I just stumbled on this thread, and I don't have time to read it entirely, sorry... so if the following is information that has already been made available, please ignore me.
Just wanted to say that I've recently been at that place. The area is brimming with military activity, there are helicopters flying, you can see tanks and heavy artillery etc. You can also hear artillery fire. The white numbers are targets, I've seen tanks taking shots at them.
The Chinese characters on the ground serve various purposes; some I couldn't read, some warn of the area being off-limits, some say "protect nature" *g* etc. Note that in China it's relatively common to write huge characters on the ground (usually white stones are used), by and large the meaning is rather basic and uninteresting (protect the grass, don't go here, in some years this will be a green garden and more such nonsense).
In the area, there are lots of military patrols. The soldiers are friendly and approchable, but don't give any information if you ask them.
As I said, I've got no idea whether the above is of any use to you guys.
In my limited free time I have been browsing locations for a possible match to this photo. Note that I'm not looking for the actual place where the photo was taken, but rather for the place it represents.
I've been through all of India and most of southeast Asia. I wish I was posting this to say I'd found it. Does anyone have some ideas on how I might faster locate the area represented? Recall from my previous post that I feel that the photo was not taken at the Huangyangtan site; too many things are shown in that photo that aren't present in Aksai Chin. That's why I'm combing other areas.
Is this whole thing serious? In about 20 minutes and using the info in the posts, I found the place on Google Earth. The shape and locations of the surrounding terrain and other bodies of water is the same. Go to 33d 31'22.35"N 79d47'41.20"E. that is the body of water in the model or I am a Chinese Aviator! The general "lay of the land" is identical. Even the shape of the shorelines of the lakes and the "chain" arrangement of the primary lake. No mystery here! Probably the Chinese way of training for the eventual takeover of the region. You can bet that they want this back! Especially since they have fought over it at least twice in the past 50 years. Who knows what for. They have their reasons and for the Chinese, that is all that is important.
Mr. Lynch, are you referring specifically to the photo shown in jeffryv 's post from 14 August (link: Post of photo from Xinhua)?
I ask because I'm not able to match the area you pointed to and that in the photo. The KMZ seems to be broken, or it doesn't work for me at least, so I couldn't check this any further.
You wouldn't be the first person to call me a bit slow, if I can't see the match, but I believe you are perhaps referring to the general question of which region is represented by that landscape-within-a-landscape. If so, well, good work but that was answered some time ago (link: Region identified, with additional input in reply to that).
Let us know. I'd be really happy if someone has, in fact, figured out the Xinhua photo.
Brilliant post, it's been a facinating read. I find it hard to beileve that it's not a military area, the buildings etc on the eastern side have to suggest this.
Now i'm going to go and make a find of my own so that I can make worldwide news.
At the airbase to the north, there are some MAJOR tunnel entrances at the far north end, as large as Cheyenne Mountain. It this the major command centre for the Chinese military or do they have another location?
I know there is a large underground facility, but not where? Is this it?
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