Symphony in the snow mountains

Symphony in the snow mountains 10:21, August 18, 2010  

Yuzhu Peak

While many holiday-makers choose a sunny beach, rural retreat or beautiful grassland to escape the hot metropolitan atmosphere for their summer vacation, I discovered a remote corner of China - Golmud in Qinghai Province and I was lucky to catch a symphonic concert at the stunning Kunlun Mountains Pass.

After taking the train for eight hours from Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, I arrived at Golmud, the starting point of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, the world's highest road above sea level.

The city itself is very clean and quiet, with only a few people and cars on the street, very like a country town in Australia or Canada. The city is the largest by area in the world, according to Luo Zhenggang, a local government official, spanning 124,500 square kilometers. Most of its population of 270,000 live in the comparatively-smaller city district of 30 square kilometers.

Golmud was founded in 1954, during the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. General Mu Shengzhong (1910-1994) led 1,200 workers and soldiers in the construction project that covered 11 mountains and took seven months and four days to complete. A park in Golmud marks his achievements.

"General Mu Shengzhong not only brought us the highway, but also the chance of development for Qinghai and Tibet, especially our city," said Hu, a local guide.

The highway itself is a great way to take in the picturesque views of the area. Deserts, mountains and wildlife abound and the Kunlun Mountains, a source of several Chinese legends, were especially attractive for me.

On the second day of my visit to the city, I took a bus along the famous stretch of road to the 4,300-meter-high Kunlun Mountain Pass for a special symphonic performance. With the imposing 6,178-meter-high Yuzhu Peak as the backdrop, watching the Holy Snow Mountain - Ode to Kunlun Mountains concert was like being in a fairyland. Snow-capped, cloud covered mountains could be seen in the distance as 90 members of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and 100 members of the Kunlun Choir presented a 50-minute-long show.

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