Why Tibet is known as the ROOF OF THE WORLD?
Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region or TAR) borders Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan internally while India, Burma, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal meet its external borders. It covers a massive 1,220,000 sq km (470,920 square miles), which is about 12.8% of the whole of China. The average height of the whole region is more than 4,000 m above sea level, for which Tibet is known as the ‘roof of the world’. The highest peak of Tibet is also the highest in the world. Mt Everest is 8,848 m above sea level. Most of the Himalaya mountain range, one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world at only 4 million years old, lies within Tibet. The vast land is also the cradle of several great rivers such as the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Nu River (Salween), the Lancang River (Mekong), the Yarlong Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Indus, and the Ganges. Tibet also offers awe-inspiring scenery of beautiful lakes and valleys. Over 1,500 lakes including Heavenly Lake Namtso and the holy Lake Manasarova
