Qilian Mountains
The Shule River is a river of the northern Tibetan Plateau and Hexi Corridor of northwestern China. It starts in the Qilian Mountains and flows north then west for about . Historically, the river flowed seasonally into Lop Nur, an intermittent salt lake in the Taklimakan Desert. Due to large irrigation diversions and the gradual desertification of the region, the river dries up about two-thirds of the way along its course in the Kumtag Desert.