Tianshuihai (), alternately spelled Tien Shui Hai,
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is a salt water lake in the disputed
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of ...
region administered by China as part of the
Xinjiang Autonomous Region
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autono ...
(
Hotan County
Hotan County (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of ...
,
Hotan Prefecture
Hotan PrefectureThe official spelling is "Hotan" according to (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is located in the Tarim Basin region of southwestern Xinjiang, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region ...
),
which is also
claimed by India. The lake's basin is a small plain, formerly known as the Thaldat basin
or Mapothang.
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The lake drains the Thaldat stream that flows from the southwest. It is located east of the
Lokzhung Range and northwest of the
Aksai Chin Lake.
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The
Xinjiang–Tibet Highway of the 1950s was laid close to the lake, and an army
service station was built on its banks, called the Tianshuihai service station.
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Around 2000, an improved national highway (
G219
China National Highway 219 (G219; Chinese: ''Guódào219'') is a highway which runs along the entire western and southern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kom-Kanas Mongolian ethnic township in Xinjiang to Dongxing in Guangxi. At ...
) was laid on a new alignment further to the east, and the Tianshuihai service station was moved to a new location, closer to the new alignment.
Toponymy
The name Tianshuihai means "sweet water sea" in Chinese, supposedly originating in local army folklore about a dying soldier whose last words before passing were that he wanted to taste sweetened water.
Geography

The Tianshuihai basin (or Thaldat basin) is at the northeastern corner of the
Lokzhung Range of hills, which divide the Aksai Chin region into two distinct halves (called Lingzithang Plains and Kuenlun Plains by geologist
Frederic Drew
Frederick Drew FGS, FRGS (11 August 1836 – 28 October 1891), was an English geologist, who is noted for his geographical study of Kashmir. He worked as a geologist for over a decade in Maharaja Ranbir Singh's government and also served as t ...
). The lake is said to drain a very large area, via the Thaldat stream that flows through the Lokzhung Range in a northeasterly direction.
The Thaldat area forms a small plain, which is covered with soft salt and disconnected watered pools from the Thaldat stream and its substreams (which have been referred to as "Thaldat lakes"). The ground is described as sterile. However, on the western edge of the plain, at the foot of Lokzhung hills, patches of vegetation were reported by
Henry Cayley, who explored the area as the British Joint Commissioner in Ladakh. The local guides referred to these patches as "Thaldat". Cayley also reported that fuel was "plentiful".
Drew reported
kyang (Tibetan wild ass) frequenting the basin, which was seen to be their watering place. Drew reported a two-mile-long track made by them.
The Tianshuihai lake has a depth of .
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All the lakes in the region are saltwater lakes.
Geologically, the area is part of a
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its ow ...
that was formed in early
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Creta ...
.
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History

In 1857,
Adolphe Schlagintweit, crossed the Aksai Chin plateau via the Thaldat basin. He was led through the route by a Yarkandi guide called
Mahomed Ameen. Schagintweit was executed in Kashgar and did not get an opportunity to describe his explorations. Ameen is said to have given an imprecise description of the route to the British.
In 1865, the surveyor
W. H. Johnson W. H. Johnson may refer to:
* William Johnson (surveyor) (died 1883), British surveyor in India
* W. H. Johnson Jr.
William Harvey Johnson Jr. (May 10, 1919 – March 22, 2004) was an American politician and lawyer from Mississippi. He served for ...
surveyed the Aksai Chin region and took the same route as Schlagintweit had done earlier. He too crossed the Askai Chin plains, and went up to
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
at the invitation of its then ruler.
In 1867, the British stationed
Henry Cayley as a Joint Commissioner in Ladakh for supporting British Indian trade through Ladakh. Cayley explored routes through the Aksai Chin plateau, including Thaldat. He noted that his Ladakhi porters seemed to know the place well and also that they found the name "Mapothang" objectionable in the Tibetan language.
In 1870, a trade mission was sent to Yarkand under the leadership of
T. D. Forsyth, during which all the routes through Aksai Chin were explored. It appears that two routes to the west of Thaldat (through
Samzungling and
Lingzithang) were found preferable, Thaldat fell out of interest after this.
Service station
The service station is located at an elevation of .
Due to this high elevation, there are few inhabitants in the remote area. Since the 1990s, there were numerous attempts by outsiders to establish restaurants or businesses in the area, but so far most have failed. While legally not permitted to accommodate outsiders, given the harsh environment, when not accommodating army personnel, the army service station would offer food and lodging to civilians for a relatively expensive price.
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Transportation
China National Highway 219
China National Highway 219 (G219; Chinese: '' Guódào219'') is a highway which runs along the entire western and southern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kom-Kanas Mongolian ethnic township in Xinjiang to Dongxing in Guangxi. ...
, known as the Xinjiang–Tibet highway, passes nearby, connecting it with
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...
and
Kargilik County
Kargilik County ( transliterated from ; ); from Mandarin Chinese Yecheng County (), is a county in southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Kashgar Prefecture. It contains an area of 28,600 km� ...
. The outpost is from the starting point of National Highway 219 in Kargilik County.
The next settlement northward along the highway is
Dahongliutan. The next settlement southward along the highway is the rest stop at in
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
.
The service station was constructed in 1959.
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During the
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibet ...
in 1962, Tanshuihai region served as the main communication artery for 3 fronts of the Chinese offensive.
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See also
*
References
Bibliography
*
*
* {{citation , last=Norin , first=Erik , title=Geological Explorations in Western Tibet , url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.2850 , via=archive.org , year=1946 , publisher=Tryceeri Aktierolaget Thule , location=Stockholm
Hotan Prefecture
Barracks in China
Aksai Chin