Located in the two Counties of Wuwei and Zhangye and partial area of the Jinchang City, Gansu Province, the 2653000 hectare Qilian Mountain Nature Reserve was established primarily for the protection of water—source—conserving forest and grassland vegetation.

The Reserve, 1,200 km across and 120 km from north to south, possesses 1, 044 species of higher plants. Among them water — source — conserving forests are mainly Qinghai clouded fir, Qilian round cypress, and a few species of birches. There are also 58 species of beasts, more than 140 species of birds and 13 species of amphibians and reptiles. Among them such as white-lipped deer, kiang, wild yak, argali, snow leopard, etc. are under the key national protection. The Reserve is also one of the important supplying sources of animal musk which is very precious for medicine in China.

Featuring unique and typical natural ecosystem environment, fauna and flora region systems, the Reserve plays an important role in scientific researches. The Qilian Mountain Range lies over 4200 meters above sea level and is snow—covered throughout the year, thus creating 2,859 lines of glaciers in an area of 1,972. 5 square kilometers, and then becoming a green reservoir in the northwest highlands.