The vast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is home to a wealth of wildlife species unique to the region. Tibetan brown bears wander by the lakesides. Square-faced Tibetan foxes sit in patient stillness near the burrows of plateau pikas. Bearded vultures glide in circles overhead. Herds of Kiang assess drift across the grasslands, sometimes even racing the cars on the highway. Wild yaks stand guard over their territories. This is one of the last pure places on Earth, a land of natural beauty that surpasses anything the human imagination can conjure.

In China, from the foothills of snow-capped mountains to the deep, dense forests of pristine tropical rainforests, lives a rare primate—the Snub-nosed Monkey. Currently, there are only five species of the snub-nosed monkey left in the world, four of which are found in China: Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkey, Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey and Stryker's Snub-nosed Monkey.

If you want to understand the wildlife of the giant panda, you must visit the Tangjiahe Nature Reserve—part of the Giant Panda National Park. This is absolutely the best place in all of China to observe wild herbivores in low-to-mid elevation forests. Here, otters frolic in the rivers, Chinese Muntjac wander through the woodlands. Wild boars and tufted deer forage in the undergrowth, while a black bear’s “couch” is not far away, perched among the treetops. The elusive takin can be seen across the mountainsides, and Tibetan macaques wait by the roadside.

On fog-shrouded Balang Mountain in Sichuan, the Chinese monal sings out. It walks across the snow, its peacock-like form still clearly visible. The male's feathers shimmer with more than ten distinct colors, gleaming with a metallic sheen—the orange red of its neck especially dazzling, as if a mythical bird has descended to the human world.