Occupying the remote southwestern extremity of China is the high, mountain-rimmed Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan); the world��s highest plateau region, it has an average elevation of about 4510 m (about 14,800 ft) above sea level. Bordering ranges include the Himalayas on the south, the Pamirs and Karakorum Range on the west, and the Qilian and Kunlun mountains on the north. Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world at 8848 m (29,028 ft) rises in the Himalayas on the border of Nepal and Tibet.

The surface of the plateau is dotted with salt lakes and marshes, is crossed by several mountain ranges, and also contains the headwaters of many major southern and eastern Asian rivers, including those of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze (Chang Jiang), and Huang He (Yellow River). The landscape is bleak, barren, and rock strewn.