Циньлинские горы: природа и географическое положение

Mountain range in Shaanxi, China

the Chinese research station in Antarctica

The Qinling or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Yellow River systems, providing a natural boundary between North and South China and support a huge variety of plant and wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else on earth. To the north is the densely populated Wei River valley, an ancient center of Chinese civilization. To the south is the Han River valley. To the west is the line of mountains along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. To the east are the lower Funiu and Dabie Mountains, which rise out of the coastal plain. The northern side of the range is prone to hot weather, however the physical barrier of the mountains mean that the land to the north has a semi arid climate, with the lack of rich, fertile landscape that can not support a wealth of wildlife. The mountains also acted as a natural defense against nomadic invasions from the north, as only four passes cross the mountains. In the late 1990s a railway tunnel and a spiral were completed, thereby easing travel across the range. The highest mountain in the range is Mount Taibai at , which is about west of the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an. Three culturally significant peaks in the range are Mount Hua , Mount Li , and Mount Maiji .

The environment of the Qin Mountains is a deciduous forest ecoregion. The Qin Mountains form the watershed of the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins; historically, the former was home to deciduous broadleaf forests, while the latter has milder winters with more rainfall, and was generally covered in warmer, temperate, evergreen broadleaf forests. Thus, the Qin Mountains are commonly used as the demarcation line between northern and southern China. The low elevation forests of the Qin foothills are dominated by temperate deciduous trees, like oaks (Quercus acutissima, Q. variabilis), elm (Ulmus spp. ), common walnut (Juglans regia), maple (Acer spp. ), ash (Fraxinus spp.) and Celtis spp. Evergreen species of these low elevation forests include broadleaf chinquapins (Castanopsis sclerophylla), ring cupped oaks (Quercus glauca), and conifers, like Pinus massoniana. At the middle elevations, conifers, like Pinus armandii, are mixed with broadleaf birch (Betula spp. ), oaks (Quercus spp. ), and hornbeams (Carpinus spp. ); from about , these mid elevation forests give way to a subalpine forest of firs (Abies fargesii, A. chensiensis), Cunninghamia, and birch (Betula spp. ), with rhododendrons (Rhododendron fastigiatum) abundant in the understory. Timber harvesting reached a peak in the 18th century in the Qinling Mountains. The region is home to the endemic Qinling panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis), a brown and white subspecies of the giant panda (A. melanoleuca), which is protected with the help of the Changqing and Foping nature reserves. The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus), at , is one of the largest amphibians in the world, and is critically endangered; it is locally pursued for food, and for use of its body parts in traditional Chinese medicine. An environmental education program is being undertaken to encourage sustainable management of wild populations in the Qin Mountains, and captive breeding programs have also been set up.

According to the Nuclear Information Project, China "keeps most of its nuclear warheads at a central storage facility in the Qinling mountain range, though some are kept at smaller regional storage facilities."