Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, or the Three Rivers Nature Reserve, contains the headwaters of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Mekong River. The reserve, established in 2000, is to protect the headwaters of the three rivers.
Located in the hinterlands of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in southern Qinghai with at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, the reserve covers an area of about 150,000 square kilometers (15 million hectares), larger than the total area of England and Wales of the UK. It is the largest and highest natural wetland in China.
The reserve boasts for its beautiful scenery and rich resources including grasslands, mountains, rivers, snow mountains, wetlands and wild life. It is home to many precious animals such as Tibetan antelopes, Tibetan gazelles, wild yaks and wild asses. It has been described as "Asia's water tower," providing the lower reaches of the three rivers with 60 billion cubic meters of water annually. (Photo: china.org.cn)
