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Lop Nur

Lop Nur is in the Tarim River basin in the southeast of Xinjing. It was once a large salt lake, and then it dried up, only some small lakes and channels existing there. After 30 years as a wasteland, rich sylvite resources have been found under the dried out bed of the lake, which ranges the largest potential sylvite producer in China. So it has been designated as the largest town in Xinjing.
The government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has decided to bring new life to Lop Nur. The huge project "diverting water from north to south" aimed to restore water to the 240 km dried-up river beds in Lop Nur. The 65,000 square kilometre Xinjiang Lop Nur Wild Camel Nature Reserve was established On March 18th 1999 by the State Environment Protection Administration of China (SEPA). The protection here is not only the Bactrian camels but also other endangered species, such as the wild sheep and the Tibetan ass, which are found in the northern and southern fringes of the Nature Reserve.