The source of the Jade Road is among the ice peaks.

by lianchengji on 2009-05-22 09:24:55

On the third day of arriving at the Heishan team, a lean and efficient sub-team reorganized by the scientific expedition team began to set off towards the source of Baiyu River. This section of mountain road was even steeper. After twelve hours of arduous forced march, the sub-team camped on a grassy highland. The altitude of this place is more than 4500 meters, and its name marked on the military map is "Hannilake". "Hannilake" means "Emperor's pasture" in Uighur language. None of all the tributaries of Hannilake River produce jade, so the primary deposit of the white jade we are looking for should be at the source. The Hannilake pasture lives up to its name as an emperor's pasture, which is indeed very fertile and rich. However, at this time, no one has the heart, or accurately speaking, the strength to appreciate it. After camping, perhaps because of the excessive fatigue of these few days, almost all the team members began to have altitude sickness, including many people who had been to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau several times. The only explanation is that here is located at the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the air is not only thin, but also poorly circulated. One of our scientific expedition team members cried loudly for no reason when sleeping at night, and spoke nonsense. Later, when we asked him: "Why did you do that?" He said he himself did not know.