Special Feature: Journey to 331, Across China's Northern Frontier!

A route stretching over 9,000 kilometers in total length

It traverses countless forests along China's northern frontier

Dubbed the "King of Northern China's Highways"

(National Highway 331 is currently China's second-longest national highway; please view horizontally for the full landscape panorama of Highway 331, mapped by Chen Zhihao & Wang Shenwen/Planet Research Institute)

Desolation and vibrancy, the ordinary and the extraordinary

Highway 331 spans an exceptionally long distance from east to west

(Please view horizontally, the mist-shrouded Changbai Mountain Tianchi resembles a fairyland, with winding paths leading to its meteorological station, photographer: Zhuo Yongsheng)

(Please view horizontally, the rugged Junggar Basin looks like a demonic realm, featuring Yardang landforms, photographer: Hao Pei)

Gradually advancing from coastal areas into the heart of Eurasia

Following the east-to-west decline in moisture

(Please view horizontally, the frozen expanse of the Greater Khingan Range; Northeast China's forest zone is the country's largest natural forest area, photographer: Liu Zhaoming)

(Please view horizontally, the fiery-red maple trees of Inner Mongolia's Daiqintala Five-Leaf Maple Reserve, photographer: Li Ang)

(Please view horizontally, the vast green plains of Inner Mongolia's Xilingol Grassland, photographer: Ma Jun)

Coupled with moisture blocked by the Tibetan Plateau

The northwestern winds grow particularly fierce

(A sudden "black storm" strikes Inner Mongolia, image source: Visual China)

(Xinjiang's Karamay Wuerhe Devil City, photographer: Zhu Jinhua)

(Inner Mongolia's Xilingol Pingdingshan Volcanic Cluster, photographer: Xu Bo)

(A bird's-eye view of the massive desert on Inner Mongolia's Alxa Plateau, photographer: Chen Jianfeng)

Temperate inland arid and semi-arid zones

covering an area equivalent to more than 30 times the size of Taiwan

(Map of China's arid and semi-arid regions, designed by Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute)

such as those boasting sand dunes hundreds of meters high

(Please view horizontally, the curves of dunes in the Badain Jaran Desert resemble the human body, strikingly beautiful, photographer: Wu Wei)

(Please view horizontally, dark clouds loom over the Gurbantunggut Desert, casting vast shadows on the ground, photographer: Hao Pei)

National Highway 331 encompasses five of them

forming a desolate expanse of Gobi

(Gobi desert in Xinjiang piled with gravel, photographer: Chen Jianfeng)

can race forward unimpeded

(A highway through the desert near National Highway 331, photographer: Alan in the Distance)

(National Highway 331 traversing grasslands, photographer: Li Yusen)

here, one can fully revel in the howling winds

truly deserving the title of China's northern frontier

it is also the most pronounced region of China's temperate climate

(Please view horizontally, Yalu River Estuary National Wetland Reserve, photographer: Chang Jianru)

(Barkol Grassland and Singing Sand Mountain, photographer: Fei Xiang)

(Kanas Lake and snow-capped mountains in Xinjiang, photographer: Jiang Chenming)

not only boasting dazzling dreamlike landscapes

such as larch, birch, Mongolian oak, and others

(Mixed coniferous and broadleaf forests in Altay, Xinjiang, swipe to view more plants, photographers: Zheng Feiyuan & Zheng Feiyuan & Zhao Gaoxiang & Li Xingzhi & Huo Chunguang & Zhu Jinhua)

Saxaul, poplar, camel thorn, Nitraria tangutorum, etc.

("Lonely" desert poplar, swipe to see more plants, photographers @ Zhao Laiqing & Yang Xi & Li Junbo & VCG & Yu Xin & VCG)

Siberian tiger, black bear, sable, steppe polecat

Reindeer, roe deer, snowshoe hare, etc.

(A sable in the snow, swipe to see more animals, photographers @ Sun Xiaohong & Liu Lu & Lu Wen & Li Lu & Ao Yongmei)

Camel, wild ass, marmot

(A molting wild camel running, swipe to see more animals, photographers @ Chen Jianwei & Guo Hongyu & Zhao Liqiang & Liu Lu & Qiu Menghan)

China's largest cold-temperate biological gene bank

And an indispensable ecological kingdom

The ecological balance of this land is gradually being disrupted

(On either side of the road are the Greater Khingan Mountains forest and cultivated farmland, photographer @ Zheng Feiyuan)

(The expansion of the Mu Us Sandy Land is caused by unlimited cultivation and environmental degradation, photographer @ Chen Jianfeng)

China's first major ecological construction project

In Northeast, North, and Northwest China

(Schematic of the "Three-North" Shelterbelt Project, designed by @ Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute, photographer @ Jiang Hong)

