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0On timeless rivers, life finds a peak
三江并流：不朽的长河，生命的巅峰
Three mighty waterways provide the lifeblood for a natural wonder
三条大江孕育了自然的奇迹
It is a story transcending time, a witness of sea changes, a land with "mystery rivers", an ark of life, a symphony of natural wonders, a museum sheltering the eternal and the transitional, a piece of evidence showing that life can be both tough and frail, and a history that records people's changing perceptions of nature. It is the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas in the northwest part of Yunnan province, which is located in Southwest China.
这是一段超越时光的故事，是沧海桑田的见证，是一片拥有“神秘江河”的土地，是生命的方舟，是自然奇观的交响乐，是庇护永恒与瞬息的博物馆，是生命坚韧与脆弱的双重体现，更是一部记录人类对自然认知演变的历史。这片奇迹正是位于中国西南云南省西北部的“三江并流”保护区。
The story began about 40 million years ago, when the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate, raising the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and creating the rumpled peaks of the Hengduan Mountains. The roof of the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, cradles the sources of the longest rivers in Asia. In between the precipitous north-south ranges of the rippling Hengduan Mountains runs a mighty trio of waterways－the Nujiang in the west, the Lancang in the middle and the Jinsha in the east.
故事开始于约4000万年前，那时印度板块与欧亚板块相撞，抬升了青藏高原，造就了褶皱般的横断山脉。“世界屋脊”青藏高原孕育了亚洲最长河流。在连绵起伏、纵贯南北繁的横断山脉之间，三条壮丽的大江并行流淌——西为怒江，中为澜沧江，东为金沙江。
Respectively they are the upper streams of the Salween River, which runs through Myanmar, the vast Mekong River and the Yangtze River, the world's third-longest watercourse. One singular thing about the three rivers is that they run abreast for 170 kilometers through Yunnan, before the Jinsha River turns drastically northeastward and finally meets the East China Sea. Another is that they run unusually close to each other. The shortest distance between Lancang and Jinsha measures 66 km, and between Lancang and Nujiang, the distance is less than 19 km.
这三条河流分别是流经缅甸的萨尔温江、壮阔的湄公河，以及世界第三长河长江的上游。三江在云南境内并行170公里，随后金沙江急转向东北，最终汇入东海，是一大奇观。此外，三江之间的距离也异常接近：澜沧江与金沙江最近处仅相隔66公里，而澜沧江与怒江之间的最短距离更是不足19公里。
That was how, in 1985, this geographical wonder, highlighted on a satellite map, drew the attention of an expert from UNESCO, which marked the commencement of a long journey to apply for inclusion on the World Heritage List. UNESCO selects world heritage sites according to four criteria: aesthetic importance, outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth's history, exceptional examples of significant ongoing ecological and biological processes, and the most significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity. Meeting one of them is usually adequate.
正因为此，1985年这一地理奇观在卫星地图上引起了一位联合国教科文组织专家的注意，从而开启了漫长的申遗之旅。联合国教科文组织依据四项标准评选世界遗产地：重要的审美价值、表现地球演化主要阶段的突出例证、包含重要生态和生物演化过程的例证、为生物多样性就地保护最重要的自然栖息地。一般满足一个标准即可进入世界遗产名录。
The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas went on the list in 2003. Liang Yongning, a professor of geology from Kunming University of Science and Technology in Yunnan, says it is the only world heritage site in China that meets all four criteria. Covering 1.7 million hectares, the site consists of 15 different protected areas that have been divided into eight clusters, each providing a representative sample of the full range of the biological and geological diversity of the Hengduan Mountains, Shangri-La included.
云南“三江并流”保护区于2003年成功列入世界遗产名录。云南昆明科技大学地质学教授梁永宁表示，这是中国唯一一个同时满足上述四项标准的世界遗产地。保护区面积达170万公顷，由15个保护区组成，分为8个保护群聚落，每个保护群聚落内都包含横断山脉所有生物和地理多样性的代表样本，其中包括香格里拉地区。
