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Deep, large basins---some as large as hundreds of thousands of square kilometers---are found in the west, notably the Tarim, Junggar, Turpan, Qaidam and Sichuan basins. Medium and small basins---some as small as one or two square kilometers---are found mainly in the eastl. The Tarim Basin, the country?£¤s largest inland basin with a total area of 530,000 square kilometers in southern Xinjiang, is screened in by the Tianshan, Kunlun and Altun ranges, like a lozenge in shape. It is bounded by the Pamirs in the west and the Gansu-Xinjiang border in the east, measuring 1,500 kilometers from west to east and 400-500 kilometers from north to south. It is high in the west and low in the east, its middle part 800-1,300 meters above sea level and its surrounding mountains 4,000-6,000 meters in height. Located in the center of the Asian Continent, the Tarim Basin has an arid climate with little rainfall, its surface structure consists of a series of concentric belts: first, the outer mountains; the gobi area (foothills of stones); then a ring of oases and, in the center, desertland and salt lakes. The landscape changes from belt to belt. The outermost belt is dotted with snow-capped peaks, the natural: reservoirs? of the basin. Deep in the luxuriant forests of the Tianshan Mountains are many natural grazing grounds. The foothills of stones are barren of vegetation. The oases are still another world, with a maze of irrigation canals and vast tracts of wheat, maize, fine cotton, and fruit orchards. In the center of the basin is the Taklimakan Desert, the largest in China, covering an area of 327,000 square kilometers. The Tarim basin is rich in salt and nonferrous metals, and according to recent surveys, also in oil. The snow mountains supply water to many of the rivers here with their melt-water. Most of these rivers are short, and end on the fringes of the deserts, the longer ones being the Yarkant, the Tarim and Qarqan. The 2,179-kilometer Tarim is the longest interior river in china. East of the basin are lakes Lop Nur and Taitema. The Jungger Basin in northern Xinjiang, bounded by the Tianshan Mountains in the south and the Altay Mountains in the north, is triangular in shape. Located 500-1,000 meters above sea level, it has a total area of 380,000 square kilometers, measuring 850 kilometers from west to east and 380 kilometers from north to south at its widest section. The second largest basin in China, it is high in the east and low in the west and similar to the Tarim Basin in topographical structure. The moist air currents blown in form the passes in the northwest give the Junggar Basin more precipitation the Tarim. The temperature here is very low in winter. Landscapes are varied. There are oases at the foothills on the margins of the basin and vast grasslands and deserts in its center. East of the Manas River is the Gurbantunggut desert, which covers an area of 47,300 square kilometers, much smaller than the Taklimakan. The major part of the area west of the Manas River is grasslands and marshes. There is more rainfall here than in the area east of the river. Many large state farms have been set up along the Manas River. Over the past few years their huge tracts of newly reclaimed land have yielded rich crops of wheat and cotton. The Junggar Basin is economically the best-developed area in Xingjiang, where there are large herds of cattle and sheep on its vast grazing grounds as well as rich deposits of minerals. West of the basin is the Karamay Oilfield. On its southern rim is Xinjiang?£¤s capital city, Urumqi, which is linked with the various oases and cities by highways and with Beijing by a railway. The Turpan Depression, lying between the Bogda and the Qoltag ranges in eastern Xinjiang, contains vast tracts of desert in a climate typical of other parts of northwestern China. Surrounded on all sides by mountains 1,500-5,400 meters above sea level, the basin is one of the few lowlands in the world, 245 kilometers from west to east and 75 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of 50,000 square kilometers. At the center of the Turpan (?lowland? in Uygur, a language used by the Uygur people, the major nationality inhabiting Xinjiang) is Aydingkol Lake, which, with its surface 154 meters below sea level, is the lowest spot in China. The Bogda Mountains are less than 200 kilometers from Aydingkol Lake, and yet the difference in altitude between the peak and the lake floor is 5,600 meters! The Turpan Depression is called the ?oasis of fire? because in its very arid climate (an annual precipitation of only 25 mm.) heat builds up quickly but dissipates slowly, producing a mean summer temperature above 30?sometimes as high as 47.6?Although thunder and lightening often make it seem that a storm is threatening, no rain falls because moisture evaporates before it reaches the ground. On the northern rim of the basin is the nationally renowned ? Flaming Mountain?, where in the glaring sunlight the barren slopes of red sandstone look as if they were on fire, and the maximum surface temperature reaches 75?The great difference in temperature between day and night in the basin is well described in the old