[Best viewed at original size]
The Nan Shan (or South Mountain) pastureland is located about 75 km to the south of, and about two hours’ drive by car from Urumqi. The pastureland in the valleys is mostly over one thousand metres in elevation, surrounded by mountains with snow-capped peaks. Pine and dragon-spruce trees cover the mountain slopes, while nomadic Kazakh herdsmen live, with their flocks of horses, cattle and sheep, in the clay-brick houses and white yurts which dot the green pastureland in the valleys.
By the time we reached the place, it was almost near noon so I could not enhance the atmosphere of the picture with the use of morning (or evening) light, or the wispy clouds of mist that would float on the mountain slopes above the pastureland in the early morning. But it has started to snow about ten days ago, and the fallen snow on the ground and trees provided an effective visual backdrop for some of the pictures.