Bayanbulak Meanders

Bayanbulak is a large intermontane basin in the central Tianshan, where the upper Kaidu River winds back and forth across flat meadows, leaving oxbow lakes and marshes. In the evening, low-angle sunlight reflects off the meanders, an effect known locally as “nine suns in a row,” as if the river were cut into several golden mirrors. Panjin’s Red Beach owes its colour to coastal salt-marsh plants; here it is the combination of river form in a high basin, grassland seasons and breeding waterbirds.