Qīngtǔ Lake

Qingtu Lake lies at the northern end of the Shiyang River basin, beyond the cultivated oasis of Minqin. The river carries water down from the Qilian Mountains through Liangzhou before reaching the desert margins, where shallow lakes and marshes have shifted and contracted over time. Older sources call the basin's waters Zhuyize or Baiting Lake. Reeds, fish and wetlands once marked this meeting of the river and the sand, in a landscape where the extent of open water has never been fixed.