The Taishan Mountains,

One of the largest mountains ranges in Asia, has rich deposits of coal, rock salt and lands. the Tianjin range runs across the middle of Xinjiang to divide it into the Jungian and Tiram basins. extending as far west as the Central Asian part of soviet Union and east to the Gansu-xinjiang border, the rang has a total length of 2,500K.ms. of which 1,500 k.ms are on Chinese territory. Betwen 250 and300 k. m. wide from north to south, it includes several mountain chains running parallel west to east at an elevation of 3,000 to 5,000 m. Higher in the west then in the east, it has two famous passes in its eastern section linking the northern and southern parts of Xinjiang. One is Dabancheng, which leads the lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway to the city of Urumqi in the northwest; and the other is Qijiaojing northwest of Hami. The Tianshan range has many high, snow-covered peaks, notably Hantengri (6,995 metres) and Tomur (7,435 m.) and it its numerous glaciers provide headstreams for many rivers. there are many interments basins, the best-known being, from west to east, the Ili, Yanqi, Turpan and Hami basins. air currents from the Arctic Ocean make the northern slopes. of the Tunisian range more moist then the southern ones. The northern slopes have dense spruce forest, while mountain grasslands dominate the southern slopes.