Yinshan Mountain Range

A mountain range in the central part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. It begins in the west with the Tianshan Mountains, and is at the eastern end of the mountain range that runs east-west through western China. The range stretches for about 600 kilometers, encircling the southern edge of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. The mountain range was formed by the Paleozoic orogeny, but it is a tilted land mass that slopes northward, and is the watershed between the inland and oceanic basins. The western part is called the Wolf Mountains, and from the central to eastern parts it is divided into two lines, the Sertien Mountains in the north and the Daqing Mountains in the south. The altitude ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 meters, with the highest peak of the Daqing Mountains reaching 2,400 meters. The northern side continues to the Inner Mongolian Plateau with a gentle gradient, but the southern side drops off steeply to the Hetao Plain in the Yellow River basin, with a relative height of 1,000 meters. At the southern foot of the mountain are the cities of Hohhot and Baotou, and the Baolan Line (Baotou-Lanzhou), which opened in 1958, runs along the northern bank of the Yellow River. Báinh Obo, at the northern foot of the central part, is a rich source of iron ore. This mountain range has long been considered important as a defense line on the northern border of China, and the Great Wall was built along the eastern part of the mountain during the Qin and Han dynasties.

[Toshiaki Sakai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、内モンゴル自治区中央部にある山脈。西は天山(てんざん)山脈に始まり、中国西部を東西に走る山脈群の東端にあり、内モンゴル高原の南縁を取り囲むように延長約600キロメートルにわたり山々が連なる。古生代の造山運動によって生じた山脈であるが、北へ傾く傾動地塊となっており、内陸流域と外洋流域の分水界である。西部は狼山(ろうざん)山脈とよばれ、中部から東部にかけて2列に分かれ、北をセルテン山脈、南を大青山(だいせいざん)山脈とよぶ。高度は1500～2000メートル、大青山山脈の最高峰は2400メートルに達する。北面は緩やかな勾配(こうばい)で内モンゴル高原に続くが、南側には黄河(こうが)流域の河套(かとう)平原へ比高1000メートルの急斜面を落としている。南麓(なんろく)にはフフホト、パオトウなどの都市があり、黄河北岸に沿って1958年に開通した包蘭線（パオトウ―蘭州(らんしゅう)）が走る。中央部北麓のバインオボは優良な鉄鉱産地である。この山地は昔から中国北辺の防衛線として重要視され、東部地区に沿って秦(しん)・漢時代に万里の長城が築かれた。

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