of Qinghai province and the western border of Gansu province lies the Qilian Mountains, which extend about 800 kilometers from east to west and 200 to 400 km from north to south. In the language of ancient Xiongnu nomads, Qilian means heaven, or tian, and was once called the Tianshan Mountains.

They are the mountains that the great poet Li Bai (701-762) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) wrote about in Guan Shan Yue (Moon over the Border Mountains), "The bright moon rises over the Tianshan Mountains, amid the vast, misty sea of clouds". The poem depicts the mutual longing between frontier soldiers far from home and their wives, a bleak image of a millennium of endless border warfare between agricultural and nomadic groups.

Glacial meltwater from the Qilian Mountains has been an important water source for the cities along the Hexi Corridor from Wuwei to Dunhuang. It supported various activities along the 1,000-km-long Hexi Corridor, part of the ancient Silk Road, facilitating the long-distance transmission of civilizations.

Standing between two distinct production modes on its northern and southern slopes, the Qilian Mountains, a key geographic landmark, have witnessed the formation and evolution of the history, culture and ethnic landscape of not only China but also the eastern part of the Eurasian continent.

This geopolitical landmark dictated the expansion and contraction of national territories over history: when the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) held it, they "cut off the Xiongnu's right arm"; when the Tang lost control, the Silk Road was obstructed; and when the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) built the Jiayu Pass, they took the mountains as the frontier.

The Qilian Mountains are not merely a backdrop, but a shaping force, as portrayed by Qiu Huadong in A Biography of the Qilian Mountains, a book recently co-published by Yilin Press and Qinghai People's Publishing House.