Namco Tibetan "Namu" means heaven, so the name of the lake means "Tianhu" and Mongolian calls it Tengger Caspian Sea. The lake is 4718m above sea level and covers an area of1920km2. It is the largest lake in Xizang Autonomous Region, the second largest saltwater lake in China and the highest lake in the world. Located in Dangxiong County and Bango County in northern Tibet, this lake is one of the three sacred lakes in Tibet (the other two lakes are Yangdanyong Lake in Langkazi County and Mabangyong Lake in Ali District). There is a legend about the cause of Namco. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful and strong herdsman girl who grazed cattle and sheep on the grassland in northern Tibet for many years. One night, she dreamed that a man wearing a white coat and a white hat and riding a white horse came down from Nyainqentanglha Mountain to meet her. Soon, she gave birth to a boy. The child soon grew tall and strong, with endless strength. There is a big stone beside the tent where they live. According to the old people, there is a well under the boulder that communicates with the sea. No one is allowed to move this boulder, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable. But the child was curious and wanted to try his own strength, so he held the stone in his hands and lifted it gently, and the stone was picked up. He put the stone aside and walked to his tent. Suddenly I heard the sound of running water behind me. Looking back, the huge waves came straight. He hurried into the tent, picked up his mother and ran up the hill. Standing on the top of the mountain, they saw that the water level was still rising, so his mother told him to move the mountain to block the water. He removed 18 peaks on the sunny slope of Nyainqentanglha Mountain and 19 ridges on the shady slope, and finally stopped the flood. The waters surrounded by these peaks have become the Namco now. In order to make a living, the boy went to bring back all the bison on the mountain and let his mother feed them. His mother was careless, and fifty wild yaks ran away again. This is the ancestor of wild yak in northern Tibet today. The fifty bison that failed to escape later multiplied into today's domestic cattle. Once, the boy went out to graze and met an old man. He was dressed in white, wearing a white hat, riding a white horse and holding a white spear. He claimed to be the Nyainqentanglha Mountain God, saying that he could satisfy all the wishes of the boy. Then he took him to a crystal treasure house on the mountain, which was full of gold and silver. The old man told him to close his eyes and grab three things from the library, saying that he would give him whatever he caught. The first thing the child caught was salt, the second was alkali, and the third was white conch. He is happy to take these things home. This is the source of saline-alkali production in Namco today, and those white snails have become white sheep rich in lakeside grasslands.

Extended reading: Tibetan folktales _ Selected Tibetan folktales _ Mibang Reading/Gushi/Minjiang/Tibetan /# ixzz3ukf430an