Although water is the stream of life, there are barely any signs of life in the salt lake situated in the Qaidam Basin of Qinghai Province. The salinity of the lake water here is higher than that of seawater, thus forming a thick white layer of salt crust on the lake’s surface. When the weather is merry, the blue sky reflects upon the water of Chaka Salt Lake as it does to a mirror, and this is how it comes to be known as the “Mirror of the Sky” in China.

The place where perched the Qaidam Basin was once a part of the vast ocean eons ago, but diastrophism gave rise to high mountains which later formed the basin wherein the deposition and dehydration of seawater took place by which one after another salt lake was formed. Besides edible salts, the basin is abundant in valuable mineral resources that can be employed for development in aerospace technology, military affairs, medicine, etc. Therefore, highways and modern factories have been constructed in Qaidam Basin, the “cornucopia of resources”, in recent years.

Although the Mongolian people who live in this arid land of desolation share a place with such treasures, they still follow the nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors and move in pursuit of water and grass. For them, horses are the treasures that matter most. Nevertheless, the red and black goji berries bred by this alkalinity-rich land also bring them wealth.

It seems that people under the boundless firmament lying above such spacious land always acquire the treasures meant for them.

Assistant Producer: Mandy KWOK
Producer: Christine YU