T’ang-ku-la Mountains,Tanggula MountainsChinese (Pinyin) Tanggula Shan or (Wade-Giles romanization) T’ang-ku-la Shan, Pinyin Tanggula Shan, also called Dangla Mountainsmountain range in the Tibetan Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. On the southeastern high plateau south of the mountains, there are many large salt lakes. In its eastern part the range forms the boundary between Tibet and Tsinghai Qinghai province. Although many peaks are higher than 19,000 feet (5,700 mmetres) , and the tallest, Basudan Ula, reaches some 20,000 feet (6,096 m100 metres), the mountains do not appear to be particularly high, since the surrounding plateau averages little less than about 16,500 feet (5,030 m000 metres) above sea level. The range is rather fairly rounded in contour in the west; the most rugged and deeply incised section is in the east, where there are considerable areas of permanent snow.

The northern flank of the mountains is drained by various headwaters of the T’ung-t’ien Tongtian River, a tributary of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). The southeastern flank drains into the Nu River, the headwater of the Salween River; and the Mekong River rises at the eastern end of the range. The range is mountains are crossed by the important T’ang-ku-la Tanggula Pass, which carries the main route from that links Lhasa (capital of Tibet) and the southern Tibetan region to the Qaidam (Tsaidam) Basin and beyond , in Qinghai to Sinkiang province to the north and westeast. Mineral surveys have revealed deposits of iron ore, hard coal, graphite, and asbestos in the range.