Four generations have silently planted trees in the wilderness

Building the world's largest afforestation project to date

(Now many people also "plant trees in the cloud" online; below is the "Ant Forest" area in Inner Mongolia, photographer @ Li Heng)

The Greater Khingan Mountains forest region also in 2015

The ecology of the entire northern China continues to recover

Only National Highway 331 can traverse the desolate northern wilderness

(Aerial view of the extensive Hailar River wetlands, image credit @ Chang Guang Satellite)

(The vibrant Rose Lake in the Badain Jaran Desert, photographer @ Liu Bai)

(Please view horizontally, autumn scenery of Inner Mongolia, photographer @ Zhang Qiang)

This is one of the charms of National Highway 331

On one side lies a unique ecological treasure

On the other, a century-spanning ecological project

Yet it conceals intense magmatic activity

(The towering Changbai Mountain Tianchi, photographer @ Ren Jia See)

(The Arxan volcanic group, photographer @ Yang Xiao)

Northern China boasts exceptionally favorable metallogenic conditions

(The spiral walls of the No. 3 mine pit in Fuyun, Xinjiang, photographer @ Guo Cheng'an)

(Please view horizontally, the Karamay Oilfield on Xinjiang's Gobi dotted with "pumpjacks," photographer @ Zhang Weiguo/VCG)

6 provinces and over 70 counties and cities

Such as one of the nation's large coal-power bases

(Distant view of Xilinhot city skyline in Inner Mongolia, image credit @ VCG)

Home to Asia's largest graphite deposit

(Snowy cityscape of Hegang, Heilongjiang, image credit @ VCG)

With diatomite reserves ranking first in Asia

(Night view of Linjiang city, Jilin, photographer @ Qing Xiaoxi)

The molybdenum mines of Siziwang Banner

National Highway 331 connects four neighboring countries along its route

Several border ports along China's northern frontier

(The four neighboring countries are North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan; the image below shows Manzhouli Port, currently China's largest land port, photographed by @ Zhao Jiale)

Forming a nationwide land border network

(The streets of Manzhouli are brightly lit, photographed by @ Hong Sam)

(The easternmost city of Fuyuan welcomes nightfall, photographed by @ Zhang Yang's Xiaoqiang)

For China's century-long modernization drive

Injecting an endless supply of "blood"

(Inner Mongolia has the highest total wind energy reserves in China; the image below shows a wind farm in Inner Mongolia, image source @ Visual China)

(Inner Mongolia is also rich in solar energy resources; the image below shows a solar power plant in Inner Mongolia, photographed by @ Jiao Xiaoxiang)

New industries are bursting with vitality

(Inner Mongolia ranks first among China's five major pastoral regions in comprehensive livestock production; the image below shows modern farming in Sonid Right Banner, aiding local poverty alleviation, photographed by @ Jing Yan)

(Heilongjiang's "Great Northern Wilderness" is a famous granary in China; the image below shows harvesters at work, photographed by @ Xu Hongyu)

This energy corridor of China's northern frontier

Exploring the true face of China's northern frontier

(A statue of Genghis Khan on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, swipe to view more landscapes, photographed by @ Qiu Huining & Sun Hongguo & Liu Yusheng)

(Winter camel racing of the Ewenki people, swipe to view more cultural scenes, photographed by @ Lu Qinping & Lu Wen & Zhang Kangnian & Lu Wen & Visual China & Shui Dongqing)

(Border guards at Erlianhot's national gate, known as "China's True North Gate," swipe to view more border scenes, photographed by @ Visual China & Lu Weiping & Shi Yaochen & Zhu Fusheng & Zhu Jinhua)

Planet Research Institute & MINI China

Inviting 5 photographers and MINI owners

to journey together along the western border highway G219

spending 17 days to witness the wonders of this planet

selecting 5 readers and MINI owners

to explore the northern border highway G331 together

("Border Nomad" event Inner Mongolia scenery, swipe to view more, image credit @MINI China)

They gathered in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia

with the MINI COUNTRYMAN as their travel companion

passing through forests, grasslands, deserts, and snow-capped mountains

and visiting the Ewenki, Mongolian, and Kazakh ethnic groups

("Border Nomad" event Xinjiang scenery, swipe to view more, image credit @MINI China)

Through the lens of renowned photographer Xiao Quan

(click to watch, this film is co-produced by MINI China and the Institute of Planetology)

China's longest highway G219, where mountains and clouds gather

while highway G331 boasts vast wilderness stretching thousands of miles

(aerial view of G331 shrouded in clouds, traversing the vast Greater Khingan Range, photographer @Zhao Gaoxiang)

(the galloping nomads inherit freedom and courage, photographer @Liu Zhaoming)

(snow-covered G331 cutting through northern landscapes and roaring factories, photographer @Zuo Ma)

Proofread by | Quasimodo by the River & Shanyuelou & Zheng Yi

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