saying:?fur coasts in the morning and gossamer at noon, eating juicy water-melons by the fireside.? Seasonal difference in temperature is also great in the Turpan Depression, where it is scorchingly hot in summer and cold and windy in winter. The Turpan Depression receives over 3,000 hours of sunshine a year. In summer when the melt-water from the surrounding mountains flows into the rivers, much of it seeps into the ground to provide plentiful subterranean water which irrigates the land through an underground channel system know locally as the karez. The basin is a major farming area in northwest China, known for its wheat, fine cotton, Hami melons and seedless grapes. The Qaidam Basin, in northwestern Qinghai, adjoins the Qilian Mountains in the north and northeast, the Altun Mountains in the northwest, and Kunlun Mountains in the south. Abundant reserves of oil, natural gas, borax, asbestos, gypsum and metals have earned Qaidam---which means ? salt marsh? in Mongolian---the reputation of ? treasure basin. It is 800 kilometers from west to east and 350 kilometers from north to south in its widest section, covering a total area of 220,000 square kilometers. It is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and the elevation of its floor is 2,700-3,000 meters above sea level. An inland plateau type basin is enclosed on all sides by mountains and highlands more than 4,000 meters in elevation. The basin consists of varied physical features. First, there are gobi areas on the rims, then rolling hills, the open plains, and, in the center, lakes the oases here, well fed by melt-water, are good for farming and animal husbandry. There are scattered deserts in the open piedmont gobi areas (stone deserts). In the southeast are large tracts of marshlands and salt lakes. Salt is found not only in lakes and swamps but also in vast areas of the salt plains. Of the more than 100 salt lakes, the most famous are the Chaerhan, Caka and Hoh lakes. Chaerhan Lake alone has a reserve of 25,000 million tons?aenough to fill the needs of China?£¤s entire population for 7,000-8,000 years. Vast portions of it surface are solid salt up to 15 meters thick. One of the highways runs for 31 kilometers over this salt surface. A section of a railway also crosses the salt-crushed lake to Tibet. Over the past decades, much has been done to develop the Qaidam Basin area, and factories and towns have mushroomed in what used to be wasteland bare of human habitation for hundreds of miles around. The eastern and southeastern parts of the basin have newly developed farming areas. The Sichuan Basin---also known as the Purple Basin because of the color of its shale and soil---along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in eastern Sichuan is bounded by the Qionglai Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west, the Dalou Mountains on the Yuannan-Guizhou Plateau in the south, the Daba Mountains in the north, and the Wushan Mountains in the east. Fringed on all sides by hills and mountains 2,000-3,000 meters above sea level, it is a typical basin containing hillocks of fairly regular height. With a total area of 200,000 square kilometers, it has a floor 400-800 meters above sea level. The purple soil set off by the green hills and trees is a beautiful sight. The basin is drained by many rivers. In its south is the Yangtze River, which is joined by the Minjiang, Toujiang and Jaling from the north and by the Wujiang from the south. These rivers cut the basin into scattered hilly regions. The basin can be divided into three parts. The eastern part is rows upon rows of mountains with valleys in between an orderly ranged. The central part is a major farming area, with numerous flat-topped hills mostly less than 400 meters in elevation. The western part is the Chengdu Plain (Western Sichuan Plain), which, with its fertile soil and numerous rivers, is the most affluent area in the basin. Situated in the sub-tropics and sheltered by the mountains in the north against the southward movement of the cold currents, the Sichuan Basin has mild winters, long summers, early springs and rainy autumns. It is green with trees and crops in all four seasons. A major rice producer, it is also known for its tung-oil, sugar-cane, tangerines, silk, tea and oil-bearing rapeseed, as well as natural gas, coal, well-salt, phosphorus, copper and sulphur. Access to mountain-bound Sichuan used to be very difficult. In the words of an ancient Chinese poet, ? Travel to Sichuan is as difficult as travel to heaven.? Now the regions easily accessible by the Baoji-Chengdu, Chengdu-Chongqing, Chengdu-Kunming, Sichuan-Guizhou and Xiangfan-Chongqing railways built after 1949 and a highway, water and air transport network.. The Sichuan Basin has become a major industrial base of southwest China. Other Large Basins include the Hami Basin in eastern Xinjiang, the Yanqi Basin in central Xinjing , the Hangzhong Basin in southern Shaanxi, the Nanyang Basin in southwestern Henna and northwestern Hubei, the Sanggan Basin in northern Shanxi and northwestern Hebei, the Datong Basin in northern Shanxi, the Xuanhua Basin in northwestern Hebei, the Fenhe Valleys in central south Shanxi, and the Taipei and Taizhong Basins in Taiwan.