The wildest, highest

and largest mountain region on Earth,

home to creatures rarely filmed.

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China is a diverse country

full of rare and surprising creatures.

(bellow)

For the first time,

we'll uncover their remarkable untold stories...

....in The Hidden Kingdoms of China.

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The mountain kingdom lies within an area

of almost 48,000 square miles,

nearly 14 times the size of Yellowstone.

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There's more ice here than virtually anywhere else,

earning it the title the Third Pole.

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This ice births Asia's three mightiest rivers,

the Yellow, Mekong and Yangtze,

which provide water for more than a billion people.

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Nestled in the western province of Qinghai,

remoteness and extremes of weather

define the mountain kingdom.

Our story takes place here

within this mountain valley,

home to arguably the most famous predator in the world,

sacred in Tibetan Buddhism

and seldom seen, let alone filmed in the wild.

Only a movement gives away his presence.

The snow leopard is the ghost of the mountains.

He seems to occupy a negative space,

near invisible.

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So well camouflaged that he quickly melts

back into the mountain.